Phat happy

There is a new burger in town… or, more accurately, just west of town, inside the recent expansion of the Northern Quest Casino and Resort. This particular burger has a cult following and if you want to join the cult, you just may need to order yours with a fried egg on top.
The burger’s name is in-your-face, politically incorrect in our age of Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, and Jenny Craig. And I guarantee you won’t forget it: FATBURGER.

Ironically, each Fatburger is made with fresh, never-frozen beef that is actually leaner that the meat you get at your typical burger palace. It is also cooked to order, and well worth a trip out to Northern Quest just for the experience.

For a meal at Fatburger actually is an experience. Don’t be shocked to hear the staff member waiting on you yell out each item aloud as you order it and the rest of the crew working the grill yell back the order in unison. Ask for onion rings and the call out and response will be “Homemade!” since the Fatburger crew slices and batters each onion ring daily onsite. A similar amount of effort is put into each shake. They too are made to order from hand-dipped hard ice cream and milk.

Yet great shakes, hot fries, and “homemade” onion rings are only supporting actors at the first Inland Northwest outpost of “the last great hamburger stand.”

This place is all about the signature burger: a burger you can order in small, medium, large, XL, XXL and… “weight” for it… XXXL. The medium ($4.25) is the standard one-third-pounder comparable to other high-end burgers in town. Yet at Fatburger you decide which of the seven standard ingredients (mustard, relish, onions, tomato, lettuce, and mayo) and four premium add-ons (cheese, bacon, chili, and… yes… that egg) you want. Unless you are ravenous on your first visit, start with a medium and customize to your heart’s content.

But at some point you might need to throw down and order the protein-coma-on-a-bun they call the XXXL. For only $9.50, it is epic or obscene, depending on your point of view, with two full pounds of beef on a massive bun that literally stands as tall as a full-sized milkshake.

I’m not sure the XXXL was on the menu 57 years ago when Lovie Yancy first started serving Fatburgers out of her Los Angeles home in the middle of the night, but it tops the menu now. And if you manage to eat a XXXL by yourself, they will take your picture and put it up on the wall — next to that of your cardiologist. — KEVIN FINCH

Fatburger at Northern Quest Casino, 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights, Wash., is open Mon-Thu 9 am-5 am,
then around the clock from Fri 9 am to Mon 5 am. Visit fatburger.com or call 242-7000.