Even if you don’t live in one of the five states with an In’N’Out Burger, you are probably aware of they limited menu (hamburgers, cheeseburgers, double-doubles, fries, milkshakes and soda) and the secret menu, which isn’t really very secret anymore.

Luckily, In-N-Out showed up in Northern California right as I was getting my driver’s license, so friends and I spent many summer evenings there over the course of several years. For a long time, I stuck to the basics of hamburgers, fries (which honestly took a while to grow on me), and my trusty diet coke. After a few years, that got a little boring, but then I went away to college and only ate at In-N-Out during summer vacation and wanted an old faithful when I visited, nothing too creative.

Once I moved back to California, I made regular trips to In-N-Out, but sometimes wanted a little twist on the old familiars, and looked for tweaks where I could. As the secret menu became less and less secret, I actually learned less from the various round-ups on the web than just from watching other people order. I learned about the very spicy peppers available in tiny clear bags, the options of adding pickles to a burger, and my favorite, the animal style fries, just from checking out what the people in front of me were ordering.

The addition of pickles wasn’t too exciting, and the peppers were scary-hot (there was almost a throw-up in the car situation after eating one), but I really got behind the animal style fries. For anyone not familiar, animal style is usually reserved for burgers and includes cheese, grilled onions and the In-N-Out “spread.” Although I find animal style fries delicious, it is a little salty for me when it comes to the burgers, but I really can’t get enough of the fries. Definitely recommended.

Here are the animal style fires in all their glory:

Any secret menu items you recommend (or not)?