Getting serious about In-N-Out

Jennifer Garner vowed on the Oscars red carpet to hit In-N-Out once the night ended. Vanity Fair served the burgers at its party at Mortons. On Sunday, the New York Times goes looking for insight into the In-N-Out phenomenon.

Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet magazine and a former restaurant critic of The New York Times, who used to live in Los Angeles, called it "a great California institution."

"If you're from Los Angeles," she said, "you go to In-N-Out," much the same way real New Yorkers pride themselves on visiting Gray's Papaya for hot dogs.

In-N-Out does appear to be "going iconic," said Joel Kotkin, a writer who teaches public policy at Pepperdine University in Malibu. Professing that he is "not a fast-food person at all," Mr. Kotkin said he had missed a turnoff for an In-N-Out as he headed home from Fresno on Wednesday, and, he added, "I was cursing myself all the way back..."

Robert LePlae, president of the Los Angeles advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day, admires the company's low-key marketing, which he described as "a little less-goofy" than that of Southwest Airlines. It has kept In-N-Out above the fast-food fray, perceived as more of a treat than a meal on the run...

Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, came up with the idea after recognizing how hungry people were after holding in their stomachs for four hours in the Kodak Theater. "They cut to the heart of the perfect hamburger — great bun, great patties, great extras," Mr. Carter said. "And they're called In-N-Out Burger. I happen to love the name."

Also in the NYT from Hollywood: Sharon Waxman on the Hummer versus Prius culture war.