This is a variation of the White Spot burger, the drive-in and diner burger I grew up with. I love onions, so it has two kinds.
The build works because everything above the patty is cold, crunchy, sharp, or sour, and the patty below brings the salt, fat, and savoury depth. It’s The Bruce burger with the drive-in’s two sauces in place of mayo and mustard.
Picks
Cold crunch and sharp against a salty patty.
- Forming burger patties: One thin patty, 140 g, not mixed
- Seasoning burgers: Salt and pepper after cooking
- Cooking patties: Griddled hot, flipped two or three times
- Assembling burgers: Shredded lettuce, thin tomato, paper-thin raw purple onion, onion sautéed in the beef fat, double-sour pickles, cracked pepper, on a toasted bun
- Sauces and condiments: Triple “O”: red relish sauce on the base, sweet enriched mayo under the top bun
Where it comes from
This is the diner and drive-in burger of the 1960s, the burger they still make: built from ingredients a drive-in could buy reliably and cooked fast on a flat-top. Most of the picks are that kitchen’s constraints.
| Constraint | Pick it explains |
|---|---|
| A flat-top griddle and fast service | A thin patty, griddled hot and fast |
| Ingredients bought in bulk | Bottled relish, chili sauce, and mayo; iceberg lettuce |
| Eaten in the car, from paper | A soft bun, wrapped so it steams |
| “Deluxe” as an add-on | Lettuce and tomato |
The Triple “O” name comes from the carhop order tickets: a customer who wanted extra sauce, relish, and mayonnaise got three “O”s marked on the slip, and the mark carried into White Spot’s point-of-sale system as late as the 2010s. The sauces and builds have changed over the decades; White Spot burger has the closest home version of both sauces.
Why these picks
The onions, double-sour pickles, and rest in paper are the same picks as The Bruce burger, for the same reasons. The difference is the sauce:
- Two sauces, apart. The red sauce goes on the base, where it meets the hot patty; the mayo goes under the top bun with the cold layers. Each stays distinct instead of blending into one.
How it fails
- No cold crunch: without the lettuce and pickle, it’s a one-note burger.
- No onion: the onion is the most important part of a deluxe build.
Variations
- BC burger: add cheddar and bacon (White Spot’s name for it).
- Ketchup and mustard: swap the red sauce for ketchup and mustard, kept separate.
- Blended sauce: swap both sauces for Bruce’s burger sauce or the In-N-Out burger spread.