Around for 50+ years, with more than 25 locations in Washington and Idaho, I drove across the street from D. Lish to Zip’s, to see what the “also ran” was like. Zip’s has a more complete menu that D Lish, expanded to fish and chicken beyond the burgers. They crow about the fish being “cut and breaded” daily and house-made tartar sauce.

Hey, they have tater tots! Zip’s immediately goes up a dozen points on my imaginary scale. I order a cheeseburger and tots, and the food was cooked while I waited. A frozen patty, seasoned on the griddle, and deep fried tots.

The burger was nothing special, lotsa ketchup like McD’s cancels any other flavor but it was no more or less special than D Lish. The tots were pretty fine, but I watched him take them out of the fryer and dump them directly into the bag, with no interim stop at a warming tray for seasoning. They MAY have been a little al dente, but I was just tasting, not eating. I was an “eater” until a visit to a doctor a couple weeks ago, now I am a “taster.” Not so fun.

[reposted with permission from burgersdogspizza]