Shadowing Practice: Anthony Bourdain on In-N-Out: 'My Favorite Restaurant in LA' - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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We're now at one of my favorite places in Los Angeles, In-N-Out Burger.
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We don't have those in New York.
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In fact, every once in a while, somebody starts, some cruel person starts a rumor, generally on a foodie website,
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that In-N-Out is coming to Brooklyn or to one of the boroughs.
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And everybody in New York goes insane.
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Oh my God, oh my God, In-N-Out is coming.
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What can I say about this place?
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It's the only fast food chain that I actually like and think is reasonably good for the world.
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Whenever I come to L.A., in fact, one of the reasons I look forward to doing the taste is because as soon as I arrive, I'll hit the airport in and out, and on my way out of town,
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after finishing the taste, I'll pick up another.
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Every once in a while, I'll even buy a big reeking bag of burgers with onions and fries and shakes,
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and I'll bring them back to my very nice hotel lobby and it's really an amazing thing to see.
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Generally speaking, when you walk through the lobby of a nice hotel with a big reeking bag of fast food, people look at you like, you know, you're low class,
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or, you know, why are you bringing that in here?
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We do have a restaurant.
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No, nothing but love and admiration, even from the staff.
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They're like, good going, sir.
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Nicely done, sir.
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Excellent.
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I would like to be eating that right now.
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Something else interesting about In-N-Out I've found, I use Instagram a lot, And I found that if I were to take an Instagram picture of myself and like,
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I don't know, with some really interesting people, let's make up a scenario.
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Me, Christopher Walken, the Dalai Lama, and Keith Richards in a hot tub doing bong rips.
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Pretty interesting stuff, you'd think, right?
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I'm good for a few thousand likes on Instagram.
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And that's about all I'll get in an hour.
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You know, maybe four or five thousand likes if I put that picture up.
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However, and I found this from experience, if I simply take an isolated photograph of my In-N-Out Burger sitting on a table,
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an anonymous In-N-Out Burger, I would get like 50,000 likes in 9 minutes.
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So, you know, the thing about a burger is it's, there are many, many forces at play with a properly made burger.
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You've got to have a decent bun, right, to start with.
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Bun selection, very important.
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You know, good quality meat.
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Also, you know, that would be nice.
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Non-limp, reasonably fresh greens and garnishes, also good.
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Cheese, you don't want fancy cheese.
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You don't want, you know, no. Whatever that is, this cheese-like substance is just perfect.
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But notice it's two thin patties together, okay?
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Maximum surface area, therefore exposing the maximum areas of meat surface to the popples of the tongue.
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It's brilliant.
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This is like a ballistic missile.
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Perfectly designed delivery system, protein delivery system.
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And I like mine animal style.
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I'd tell you what that is, but I'd have to kill you.
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Yes.
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Oh yeah.
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There it is.
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My favorite restaurant in Los Angeles.
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A city with many fine restaurants, by the way.
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Just I'm a cheap, nasty, low-down, trailer park, burger slut.
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Thank you.
About This Lesson
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.