It's Road Trip Week at Bon Appétit! Which means every day, we'll be sharing stories about food on the long and lonely highway. Or not so lonely if you grew up traveling across the country in a minivan packed with six of your closest brothers, sisters, friends, and Poochie the carsick beagle. So buckle up, and don't make us turn this car around.

It’s been said that there are three food groups in Texas—barbecue, Tex-Mex, and chicken-fried steak. Some might argue, however, that there’s a fourth food group, and that would be Whataburger.

Now, to the uninitiated, lifting a fast-food burger chain to the rank of Texan culinary icon might seem a little strange. And yet, when Texans spot the restaurant’s familiar orange- and white-striped logo and architecture, hearts beat faster, mouths begin to water, and they start contemplating about what to order.

In Texas, the standard Whataburger is made with mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and diced onions on a toasted five-inch bun. But one of the many things about Whataburger that makes it so beloved is you can order your burger any way you like and they won’t even blink. My preference is a Whataburger with cheese, mayonnaise, pickles, jalapeños, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Courtesy of Whataburger

When Harmon Dobson founded the company in 1950 in Corpus Christi, cooking each burger to suit the customer was one of his key tenets for his new business. Another was to serve a burger so large you needed two hands to eat it. He wanted the customer to exclaim, “What a burger!” as they hefted the almost half-foot wide burger to their mouth, thus coming up with a name for his new place.

(Though many Texans—present company included—may have thought when they were young that it was called Water -burger, until they were otherwise corrected…or learned to read.)

The original Whataburger was a portable stand, but in 1961, Dobson, who was a pilot, built the first A-frame store and painted it with the now iconic orange and white stripes, creative decisions said to have been based on his love of flying. Indeed, you can easily spot a Whataburger from the air, which has been known to elicit cravings for Texans traveling home after a long spell away.

When Dobson opened Whataburger, Texas already had a strong burger tradition. Around 1904, Fletch Davis is said to have created the world’s first hamburger in East Texas (a claim that some dispute, but that’s another story for another day). And the first drive-in restaurant, Kirby’s Pig Stand, opened in Dallas in 1921. As such, there is no shortage of good burgers in Texas, which has lead some to question the passion people feel for Whataburger. Heck, even I will admit there are plenty of Texas burgers that I prefer.

For instance, there’s a gas station outside of Longview that fries up a classic juicy thin-patty burger, which they offer with a free side of spicy pinto beans you serve yourself from a slow cooker by the register. Then there’s Top Notch in Austin, which not only has hand-breaded onion rings and a chandelier crafted out of Lone Star bottles, but its default charbroiled burger is made with mayonnaise, all of which makes me smile.

And yet despite this bounty of excellent burgers in Texas, the call of Whataburger is still strong. Why is this? Well, let’s start with the burger itself. It’s a solid sandwich and each satisfying bite strikes all the right notes—salty, peppery, juicy, crunchy, and tangy.

Courtesy of Whataburger

They also use 100% beef and crisp, fresh vegetables, which makes everything taste relatively wholesome for fast food. Besides their classic burger, they also serve salads, chicken tenders (Selena Gomez is said to be a big fan), and fajita tacos. Whataburger also rolls out limited-time specials—such as its green-chile cheeseburger or chophouse cheddar burger—occurrences that fans track with a passion usually reserved for football or politics.

It’s also a popular spot for breakfast, when you’ll find taquitos—warm flour tortillas stuffed with fluffy eggs, cheese, potatoes, and a choice of meat (what most would call a breakfast taco but since it’s traditionally known as a taquito in Corpus Christi, where the company started, that name has remained); jalapeño cheese biscuits that are flaky and buttery with a hit of heat; and the breakfast on a bun, affectionately known as the Bob—an egg, cheese, a meat sandwich, which can be gussied up with salsa to make it ranchero style.

Breakfast begins at 11 p.m., which gives the late-night visitor a choice in what they wish to eat. In fact, Whataburger is open 24 hours and it’s often the only thing going at that time of night. It’s the rare Texan who doesn’t have at least one story involving a visit in the darkest hours. One late-night indulgence for me involved guys in tuxedos, a bride in her gown, and stacks of burgers and fries doing their best to help mitigate the effects of Shiner, wedding cake, and the chicken dance.

Courtesy of Whataburger

If you’re dining in, after placing your order they’ll hand you a number printed on an orange-and-white striped piece of A-framed plastic (a nod to the chain’s distinctive architecture), you grab a drink, sit and relax at your table, and when the food is ready they’ll bring it to you along with a tray of condiments to choose from such as their spicy ketchup or jalapeño ranch. The sauces are so popular that Texas grocery chain H-E-B started selling them a few year years ago for superfans.

For fast food, it’s all very civilized. And reliable food and late-night indulgences aside, perhaps this is the key as to why Whataburger is so beloved—it treats the customers with respect and ensures that everyone feels welcome.

The other day, I pulled into a West Texas Whataburger at lunchtime. The restaurant was full and you could see people from all walks of life—men and women in suits, construction workers, families with small children, elderly couples, and a few dusty travelers such as myself. It was a motley collection of people who might not otherwise find themselves together under one roof, and yet they were all united by their love for Whataburger.

My friend Amy recently shared a photo of a painting from a student art show. In the piece, two teenage boys dressed in orange are sitting together at a Whataburger, sipping drinks through a straw. The painting is titled “Whataburger is love,” and the young artist wrote in his statement: “We come from different backgrounds, upbringings, and cultures, but we have the right to enjoy the gift God gave to us that is Whataburger.”

Lisa Fain is the author of the blog , and the cookbooks The Homesick Texan and The Homesick Texan's Family Table .