Five Guys

On Sunday, Angela and I wandered down to Old Town Alexandria. Among other adventures, I had my first taste of a Five Guys burger. Five Guys, for those who don't know, is a chain of no-frills burger places that started in the D.C. area and with 400 or so locations is now spread across half the country.

I'd heard of Five Guys mostly because of people raving about it on the web. Also, Obama likes it.

We hit the place in the late afternoon. It was a bit early for dinner, so there wasn't really a line. The menu is tricky in its simplicity. They have regular burgers and little burgers. You pay more for cheese and/or bacon. Other toppings (there are a bunch to choose from) are all free. There are also two sizes of french fries, soft drinks, and a couple of other things like hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Five Guys doesn't have much in the way of atmosphere. Decoration is provided primarily by the newspaper clippings in praise of Five Guys that cover the walls. I found that vaguely annoying.

Angela and I each got a regular hamburger and a drink and we split a large order of fries. The bill came to about $18. We didn't realize until we got our burgers that the regular burgers had two patties. Little burgers come with one. Between that, the huge cup of fries that we couldn't finish, and the free beverage refills, neither of us went away hungry. Just in case, though, they also had big boxes full of complimentary bulk peanuts.

image by fj40troutbumThe burger itself was pretty good. I was wary given the fact that they advertise that they use lean beef and cook it to well-done. Neither of these things generally make for a good burger. Still, the meat was fresh and the patties were relatively loosely made, both of which helped. I've definitely had better burgers (in fact, I had a better burger for dinner tonight), but I'd rate Five Guys well above the typical fast food fare... somewhere alongside In-N-Out. Still, all those signs on the wall advertising Five Guys as being voted the best burger in this or that city made me feel sorry for the people who lived in those cities.

The french fries were of similar quality. They were skin-on and cooked in peanut oil. Malt vinegar was available. In my mind, french fries have to be worthy of malt vinegar. You need a heart fry that you can tell comes from a potato to stand up against the flavor of malt vinegar. Most fast food fries won't cut it, but these did. Still, the fries weren't perfect either. They could have used a bit more crunch to them.

Overall, we were both relatively happy with the experience, but we were definitely not blown away.