Now I really cannot say that I'm a burger Connoisseur - I was not born here in the XXL US of A, and was in my late teens before McDonald's opened their first cookie-cutter joint anywhere near my home town (and still clearly remember my brother-in-law driving 40 miles to Manchester to experience the first 'Drive-Thru' McDonald's that opened in the UK in 1986 - apparently once he arrived there was queue half way to the next town). I never go to 'Wendy's' because I just can't get over my objection to a square burger, Burger King have OK onion rings but the rest of the meal leaves me cold. McDonald's is.... consistent. Fuddruckers Is ghastly - not sure why anyone would eat there. Red Robin - now there's a good burger (and their fish & chips is allegedly excellent too), but it's at a level of formality and price that that puts it up there alongside Applebee's, Chili's, Olive Garden and other "Quick Serve Restaurants" (why does anyone want Fast Food service at Restaurant prices? I don't get it...). So - although I may feel like a burger from time to time I invariably end up going for something else instead - but maybe not anymore...!
After hearing all the hype about Five Guys over the past number of years we have suddenly have one open just down the road - and as we needed to head into the city of Chicago one evening this week I thought we should at least drop in and try it.
Five Guys was started in 1986 in Washington DC by - not 5, but 4 brothers who were given a 'work or college' ultimatum by their parents - and chose the 'work' option (kids huh!). Brother number 5 joined them when he got old enough, and the 'double burger joint' became a local cult eatery. The one restaurant in 1986 grew shortly to 4 in the DC area - and added some seating options. It stayed pretty much that way until the early 2000's when the Brothers decided to move into a limited franchising model - from where it has grown to over 900 restaurants today just 9 years later.
The business model is really simple - very limited selection of burgers (and a couple of alternatives like Hot Dogs, Veggie choice, Grilled Cheese sandwich, etc), with a range of topping choices that you can add on at no additional cost, 2 sizes of chips (fries) and 2 sizes of drinks (soda). That's it. Not much choice you may say - but apparently you can get 250,000 combinations of food cooked fresh to order in that simple little menu - remarkable.
On entering the restaurant (5:45 PM on a weekday) the place was BUSY. 8 or 9 people in the queue - which moved pretty quickly. A nice touch is the notice board on the wall with cards and pencils to write on (or draw for the kids!) and pin up for others to read whilst waiting.
Another big draw is the endless supply of boiled peanuts that you help yourself to - in the queue, waiting for the food, with the food, after the food - just keep topping them up (you can't take them out of the place with you though!).
There were 2 servers taking the orders - with a 3'rd on hand to jump in if the queue gets too big. Ordering is simple - regular (double) or little (single) burger - order plain, with cheese, with bacon or with Cheese and bacon. Toppings (just read them off the board), fries and drink. That's it. You'll get a receipt with your number - then take a seat and wait for the 7 cooks to get to your order and build your burgers in front of you (well, behind the kitchen counter, but you can see real well!). They'll call your number - grab the food and sit and eat!
So..... what's it like?
Well - first thing I would say is that I'd hate to see the calorie count of my double-burger with cheese and bacon - topped with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, mayonnaise, tomato and ketchup. it probably had enough nutrients to last me a couple of days - even without the fantastic fresh cooked French Fries (real potatoes from Idaho - it says so on the wall and they are stacked up all around you). Everything is cooked using Peanut Oil which adds a great flavor (and probably another few hundred calories along with a more than thin layer of clorestorol on my aorta). The taste was great - fries were red hot and lots of them (we had the medium size and there were as many loose in the bag as there were in the pot). The burger was very good - not too hot but certainly warm enough - suspect that is because of the way the order is put together on the open table - you can see it is freshly made and assembled right in the open.
So would I go back again? Most definitely - I think the only problem now is that I'm less likely to risk trying a burger anywhere else!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Matteson, IL
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