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After spending the afternoon painting (and getting as much paint on myself than on the objects to be painted,) cooking dinner just was not in the cards. So, in honor of May being national hamburger month, off to Five Guys I went. Five Guys started here in Alexandria (I think that was where the first location was) and have expanded over the years, but still have the best burgers in town. They’ve got a bare bones menu of burgers, hot dogs & fries, and they’re all terrific. They’ve kept it simple and I really think that’s the key to their continued success. Though they’ve expanded to many locations, they’ve managed to keep things consistent without having the sterility you see in most franchise operations.

Everything is fresh. Tons of toppings, from onions to jalepeños. Myself, I’m pretty much a purist, sticking with ketchup – the burgers and dogs are good enough they just don’t need much else. They post where the potatoes for the fries came from – today was Idaho.

A few warnings: If you have a severe peanut allergy, don’t set foot in this place. They’ve got buckets of peanuts all over the place to snack on while you wait. Second, stick with the small fries. Even a small is enough for two people. It’s a little more expensive and takes a few minutes longer than your average fast food place, but is infinitely better and totally worth it.

First, you’ve got your greasy bag goodness:

And yes, that is a small fries – there’s still another handful of them in the bag to boot.

May not look like much, but it’s pretty damn good.