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.
Five Guys lovin’ is always admirable. Just a technical note that the first Five Guys was in Arlington (Columbia Pike and Glebe Rd., it’s not there anymore). They were actually closed on Sundays back then, which sucked on those days of hangovers and football.
Thanks for the info – don’t know why I thought it was Alexandria.
Man, I can’t imagine how bad a hangover and no decent burgers would be… *shudder*
Yeah, I dig Five Guys a bit, too. Does anybody remember getting a hamburger from the grill at their pool/rec club when they were a kid? We’re those burgers the best? Consistently good. I used to get the best burgers at the pool at Ft. Myer (Arlington.)
Five Guys burgers remind me of pool burgers. Yum.
But the greasy bags freak me the heck out!
The greasy bags are a tad disconcerting, but it’s only if you order the fries. :)
Man, our pools never had a grill! Mom always packed lunch – bologna sandwiches and doritos. (We were such foodies as kids, LOL.) And of course the mandatory “wait 30 minutes before swimming” even though all we were doing was splashing around in the shallow end.
Obviously, I need to find better pools to go to.
Yeah I thought the first one was at Skyline too. My bad.
I love five guys beyond words. I can’t tell you my absolute giddyness when I saw there was one across the street from my new work-building. Awesome.
Probably the same amount of giddyness when the one opened up right down the street from my gym. Gotta love a good post workout hotdog. :)
This was a great, albeit late, discovery for me. I was happy to see a 5 guys in the airport (I forgot if it was Pitt or Philly), but sad that I had already eaten.
I was happy to see a 5 guys in the airport (I forgot if it was Pitt or Philly), but sad that I had already eaten.
It was a great discovery to find one down at the beach. Despite tons of great places to eat and tons of seafood, after a day of headboat fishing, when you’re tired and sunburned and the sandwiches from lunch have long since ceased sticking with you, Five Guys on the way back to the house hits the spot.