“We'll start with the brass tacks, the burger's heart and soul—its ground beef. At Five Guys, they grind and hand-pack the meat every morning, guaranteeing a fresh patty. Unfortunately, they will only serve their burgers well-done, which is fantastic if you’re a fan of eating hockey pucks. While Five Guys locations in College Point, Queens, and Philly have defied the odds, burgers at the Brooklyn Heights location were both tough and dry. All is not lost though, as the location is new and a burger is more than just meat."
There's a nice photo slide show to go with it, which Matty shot ("The new lens I'm using is nice," he says).
In other Five Guys news, Jason Perlow of Off the Broiler alerts us to the fact that there's a Five Guys clone in Fairfiew, New Jersey. When he IMed me about this, I was like, "Yeah, yeah, Jason." But clicking through to his post, the similarities are striking. From the interior design scheme to the menus to the burgers, the place looks like a straight-up Five Guys rip-off. But ...
But ... Burger Boys does onion rings, and Perlow says they're actually good: "Good onion rings though — this is one deficiency at Five Guys that Burger Boys actually remedied."
The other major difference is that Burger Boys uses canola oil instead of peanut oil for its fries, resulting in a less crisp product, Perlow says. But at least the peanut-allergic can eat there.
i enjoyed 5 guys (i am not a rare burger eater tho). i thought it was very good, my only complaint was it was way too big! i'll be sure to order the 'little' burger next time. so glad i work near the BK heights location!
I ate at the freshly opened 5 guys in Watchung NJ last Friday (they opened on Thursday). The burger (bacon & cheese) was well-done as advertised, but still juicy and awesome.
I was not impressed at all with the fries -- it was like they had been blanched but never fried a second time to crisp them up, so they were very limp.
Nonetheless, having this in the neighborhood is a huge gain for me...
I've never had a 5 Guy's burger that I didn't like. Actually, my only complaint is the location in Tyson's Corner Mall is stingy on the fries. You don't get the cup plopped into the bag and then the fries shuvelled. Instead, you get a cup of fries. I'm guessing they're a franchise and the owner either never ate one of the orginal 5 Guys in the DC area or is just cheap. On the other hand, being in the mall they are very busy and maybe they just couldn't keep up with the fries going out so fast in such a large volume per order.
I hate to encourage litigation, but 5 Guys probably has a pretty good trade dress infringement claim. They should take a look at the pleadings from the "Best Cellars"/"Grapefinds" case from ~2000 and the taco shack case from the early 1990s.
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AHT founding editor "Hamburger Matty" Jacobs appears in an article on Metromix New York in which he visits the new Five Guys location in Brooklyn Heights:
5 Comments:
i enjoyed 5 guys (i am not a rare burger eater tho). i thought it was very good, my only complaint was it was way too big! i'll be sure to order the 'little' burger next time. so glad i work near the BK heights location!
j at 5:45PM on 08/07/07
I ate at the freshly opened 5 guys in Watchung NJ last Friday (they opened on Thursday). The burger (bacon & cheese) was well-done as advertised, but still juicy and awesome.
I was not impressed at all with the fries -- it was like they had been blanched but never fried a second time to crisp them up, so they were very limp.
Nonetheless, having this in the neighborhood is a huge gain for me...
bgporter at 3:48PM on 08/08/07
I've never had a 5 Guy's burger that I didn't like. Actually, my only complaint is the location in Tyson's Corner Mall is stingy on the fries. You don't get the cup plopped into the bag and then the fries shuvelled. Instead, you get a cup of fries. I'm guessing they're a franchise and the owner either never ate one of the orginal 5 Guys in the DC area or is just cheap. On the other hand, being in the mall they are very busy and maybe they just couldn't keep up with the fries going out so fast in such a large volume per order.
dauerad at 12:31PM on 08/10/07
Right down to the uniforms. Jesus. Glad to see they've got onion rings, though.
Smylie at 11:16AM on 08/13/07
I hate to encourage litigation, but 5 Guys probably has a pretty good trade dress infringement claim. They should take a look at the pleadings from the "Best Cellars"/"Grapefinds" case from ~2000 and the taco shack case from the early 1990s.
rps at 9:10PM on 08/23/07