Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Largely due to the fact that Bentucci's is renovating their restaurant, the Boy and I found ourselves in Pittsford Plaza on a quest for dinner. On our way to dropping $20 a piece on our glutfest at the Wegmans buffet, I was confronted with a fact that had escaped my memory: Five Guys Burgers and Fries had opened in the PP about a month ago. So we headed over to check it out.

First thought, I love a place with so few options. Really. I hate when places try to anticipate nearly every type of diner inclination and serve nachos next to pasta next to steak next to Chinese (yes, it happens). A jack-of-all-trades is a master of none. In My Perfect Dining World, places would limit themselves to ten items or less. Do them well and people will either be open to the singular experience the chef/cook is crafting or know to skip out because they're not into it. This is really the whole philosophy behind prix fixe meals.

The Boy's first thought was the boldness of having so many boxes of peanuts in their shells lying around, considering the dangers of peanut allergy reactions (how is he the one thinking like a lawyer?).

I ordered the cheeseburger with everything, plus jalapenos. My norm when confronting any new burger is to order it "all the way." The Boy got the bacon cheeseburger with grilled mushrooms and grilled onions and barbeque sauce. We got an order of the cajun fries too. (Sidenote: someone ordered right before us and left to go run an errand before picking up their food. This apparently confounded the staff, which quickly went from a friendly "Order Up" to a Gestapo-like: "You there, what's your number? Are you sure? Are we sure it's 86 instead of 88? How can this be?" I almost ate the woman's food out of fear and guilt for it not being mine.)

So this place definitely trades in nostalgia (a la Johnny Rocket's or Steak and Shake or even Sonic). Once you order, you get a number, you get your fountain drink, and you wait for your food to come packed in a bag, regardless if you're just taking over to the tables on the other end of the room. The tables were a little littered when we were there, which reminded me of eating off picnic tables. They definitely wanted to bare bones in the decor and set up. Really commited to the idea of fast food and no frills and all that. Except with a nice long list of toppings to make up for only having burgers, hot dogs (and one grilled cheese which I'm sure is American cheese in a hamburger bun).

Five Guys has quite the reputation of being the best burger around. They make sure you're aware of this fact by plastering the walls with articles and quotes from The Washingtonian and the Long Island local paper, etc.

I have to say the meat quality was excellent. The bun could have better and could have been toasted. There definitely could have been less raw onions (coarsely chopped) involved -- but then again, I really shouldn't have ordered both raw and grilled onions (probably best not to go "all the way" here). The cheese was just American cheese. Basically everything here was good in the most basic sense of what a fast food cheeseburger is. Like a particularly good Wendy's, minus the drive-through. Except the medium-cut, skin-on fries, with Cajun spices, where much much better than Wendy's (which always mysteriously need salt, despite the fact that I don't add salt to anything else ever).

Oh, also of note: the regular is a double. I guess the little burgers are human-sized. Still, I ate the whole thing. And will probably skip all meals today because of it.

All in all, it reminded me of In and Out (a place I was never rabid about unlike most other Southern Californians). Of course, In and Out also has the gimmick of a secret menu, and milkshakes. And the burger's flavor also kept reminding of something I couldn't quite put my finger on, something that was buried so far deep that it was almost subconscious -- until this morning. It really tasted a lot like Rush's in Columbia, South Carolina (which used to be my favorite restaurant of all time). Of course, Rush's burgers are even better with their milkshakes. Moral of the story: start making shakes, Five Guys.

Not even close to Steak and Shake. But then again, Steak and Shake isn't even close to Rochester.


ADDENDUM: Just minutes after I posted this, Village Voice's food blog named Five Guys #6 in the ranking of the Best Fries in New York City.