vaporloop

I had MLK day off for the first time in many years.  It’s been cold and snowy here in Massachusetts and we all needed to get out of the house and relieve some cabin fever.  I’d heard about Five Guys Burgers and Fries on the Phantom Gourmet and, since the cheeseburger is perhaps the most perfect food created I decided we should take a little trip to Foxborough Stadium to try out Five Guys at Patriot Place and then take our daughter to Bass Pro Shop to see the “fishies”.

There’s not a lot of room to walk at Five Guys as they’ve packed as many tables and chairs as can be fit into the space.  The menu is pretty simple Burgers. Dogs. Fries. Soda.  Oh and some sort of obligatory “veggie” sandwich.  I ordered a Cheesburger naked (the way any self-respecting cheeseburger conniseur should have a cheesburger) and Cat ordered a Cheesburger with Lettuce, Tomato and Ketchup.  We split an order of their peanut-oil fried fries.  Once you order there’s really nowhere for you to go while you wait, so there’s a throng of people milling about at the end of the counter waiting for their food.  The condiment bins are located at the end of the counter as well so it gets annoying that you are constantly bumped around by people coming up for ketchup and napkins and malt vinegar.

Burgers were well-done, but not cooked beyond recognition, and very tasty.  Five guys burgers are actually two burgers with two slabs of  gooey American cheese between two buns. Five Guys is famous for their fries as well, as they are happy to remind you with clippings of quotes about their french fries plastered all over the walls. I thought the hand-cut fries were okay, but they tasted more like peanut oil and less like potatoes.   This is not a place to sit and linger over lunch.  As I mentioned, the tables are so packed in that I was constantly being pushed and prodded by people trying to get by me on their way to secure a table or get more ketchup.

If you’ve never been, it’s worth a shot, but I’m not buying into the hype just yet. I’ll give it another go next time I’m over in Foxborough.  There’s probably one near you somewhere.  You can look at their site: http://www.fiveguys.com/home.aspx.  But if you’re in my neck of the woods, I recommend you head to Joff’s Backyard Grill in Bellingham, MA for your next Cheesburger fix.  This South African transplant makes the best burgers in Southeastern MA, and the fire roasted wings rock as well.