Nobody, including me, likes a food snob.
All good food is good, including chain food. It’s just that my chain experiences have, for the most part, left me wanting. So, despite all the rave reviews I’ve heard over the past year or so since Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries opened in West Ashley, I’ve resisted the temptation to dig in. That was until last week when a friend told me she saw something on Twitter by FIG’s venerable chef Mike Lata about how much he loved the place.
Turns out, he and the rest of the Five Guys “fanatics” (there is a page dedicated to them on the web site)are right. Eating here is an experience in fun and fabulous. A splash of red and white corralled with bushels of real Idaho potatoes, Five Guys feels at once 50’s-retro and thoroughly modern. Sparkling clean, the center of action is the grill and fry station which operate like well-oiled (peanut oil only) machinery, while the guy at the register merrily calls out “patty” orders as they arise.
It’s entirely systematic and delicious. Burgers are prepared with fresh (never frozen) beef and come “big” (two quarter pound patties, $4.49)or “little” (one quarter pound patty, $3.19)on a fresh, sturdy bun and hand-wrapped in aluminum foil. The extensive and free topping selections – from sauteed mushrooms to jalapeno peppers – gives a whole new meaning to the “special orders won’t upset us” theme. Heck, even the celebrated fries can come dusted with salt or with Cajun seasoning.
The fries, which are literally fried to order from baskets that are stacked up near the fryer like so many stars waiting to shine, are epic. Skin-on slabs of Idaho deliciousness, they’re delivered deliberately spilling out of their cup and steaming hot. Ketchup flows freely and easily into over-sized plastic ramekins (so unlike the too-little Wendy’s variety) at the well-stocked and impeccably clean condiment counter. The likable quirky guy at the counter told me that the regular ($2.49) fry order feeds two, while the large ($3.99) feeds two to three people. That’s a pretty accurate assessment, assuming these are pretty hungry folks. The portions are more than ample.
Release your inner food-snob and give Five Guys a try. It’s one of the best burgers in town and the fries are unrivaled.
Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries
1662 Savannah Highway, West Ashley
(843) 556-5489
and
1795 U.S. Highway 17 North, Suite 2, Mount Pleasant
(843) 881-4550
www.fiveguys.com