Five Guys Burgers and Fries vs In and Out

Living on the west coast we have a multitude of eating establishments. No matter what you are craving chances are you can find it in or around town. Growing up in the golden state I was blessed to always have the top food chains to partake from. It worked and well for the most part i have always been happy with what I had, until I traveled to the Midwest and got a hold of a little palm sized burger called a slider, from a restaurant called White Castle. Now I won’t sit here and tell you that the White Castle slider was the greatest burger ever, because quite frankly its not…Its small, compact frame and relatively low price made it exceptionally delicious. 15 or so sliders after a long night at the clubs will put you in a euphoric state and make sleeping a much easier affair, but its not exactly what us west coasters would call epic.

No, for us here on the west coast epic had two names “In” and “Out”. Now that is a burger. Now I know a lot of our readers may have heard about the legend of In and Out and then again some have never had the pleasure of tasting one either. Established in 1948 In and Out has become a destination for thousands of hungry people on the west coast. I won’t lie these burgers are damn good and can be done in a variety of ways. This includes with or without bun(the patty is wrapped in lettuce), Flying Dutchman which has two meat patties with two slices of American cheese between them. This style comes with no bun, no lettuce, and no tomatoes, and of course the world famous Animal Style where the patties are grilled with mustard or “mustard fried”, add pickles, add grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and extra spread. Of course there is the 2×2 or if you are daring the 4×4 (four patties, four slices of cheese). In and Out offers the freshest ingredients in their burgers all the time. That being said In and Out is not perfect by a long shot. In my personal opinion (and for the sake of arguing with the air) In and Out’s fries are horrible, I have never been nor never will be a fan of the worst fries I have ever had the displeasure of eating. Just my opinion please don’t shoot the messenger. So aside from that I totally love(d) In and Out…

UNTIL…

5 Guys Burgers and Fries came to town, founded in 1986 by Janie and Jerry Murrell and their four sons (with Jerry and the sons being the original “Five Guys”). Five Guys’ was started on the East Coast in a similar fashion to In and Out, as a matter of fact both restaurants use similar business models (fresh cut fries, freshest ingredients, nice beef patty, classy restaurant theme). What sets Five Guys’ apart is their approach to burger building. The Five Guys’ menu is centered on hamburgers, with several other options available. The hamburgers are divided into a “regular” burger, which consists of two beef patties, and a “little” burger that has only one patty. Both burgers are offered with American cheese, bacon, or a combination of the two for an additional charge. All other toppings are included at no additional charge. These toppings consist of: mayo, mustard, ketchup, relish, onion, lettuce, pickle, tomato, green pepper, jalapeño, grilled onion, and grilled mushrooms. Sauces include BBQ, hot sauce and A1. So Five Guys’ is virtually endless when it comes to burger types.

So after experiencing the joy of the In and Out burger for more than 10 years now Five Guys’ finally opened up in my city. After hearing the hype over how good they were in comparison to the “mighty” In and Out franchise I was skeptical I mean how could anyone make a better burger than In and Out? So after walking in I noticed their incredibly simple menu…burgers, fries, hot dogs (yes they also offer a nice hot dog), and of course sodas. So I chose to get the regular bacon burger, with lettuce, tomato, and a combination of A-1 and BBQ sauce. Now came the biggest challenge which is also the second part to the Five Guys’ name…the fries. I had two choices regular or Cajun seasoning. Always the daring one I went with the Cajun seasoning on my fries. In my view these fries couldn’t really be any worse than In and Out’s so with my order placed I went to sit down.

About 10 minutes later(quite the long line) I finally heard “Number 84 your order is ready.” So now came the moment of truth. I got back to my table and pulled the boardwalk style fries out of the bag, and boy do they not skimp on the fries…I swear a regular size can feed 2-3 people easily; more on that later. Then, like a ball of silvery awesomeness was my burger. I pulled it out and unwrapped it like a kid on Christmas morning, then came the moment of truth…the first bite. I can sit here and tell you I have only fallen in love about 4 times in my life. Once when my son was born, once when I met my future wife, then there was the first time I slept in a sleep number bed, and finally when I took that first bite of that Five Guys’ burger. To say blown away would really be an understatement that burger was created by the Gods of Mount Olympus and hand delivered to my mouth. I tell you this burger was the reason Jesus resurrected in three days, after he died God told him they were opening a Five Guys’ in Bethlehem..he was like “What! I can’t be dead…oh hell no death just has to wait!” After all of that you might be wondering can it get better? Yes sir it can, I bit into the fries. With that Cajun seasoning and the fact that Five Guys’ fries are cooked in peanut oil I was on cloud nine. So with that I clearly and hands down name Five Guys Burgers and Fries the undisputed burger champion