Five Guys Burgers

Heard about them and read about them, but never had a chance to try out Five Guys. I heard they were the number one contender to the fast food burger crown out here on the left coast, that crown owned by In n Out.

Their main menu consists of hamburgers and "little" hamburgers. The hamburgers have two four ounce patties and the "little" hamburgers have just one. The key difference is at Five Guys is they have BACON! That is a great option that In n Out doesn't offer.

There are also burger topping options and they are all free. So if you're feeling simple, you can have just ketchup. Or you can be creative and get grilled mushrooms, bbq sauce and jalapenos.

I went with the classic combination of lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and mayo. All of that on a "little" bacon cheeseburger. The fries are fresh and fried in peanut oil, salted or cajun style. I went with salted and a side of cajun seasoning.

I like the fries much better than In n Out, thicker and fluffy on the inside. I also liked them salted versus cajun. The burger was good, but not better then In n Out, something about the flavors of the beef from In n Out just make it better. To compare apples to apples, next time I'll need to get my burger without bacon. The Five Guys beef lacked flavor and the cheese was pretty bland. The bun was soft with sesame seeds and nicely toasted. The grilled onions were nothing like In n Out, there was no carmelization.

As Jelp mentioned in his review, it is a bit noisy. But I didn't find it to be that big of a deal. The topping options are nice and the prices are comparable, but the burgers just aren't as good as In n Out, IMO. Looking forward to another visit to try out other combinations.

The Counter - Westlake Village

The Counter has finally unveiled there Westlake Village(WLV) location. The burger joint which opened on April 7th, has locations all over Southern California. I had been anticipating the WLV opening for quite awhile.

So a few of us went for Easter dinner. It was busy, but there was no wait. For those that have not been to the Counter before, there tagline is "Custom Built Burgers". When you are seated, you will get a clipboard with a step by step process of how-to build your custom burger. You start off with selecting the meat, Beef, Chicken, Turkey or Veggie, then the toppings, premium toppings, sauce and bun. They claim there are over 312,000 combinations. They also have a Signature Burger menu with classic combinations and plenty of sides.

My friend Mike brought a bottle of wine, 2003 Domaine Denis Bachelet Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. This was a beautiful red wine that paired very well with the burgers we ordered. Our meal started with an order of the Fifty/Fifty, regular fries and Sweet Potato fries. The fries were cooked well, crispy exterior and soft and fluffy interior. They were served with some type of Thousand Island style dipping sauce. A good quantity of fries for three people to share.



My burger might have been more appropriate for breakfast, I went with a combination of English Muffin, 1/3 pound beef patty, Jalapeno Jack cheese, Honey Cured Bacon, Horseradish mayo and a fried egg. I ordered my beef patty medium rare, the patties are served medium regularly. My burger was good but not the best I've ever had, then again I wasn't expecting that. The meat was cooked properly, not seasoned enough though. The bacon strips were so small, I didn't see them and thought they had forgotten to add them. I'm not sure I even got any Horseradish mayo on my burger. All in all it was good, but knowing I can get a burger from In-n-Out for half the price and much more flavor, I was left wanting more.

My friend's burger looked amazing and he stated it was the best burger he had ever had. Sarah's "Burger in a bowl" looked pretty healthy, but she didn't have much to say about it.

The Counter serves beer and wine, this location also has a couple of flat screen TVs and a seat yourself bar. It's a nice casual place to grab a basic burger and hang with friends. For my next visit I'm going with a basic combination and I'll let you know how it is.