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High-five Five Guys for tasty burgers, fresh fries

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by Matthew Straub

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Yesterday’s opening of Five Guys Burgers and Fries on State Street attracted so much attention that Gov. Jim Doyle was invited to cut the ribbon. The buzz points to Madison’s lack of a simple and satisfying burger joint, or at least until now. Seemingly modeled after an uncannily similar Californian chain almost four decades older, In-N-Out Burger, Five Guys kicks fast food up a notch by utilizing fresh ingredients and a menu slimmed down to simple items that can be done especially well at decent prices.

Upon entering Five Guys it is immediately obvious that this restaurant touts nothing but its burgers and fries, and as if they were humanity’s saving grace. The walls are laden with advertisements and excerpts from various publications glorifying their never-frozen ground beef and fries cooked in peanut oil (no cholesterol!). Sacks of spuds stacked up next to the entryway and a whiteboard announcing the specific town the day’s potatoes come from create an atmosphere so self-important that one cannot help but feeling a bit disappointed when the product does not completely change his or her life. There are even index cards and crayons for fans to create their own shout-outs to Five Guys, complete with a bulletin board to display them all.

But pretentious decor and outrageous expectations aside, the burgers remain pretty damn good. Perhaps the greasy double patties won’t move you to tears, but with modest prices ranging from $2.79 for the “Little Hamburger” to $5.19 for a bacon cheeseburger, they will probably have you coming back for those burger cravings most other fast-food chains can never satisfy. Every burger comes with two fresh ground beef patties, and toppings are free, even grilled mushrooms and onions. This marvelous gimmick is so favorable to college students that one will even overlook the fact that the mushrooms were taken from a can.

Apart from those mushrooms, everything is served fresh at Five Guys. Those fries don’t quite live up to their burger counterparts, tasting a bit too salty with a consistency that’s just a little too squidgy. Fries also come in Cajun style, which adds some needed flavoring, but those with a low tolerance to spice might be leery of this option. Still, as far as burgers and fries go, you won’t find a better meal at these prices in the area.

And that more or less encompasses the entire menu. There are no meal combos or deals to speak of, and the only non-burger, non-fry items are hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches. One could argue that it’s lacking the milkshakes typically found in eateries with red-and-white checkerboard tiles on its walls, but really Five Guys is just about doing one thing and doing it well. And if you need more options, metal pails of peanuts await on every table. Now there’s something to be said about sitting at a table with one pail of peanuts and another pail of previous guests’ peanut refuse, but this isn’t fine dining, and it’s nice to have something to munch on when you’re waiting for your number to be called. That being said, some may want to pass Five Guys on the other side of the street — between the peanut oil used for cooking and the peanut shells inside, this place is far from friendly for those with nut allergies.

Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, many with the late-night munchies may still be disappointed Five Guys eschews most of the drunken ruckus that tends to disrupt State Street at night, at least for now. But with its mastery of the classic American hamburger, it seems likely that Five Guys has found itself a cozy and successful niche in the State Street dining scene.