Well, I do seem to be on a bit of a hamburger quest. My friend Kevin must have enjoyed his Boogie Burger, because he asked me where we were going for a burger this week. I had been getting many recommendations for 5 Guys Burgers and Fries, so that's where we went.
This place was busy! The line-up formed around bags of potatoes, munched on complimentary peanuts and crunched the shells under foot. Nothing fancy here. This place is corporate American, but they have a good system. The ingredients are fresh. Real potatoes sliced up into real french fries. Real beef with no filler. No nonsense. Place your order, take a number. There must have been 10 line cooks at work in the entirely open kitchen. There are no frills. Your fries come in a cup, that overflows into the brown paper bag your order comes in. The fries are excellent, and a regular size is plenty for two people, especially considering a regular hamburger has two patties! If you want a single burger, make sure to order a "Little" one. While you wait, you can fill up your own pop and grab little cups of white or malt vinegar, or ketchup if you prefer. It's crowded, but there is a large seating area and we didn't have trouble finding seats.
If you order your burger "All the way", it will come with mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickles, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and grilled mushrooms. You can also get raw onions, jalapenos, hot sauce, BBQ sauce, steak sauce, relish ... green peppers? You definitely have some freedom with your order. Kevin has a strange habit of ordering his burger with just pickles and onions but no condiments. When I am testing a burger I try to keep it pretty simple, but in either case they got my order very wrong. I wanted it "All the way" with no tomatoes and no grilled mushrooms. I have nothing against either item, but I didn't want my burger to be too sloppy and I wanted to taste the meat. I looked at my receipt and it said I wanted grilled mushrooms and not onions. But I love grilled onions!! So I went to the counter and explained the problem. I got a thumbs up from one of the line-cooks, apparently in charge of my particular burger. But when I got my burger, it had both tomatoes AND grilled mushrooms on it, but alas, no grilled onions. I'm not really one to complain, so I chomped into this massive meaty delight.
Actually, that's Kevin's burger. That's why there are no condiments squirting out of it. Just hunks of pickle. Those ARE some hunky pickles, I must say. But look at that meat! That is real meat! I could taste meat... charred meat ... charred juicy meat ... why is this such a rare experience in the fast food burger scene? I thought my burger was going to be impossibly sloppy, but it was actually manageable (I took off the tomatoes. Don't worry, I still ate them). The cheese could have been a bit more melty. But the beef was the star of the show here. At Boogie's Burgers the bun stole the show for me, but here it's all about the beef. It's not cheap. A regular cheese burger is almost 8 dollars, and that's not including fries and drink. There are no meal deals here, and you wait a little bit longer for your food. But you know what? It's worth it. Real food served fast from a corporate chain. Who woulda thunk it?
5 Guys Burgers and Fries
33 Heritage Meadows Way
Calgary, AB
(403) 252-3373
5 Guys Burgers and Fries
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