The most interesting meal of the weekend was the aforementioned visit to the bar at Five and Ten. The more significant meal was probably lunch the next day at Five Guys Hamburgers, my first visit. Much has been made of the Five Guys invasion of New York. Like many successful fast food enterprises, the word that comes to mind is "focused." There is evidence that they take actual food seriously, which would distinguish them from the majority of fast food restaurants. On the way in, there is a sign indicating "today's potatoes are from Smith Farm, Bluffton, Idaho," or words to that effect. One imagines that few folks will turn on their heels and walk out if the spuds are not from their preferred terroir, but the idea that the restaurant thinks you might want to know where the potatoes come from, or even that the restaurant wants you to think that they want you to know where the potatoes come from, is a gesture you don't see at competing joints. Five guys uses this revolutionary procedure for making french fries -- they take potatoes, cut them up, and fry them in peanut oil.
They take a similarly quirky approach with the burgers. They take ground beef, form it into patties, and grill them when you order them. At times this can mean that your food takes longer to prepare than it takes to drive around the perimeter of the building, but there are peanuts in the shell to munch while you wait. My cheeseburger was worth the wait, if not quite the symphony on a bun I'd experienced at an In 'n' Out Burger. As others have complained, well done is the only way the burgers come, but I'd argue that the hockey puck description is unfair. At home, I prefer something more like seared tartare, but in the context of the bun, the Five Guys presentation was juicy and tasty. The well-done only policy bothers me more as a vote of no-confidence in the meat -- hard not to take it as "'we gotta grill it, or it might kill ya." But considering these revolutionaries are running a fast food restaurant where they take actual ingredients, and actually cook them, I can live with that.
And the most remarkable thing about this meal? It was not in New York. Far from it. The excitement that greets the arrival of chains in New York -- viz Pinkberry, In 'n' Out and even Target -- puzzles the hell out of me. In New York, there are any number of talented chefs doing interesting takes on the hamburger. If you have the Shake Shack, Katz's, or all the delights of a Midtown Lunch at your disposal, Five Guys is maybe an interesting novelty. If the other option is going to Hardee's, and being made to feel like Linda Lovelace in any number of ways, Five Guys is a significant development. It's nice that Five Guys is in NYC -- it's important that like Radio Shack, they're all over the damn map.
Right on. Just because it is "fast food" doesn't automatically make it evil. Hopefully Five Guys will pave the way for other fast food chains that focus on the food rather than the process. There is clearly a demand.
Posted by: Heather | Tuesday, 06 November 2007 at 01:22 PM