Fun With Carbs

They always give you too many fries...

If you’re a burger fan and you haven’t hit up Five Guys, do it now. This Virginia-based chain has elevated fast-food burgers and fries to a new level of quality.

The Five Guys Enfield store is still under construction, so we visited the new Lincoln Square location in Worcester Sunday. Truth be told, we were looking forward to this outing almost as much as the Sun WineFest.

Five Guys’ menu is no-frills: single and double burgers with or without cheese and/or bacon; hot dogs; grilled cheese; regular or Cajun-spiced fries. Toppings are free, yet standard – hot sauce is as exotic as it gets. But the burgers are fresh, hot and made to order, and you can taste the quality in every bite.

The fries, cut from Idaho potatoes, are of the thicker skin-on variety. They’re incredible, fried in pure trans-fat free peanut oil. Bottles of malt vinegar are available for dipping. I almost liked this better than the ketchup.

I had my single-patty ‘Little Cheeseburger’ (what a misnomer…) with ketchup, mustard and grilled onions,  and it was delightfully messy.  I especially liked how the bun stood up to the meat and the overflowing onions. Grab a stack of napkins, you’re going to need them. The meat itself was juicy without being greasy, but I wished the cheese had melted just a bit more.

The 'little' cheeseburger that could

As soon as Five Guys officially rolls into town, hopefully within the next month, our waistlines are in trouble.

According to Five Guys’ website, 200 new restaurants will open in 2010. But if you don’t have a store near you, know that the food actually travels well. The fresh-made fries stay surprisingly crispy for a couple of days if you store them in the fridge. so it’s worth a road trip…