i like burgers and fries...
Five Guys Burger and Fries
This weekend’s festivities could be described as low key: celebratory hh with miss J, trivia night with A which turned into a ping pong tournament…and then of course, FOOTBALL. (which really just means I have an excuse for sitting outside being social) but I’m getting off topic.
Sunday was a productive day so, after cleaning the house, a little church and posting things to sell on craigslist (anyone want a shelving unit or a rug?) it was time to grub. Mr. T was on board with trying another burger spot. After the Five Guys was declared the ‘best burger’ by some national burger hunt we figured we couldn’t go wrong trying there next.
We headed out to the one by Bunker Hill & I10, it’s in one of the new shopping centers that are springing up over there. I really would get fat if I lived out this way…
The first thing that struck me was how much it reminded me of in-and-out burger, very simplistic color scheme (red/white) and very Spartan. The menu is really basic – burger with toppings or a hot dog with toppings (and a grilled cheese for good measure). You purchase your burger with either cheese or bacon or both and the rest of the toppings are free (grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, etc). Fries come in two sizes and are either regular or Cajun seasoned. They must pride themselves on their fresh cut fries, the bags of potatoes they use are tagged with the date they were delivered and stacked to make the order line. A unique free-be, you can scoop yourself a helping of peanuts to snack on while you wait for your food.
I again went with the bacon cheeseburger (hey, if I’m getting a burger, I’m getting a BURGER). I opted for the ‘small’ which is just a single patty compared to the ‘regular’ which has two. Adding grilled mushrooms and jalapenos made my burger complete. T went for the double patties which worked out great and we could do a size comparison. I will say that the lady taking our order was less than happy to be alive. I think I must have ordered a side of ‘eye rolling’…anyway.
The wait for the burger seemed to take longer than it probably actual was, there’s no TV’s here so there’s nothing to do to keep you occupied while you wait. They have reviews from across the nation blown up into giant signs and I probably read all the quotes at least twice. It is nice that you can see into the kitchen, there’s no easy chance for someone to hock a loogie into your food (otherwise I might have been slightly more concerned about miss eye rolls).
And then it was time to feast!
Keeping with the last installment’s format: first the fries…They do a good job of giving you your money’s worth, our Cajun fries came in a cup with a good size extra helping simply dropped in the bag. The seasoning was really flavorful without being overly salty, which in my book can be hard to do. It’s not a spicy seasoning though, so don’t expect any heat. They were nicely cut fries, not to thin and not to thick but they didn’t have that crunchy outside that really makes me fall in love with a French fry. That of course did not stop me from over eating them, but I did not have the desire to dump my drink over the top of them towards the end to make me stop (see Pappa’s burger for reference).
And now for the burger…They have your order receipt taped to the outside of your bag, each burger is assigned a number and then the wrapped up burger is tagged with a matching number sticker. It’s a pretty slick way to find yours without unwrapping everyone else’s. I had to laugh because T’s double looked about the same as my single wrapped up and not much changed once they were unwrapped. These aren’t the massive ‘gourmet’ burgers that you run into but they do pack a lot of taste into them. I was disappointed to see that my ‘grilled mushrooms’ had been turned into ‘grilled onions’ by our ‘oh so helpful’ counter girl but as I will generally eat anything ,I didn’t want to hold it against the place. It was a really juicy, flavorful burger, the patties are fairly thin (likely so they can cook quickly) but they do a good job of keeping them from getting tough. No visible pepper flakes or seasoning in the meat so I have no idea what they do to it, but I can’t say it was bland. There was no slacking on the toppings; no ‘oh you want pickles? Here’s your ONE pickle’ here. I think that’s why my burger was about the same height as T’s- I had more goodies stuffed into it. The buns aren’t super impressive and by the end I had gutted my burger and was just eating the meat and toppings. The most I can say about them is that they were unimpressive, I’m sitting here the day after and I can’t think of anything to really say about it. Everything just seemed really fresh, and since fresh usually = better tasting I’m not surprised that they have been ranked so high.
The burgers will set you back around 5 bucks (depending on your size and the whole bacon and cheese thing) and the fries are around two… so for 7 bucks you can get a lot of food but again, no drink. It’s a fast food style place so we were in and out in around 30 min. I think they want fast turnaround though, with no beer and no tv there’s not much to do other than eat and get out.
I can’t say that I can think of a better ‘fast food’ burger out there- so I’ll agree that Five Guys Burgers and Fries does a great job at hitting the mark!
Stars: 4
9762 Katy Freeway
Houston, Tx
This weekend’s festivities could be described as low key: celebratory hh with miss J, trivia night with A which turned into a ping pong tournament…and then of course, FOOTBALL. (which really just means I have an excuse for sitting outside being social) but I’m getting off topic.
Sunday was a productive day so, after cleaning the house, a little church and posting things to sell on craigslist (anyone want a shelving unit or a rug?) it was time to grub. Mr. T was on board with trying another burger spot. After the Five Guys was declared the ‘best burger’ by some national burger hunt we figured we couldn’t go wrong trying there next.
We headed out to the one by Bunker Hill & I10, it’s in one of the new shopping centers that are springing up over there. I really would get fat if I lived out this way…
The first thing that struck me was how much it reminded me of in-and-out burger, very simplistic color scheme (red/white) and very Spartan. The menu is really basic – burger with toppings or a hot dog with toppings (and a grilled cheese for good measure). You purchase your burger with either cheese or bacon or both and the rest of the toppings are free (grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, etc). Fries come in two sizes and are either regular or Cajun seasoned. They must pride themselves on their fresh cut fries, the bags of potatoes they use are tagged with the date they were delivered and stacked to make the order line. A unique free-be, you can scoop yourself a helping of peanuts to snack on while you wait for your food.
I again went with the bacon cheeseburger (hey, if I’m getting a burger, I’m getting a BURGER). I opted for the ‘small’ which is just a single patty compared to the ‘regular’ which has two. Adding grilled mushrooms and jalapenos made my burger complete. T went for the double patties which worked out great and we could do a size comparison. I will say that the lady taking our order was less than happy to be alive. I think I must have ordered a side of ‘eye rolling’…anyway.
The wait for the burger seemed to take longer than it probably actual was, there’s no TV’s here so there’s nothing to do to keep you occupied while you wait. They have reviews from across the nation blown up into giant signs and I probably read all the quotes at least twice. It is nice that you can see into the kitchen, there’s no easy chance for someone to hock a loogie into your food (otherwise I might have been slightly more concerned about miss eye rolls).
And then it was time to feast!
Keeping with the last installment’s format: first the fries…They do a good job of giving you your money’s worth, our Cajun fries came in a cup with a good size extra helping simply dropped in the bag. The seasoning was really flavorful without being overly salty, which in my book can be hard to do. It’s not a spicy seasoning though, so don’t expect any heat. They were nicely cut fries, not to thin and not to thick but they didn’t have that crunchy outside that really makes me fall in love with a French fry. That of course did not stop me from over eating them, but I did not have the desire to dump my drink over the top of them towards the end to make me stop (see Pappa’s burger for reference).
And now for the burger…They have your order receipt taped to the outside of your bag, each burger is assigned a number and then the wrapped up burger is tagged with a matching number sticker. It’s a pretty slick way to find yours without unwrapping everyone else’s. I had to laugh because T’s double looked about the same as my single wrapped up and not much changed once they were unwrapped. These aren’t the massive ‘gourmet’ burgers that you run into but they do pack a lot of taste into them. I was disappointed to see that my ‘grilled mushrooms’ had been turned into ‘grilled onions’ by our ‘oh so helpful’ counter girl but as I will generally eat anything ,I didn’t want to hold it against the place. It was a really juicy, flavorful burger, the patties are fairly thin (likely so they can cook quickly) but they do a good job of keeping them from getting tough. No visible pepper flakes or seasoning in the meat so I have no idea what they do to it, but I can’t say it was bland. There was no slacking on the toppings; no ‘oh you want pickles? Here’s your ONE pickle’ here. I think that’s why my burger was about the same height as T’s- I had more goodies stuffed into it. The buns aren’t super impressive and by the end I had gutted my burger and was just eating the meat and toppings. The most I can say about them is that they were unimpressive, I’m sitting here the day after and I can’t think of anything to really say about it. Everything just seemed really fresh, and since fresh usually = better tasting I’m not surprised that they have been ranked so high.
The burgers will set you back around 5 bucks (depending on your size and the whole bacon and cheese thing) and the fries are around two… so for 7 bucks you can get a lot of food but again, no drink. It’s a fast food style place so we were in and out in around 30 min. I think they want fast turnaround though, with no beer and no tv there’s not much to do other than eat and get out.
I can’t say that I can think of a better ‘fast food’ burger out there- so I’ll agree that Five Guys Burgers and Fries does a great job at hitting the mark!
Stars: 4
9762 Katy Freeway
Houston, Tx
