Great burgers, fabulous fries and a grilled hot dog that’s going to knock your socks off – that’s what’s on the menu at Charlotte’s newest venture into the burger biz, Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries. For Jerry Murrell, creator and corporate owner of the chain, and for local franchise owners, the limited menu concept, which also includes grilled cheese and grilled veggie sandwiches, works beautifully.

“We do one thing and we do it well,” said Jimmy Toler, the operating partner for Charlotte’s franchise. “We can’t be everything to everybody, but we can be the best at what we do, and what we do is grill burgers.”

Currently the Charlotte franchise is two locations strong. “Our plan is to open 10 locations in our franchised area (Mecklenburg, York and Union counties) in the next three years,” Toler explained.

I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today
A typical Friday at either of the two Charlotte locations starts with 250 pounds of fresh ground beef, shaped by hand into quarter-pound patties. You can do the math. “As busy as we’ve been, we just cross our fingers that it’s enough,” Toler said with a laugh.

One of the secrets to the success of the Five Guys’burger is the 80/20 blend of beef, which Murrell insists upon using because he believes it produces the best results. The other is the companywide dedication to a fresh product.

“The beef, like everything else on the menu, is fresh, never frozen. We don’t even have a freezer on the premises,” Toler said. “The fat in the blend of beef keeps the burgers tender.” Cooked well done, according to health code regulations, these chargrilled burgers remain tender and juicy and are indeed done well.

Burgers come in two sizes: large and small. The large burger is made of two grilled patties, the small burger a single one. The menu labels the single-patty version a “little burger,” but the name is deceiving. These are not wimpy burgers. The quarter pound of beef with grilled bread and customized condiments is sure to fill you up. All patties are the same size, but because they are handmade, no two look exactly alike.

The burgers are served on grilled buns, specially baked for Five Guys corporatewide, with the customers’ choice of condiments ranging from the standard ketchup, mustard and mayo with lettuce, pickles, cheese, onion and tomato to more flamboyant options such as grilled mushrooms, jalapenos, green peppers, fried onions and A1 Steak Sauce, barbecue sauce or hot sauce. Grilled strips of applewood-smoked bacon are another of the chain’s distinctive condiments, and a tasty one at that.

The same condiments offered on burgers are available on the Hebrew National brand hot dogs and on the Five Guys grilled cheese sandwich. The dogs are some of the finest I have ever had. My only lament is a lack of sauerkraut and the absence of a chili option. Still, the bacon and cheese atop my split grilled dog dressed with mustard, relish and tomato more than made up for what I deem to be the missing hot dog staples.

If you are looking for comfort food on the Five Guys menu, go no further than the grilled cheese. A thick serving of cheese grilled between two slices of thickly cut, slightly sweet bread makes a delicious meatless lunch or dinner. I like mine with sliced tomatoes in the sandwich and some pickles on the side. I also have tried the veggie sandwich and have to say I was disappointed.

It was no more than a pile of condiments on a bun, which fell apart every time I tried to lift it to take a bite. A good idea in concept (everything tasted good), it was just an impossible mess to eat. Perhaps they should serve it with a fork.

Fries take the prize
Burgers and sandwiches aside, let me direct your attention to Five Guys’ fries, worth the trip alone and arguably some of the best fries in the greater Charlotte area. Like the burgers and dogs, the fries are never frozen.

Instead, whole Idaho potatoes are peeled and hand-cut each morning, after which the cooking takes place in a threepart process.

First the crew blanches the prepared potatoes by dipping them into a pot of boiling water for a minute or so and then rinsing them with an ice water bath. The blanching process removes any excess water from the potato, which results in a more golden and crispier outside edge to the fried potato. After blanching, the preboiled potatoes are allowed to rest. Next, potatoes are deep-fried to order in 100 percent peanut oil. The end result is what many refer to as “boardwalk fries,” long but thick-cut potatoes that are crispy on the outside with the soft, warm consistency of a baked potato on the inside.

Five Guys offers fries in regular or large sizes – both are generous portions. They come seasoned Five Guys style — with salt or tossed in a blend of Cajun spices. Both varieties are good and the real flavor of the potato comes through.

A nutty concept
Because the fries at Five Guys are cooked in peanut oil, warnings regarding peanut allergies are posted on every door and on the menu. To emphasize the fact that peanut derivatives are in use, the restaurant also serves bulk-roasted peanuts to customers for munching while they wait for their orders (although the wait isn’t long). The peanuts are a fun addition and tasty, too. Management requests that customers refrain from throwing the shells on the floor.

Yes, Virginia …
There really are five guys. It all started in the mid 1980s. Murrell and his wife had four sons, the oldest about college age. Murrell came up with the concept for a better-than-fast-food burger joint and then pitched a choice to his children: Either they could go to college or the family could use the money to open a restaurant. Together, Murrell and sons (and Mom, too) all opted for the restaurant business. So the five guys went to work in the first location of their appropriately named burger biz in Alexandria, Va.

The menu originally included ham sandwiches and grilled chicken sandwiches in addition to burgers and dogs.

Although the initial concept was well received, the owners tinkered with the menu, streamlining and refining it during the first few years. The Murrell family actually bought the bakery that made their hot dog and burger buns so that they would have an exclusive on the recipe. Two-and-a-half years ago, Murrell franchised the concept. Now Five Guys has more than 900 locations along the East Coast.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Edidin writes "The Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@thecharlotteweekly.com.

This article first appeared in "The Charlotte Weekly" on February 17, 2006. "The Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in North and South Charlotte and Uptown.

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