Five Guys makes best burger and fries

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If you've got a craving for an old fashioned burger and fries, try Five Guys.

By KARI PUGH

Date published: 5/3/2001

FIVE GUYS FAMOUS BURGERS AND FRIES

Marumsco Plaza, Woodbridge

Phone: 703/492-8882

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.

Tab for two: About $11. If you drive up from Fredericksburg, it might cost you more for gas than for food.

Atmosphere: What atmosphere?

Credit cards: This is a cash-only burger joint.

Other info: Be prepared to wait in line. It's worth it.

Directions: Interstate 95 north to Exit 161 toward Woodbridge. Follow U.S. 1 south. Go two miles to Marumsco Plaza at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Longview Drive. From Potomac Mills, follow Smoketown Road to U.S. 1 and turn left, heading north. Follow U.S. 1 about two miles to Marumsco Plaza.

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

OK, so Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries in Woodbridge is actually my little brother's favorite restaurant. But I've been a devotee of their fat juicy burgers and big greasy fries since he dragged me to the bare-bones dive on U.S. 1 last summer.

The restaurant's downright rude interior can be a turn-off, until you try the burgers and fries. A hand-chalked menu propped on the open kitchen's back wall is just as simple as the rest of the surroundings. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, fries and soda. That's it. If you want a milkshake, go to McDonald's.

For those waiting in line, and there's always a slow line, a sack of salty, roasted peanuts sits atop an upside-down trash can. The shells go--where else?--on the floor. Crunching them underfoot is part of the whole Five Guys experience, along with the Jimi Hendrix music blasting from unseen speakers.

Sanitized floors and Happy Meals are not what this place is about. At the expense of everything else, Five Guys hangs its business on absolute freshness. Nothing, not a single hot dog or pure beef patty, is ever frozen. There's no freezer in the joint. The fries (99 cents to $3.19) started that morning as dirty Idaho spuds. They are always fried in pure peanut oil.

My brother babbled on and on with praise for the fresh-not-frozen fries, then warned me not to get the large. I looked longingly as other customers walked away with their big, oil-splotched brown bags--the cooks fill every paper sack to overflowing with those fries. You can order them plain or with a shake of Cajun spice.

Date published: 5/3/2001