Encinitas fast food news: Five Guys Burgers ready to roll, Chick Fil A, too...
Nothing like a Five Guys Burger & Fries sighting to stir the burger-loving juices.
The rapidly expanding somewhat gourmet fast burger Mecca is up and about to be running at Encinitas now, at the old Daphne's Greek Cafe space, near Kaito Sushi at Encinitas Marketplace on El Camino Real and Encinitas Boulevard.
The actual opening date has not been announced. However, as you can see from the photo above, it could be soon enough.
In other Encinitas fast food news, word on the street is Chick Fil A is going in to an old bank building that once housed Baja Fresh at Encinitas Marketplace. Also, a Kohl's Department Store is said to be coming to the the former Albertsons .
San Diego County-wise, Five Guys last year rolled out quietly at North Island Naval Air Station, which is accessible only to military personnel. The Virginia-based burger chain also has gone into Point Loma, Pacific Beach and most recently, the 32nd Street Naval Station.
"We're expanding like crazy this year," said Leeanna Lertpaichaiyon, general manager of Five Guys at 32nd Street last month. She worked previously at a couple of the other San Diego locations.
"Leases have been secured for Hillcrest, La Jolla, University Town Center and a few spots in North County, including San Marcos," Lertpaichaiyon added.
Five Guys is considered healthy and good for you. Generally. Just steer clear of the large order of fries, which are cooked in peanut oil and weigh in at 1,474 calories and 71 grams of fat. An oozy bacon-cheeseburger inflicts less guilt in comparison, totaling 920 calories and 62 grams.
Mary and Jake from 'Foodies' visited the Five Guys Liberty Station giving it the thumbs-down, althugh she liked the fries. Check out the Encinitas store for your own opinion since Five Guys and In-and-Out Burgers are considered natural rivals.
Alyssa and Mary run the The Plain Jane
. This food blog is a side project that they both write for, doing reviews of restaurants in and around Southern California. They review all kinds of restaurants, pulling out their trusty cameras and taking photos of their food while other patrons try not to look at them and wonder why they are taking pictures of their food. Mary writes the majority of the reviews found here for San Diego.
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Five Guys is a national chain fast food restaurant – but without the drive-thru windows. I liken it to In-N-Out in that they have a limited menu and only sell a few things (no chicken sandwiches, nuggets, tacos or other crazy things here). Our friend, Chris, from Florida recommended this place to us after he found out that we actually had one in San Diego. I had been meaning to go, but previously thought the only restaurant was on NAS North Island. I did consider bugging my dad to take me on base to go, but I never did. Then a few weeks ago, I saw a review for Five Guys on Darlene’s blog and realized I didn’t have to go on base after all to check this place out. With the urging from Chris (re: lots of text messages), Jake and I took the kids out to Liberty Station to try out Five Guys.
When you first walk in, there’s a big pile of 50lbs. bags of potatoes, with a sign telling you where the potatoes are from that day. This place is pretty spacious, much bigger than any In-N-Out I’ve ever been too, with outdoor seating to boot. There’s also free peanuts for you to snack on while you wait for your order to come up. The kids feasted on the peanuts like there was no tomorrow. I ate a few, but mostly I wanted my “real” food to come out.
Jake and I got “regular” sized burgers for ourselves and “little burgers” for the kids. I really, really wish they had listed on their menu the difference between a “regular” burger and a “little” burger. A regular burger comes with 2 patties and a little one only has one patty. I would have preferred to have had the little burger, but … little sounds… well, mini sized! I suppose we should have asked, but I felt kind of duped.
The cool thing about Five Guys is the ability to choose your own toppings – which are all “free” – and you have 15 different toppings to choose from. I went with: Mayo, Ketchup, Mustard, Lettuce, and Onions (in addition to bacon and cheese).
I got the Bacon Cheeseburger ($6.39). The burger comes wrapped in foil on a sesame seed bun and slathered with all of the ingredients. I thought it was a bit too much having 2 patties. I didn’t really like the cheese on this burger (Jake reminded me that I don’t like American cheese, which is true for the most part) and I really didn’t like this bun. The bun was like any old thing I could buy at the grocery store and it wasn’t warmed up or anything. Very sad. Also, I know there was bacon on it because I saw it, but I don’t really remember tasting it. Maybe I had too many toppings? The burger itself was juicy and thick and cooked well, but overall I didn’t really care for the burger.
This above is 2 orders of the Regular Sized French Fries ($2.59). It took up about half of the paper bag. Mind you, when I ordered these, I thought I had ordered the large and realized later when I saw my receipt that I had only gotten 2 regulars. I can’t even imagine what a large sized order would look like, as this was plenty of fries to share between 2 adults and 3 kids.
I really liked the french fries – they reminded me somewhat of Boardwalk Fries that used to be in Horton Plaza. Crispy, skin on fries are what I like (though I needed to add salt to them so they could have some seasonings).
Oh, Five Guys. I’m sorry I didn’t really dig your burger. I liked your fries, though. You really should put somewhere that the regular burger is 2 patties. It would be the nice thing to do. But you know. Whatever...
