Five Guys wins WTOP's top burger
Wednesday - 7/25/2012, 8:06am ET
Dick Uliano, wtop.com
WASHINGTON - Just four months after President Obama moved into the White House in 2009, he had a hankering for a burger. Where did he go? Five Guys.
Three years later, plenty of other burger lovers living and working in the national capital area caught on to the Five Guys craze.
Five Guys trounced the competition to win "Best Burger" in the D.C. area in WTOP's Top 10.
Elevation Burger finished second. BGR The Burger Joint came in third.
"It's just your sort of good, basic, delicious burger," says a hungry diner at the Bethesda Row Five Guys location.
"It's not like any other burger, it just tastes delicious," a student nearby chimes in.
"We're excited and very flattered," says Mary Catalano, director of communications of Lorton, Va.-based Five Guys.
"We have grown so much, but our customers in the Washington area have been so loyal to us as we've grown. It just means a lot that they continue to enjoy our burgers."
Besides the winning burgers, lots of people praised the fries at Five Guys.
Five Guys believes boardwalk-style fries, especially in this region, are what people want when they think french fries.
"The skins are on, cooked in peanut oil," Catalano says.
Forbes.com reported last week that Five Guys, which originated in Arlington, Va., is America's fastest growing restaurant chain.
Quality can sometimes fall victim to expansion in the restaurant business. Can Five Guys maintain quality and continue to please customers as it expands its reach across the nation?
"That is all that we have been focusing on as we've grown," says Catalano.
"We have a hedgehog mentality -- head down and focused on burgers and fries."
Here's how the other burger joints did in WTOP's Top 10:
- Five Guys
- Elevation Burger
- BGR The burger joint
- Tastee Diner
- Ray's Hell Burger
- Good Stuff Eatery
- Cheeburger Cheeburger
- Foster's Grille
- Z Burger
- Shake Shake
Voting in the WTOP Top 10 was open to WTOP listeners and was conducted through WTOP.com and the WTOP Facebook page.
WTOP's Michelle Basch contributed to this report. Follow Michelle and WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
