Obamas love Five Guys: What is your favorite hamburger place?

Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries has fans in the most unusual place. The hamburger place has quickly become a favorite of President and First Lady Obama. Michelle Obama took her staff to the restaurant on DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C. in February and President Obama stopped at the one in Southeast, Washington (near Nationals' Park) at the end of May to pick up a take-out order for his staff, the White House press and NBC's Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.

The president started a trend with his choices of toppings, and some customers are coming in asking for the "Obama burger." He ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, jalapeno peppers and mustard, no ketchup. Williams only got a cheeseburger with ketchup and fries. While the president waited for his order (he paid cash with money from his wallet) he snacked on the shelled peanuts and chatted with the surprised customers. The experience was so memorable that when asked how he liked the Great Pyramids of Giza he described it comparing it to his Five Guys hamburger run.

"Five Guys was good, this is better," Obama said.

All the burgers at Five Guys are cooked juicy and no pink, so the president and his staff got it the way we all do. He also had to look up on the board to order the toppings, just like regular folks. It's a standing joke for Five Guys zealots that they look up every time they are in a restaurant and forget there is a menu in front of them.

Five Guys was the brain child of Janie and Jerry Murrell. The name originally was for Murrell and his four sons, but another son was born two years after the opening of their first restaurant, so the five sons became the Five Guys. Today all five sons are involved in the business.

The couple opened their first location in the Westmont Shopping Center at the corner of South Glebe Road and Columbia Pike in Arlington, Va. The first location is gone, but in its place is 437 others in 38 states and Canada and 1,500 in development.

Franchises of the restaurants started in 2002 when the family was running five locations in Northern Virginia. JR Rosenau owns the two in Naples — 1410 Pine Ridge Road and 1320 Livingston Road — with a third coming this fall at Wiggins Pass and Old 41. Rosenau is a certified executive chef from Portland, and opened his first Five Guys in March 2007. He heard about the franchise in 2005 and went to Pennsylvania to check it out. Impressed he bought the franchise for Collier and Monroe counties. His were the first restaurants in Southwest Florida, and he hopes to have a total of eight. At the time he became interested in the franchise the only state available was Florida, but that suited Rosenau. He liked being in warm weather and as it turned out Florida has become the fastest growing state for the franchise. Florida Monthly voted Five Guys the "Best Burger in Florida" this year.

The menu is limited, because Murrell likes to keep things simple. His motto is serving a few items the best you can. The secret to greatness is freshness and quality of the product. Nothing is ever frozen, and the stores are not allowed to have a freezer. Even the buns are made from a special recipe at the Masada Bakery in Atlanta. When the Murrell's started out they had their buns made by hand by Brenner's Bakery of Arlington Inc. but switched when they started to franchise.

Patrons have the choice of 15 complimentary toppings to put on their regular or little plain, cheese or bacon burgers. If you multiply it out there are 250,000 different ways to enjoy a Five Guys burger. The little burger is one pattie weighing 3.3 to 3.5 ounces of 80 percent meat 20 percent fat and the regular is two patties on top of each other. Also available are hot dogs, cheese or bacon dogs and grilled veggies or grilled cheese. Fries come in Five Guys style or Cajun style in regular or large sizes and are always cooked in peanut oil and served in a brown paper bag. (Some people start to salivate when they see a brown bag with grease stains.) Your drink selection includes six different Coca Cola products, bottled water and fresh brewed Louisiana sweet or plain iced tea. Coffee and desserts are not sold, but you can snack on peanuts while you wait or take a bucketful to your table.

Approximately 180 pounds of meat, 450 to 500 rolls and a full box of peanuts are used by the Naples' stores daily. Rolls are delivered every three days and meat and potatoes are delivered twice a week. Every store has a chalk board naming the Idaho city where the potatoes came from that day. Most are grown in Rigby or Driggs, Idaho.

The most popular toppings at Rosenau's stores are mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. Ketchup is the top condiment, so President Obama is in the minority for his choice of mustard. Rosenau's favorite is a little burger with mayo, jalapeno, grilled mushrooms, A-1 sauce and hot sauce. If he went out to eat he would order a New York strip, an old fashioned baked potato and a fresh green vegetable. He's a steak and seafood kind of guy.

If you order the toppings all the way it means mayo, lettuce, pickle, tomato, ketchup, mustard, grilled onions and grilled mushrooms. The store has had a few customers asking for all 15 toppings, but it is not common.

Five Guys burgers and fries can only be topped by its 15 toppings. Try it, you'll really like it.



Tell us about your favorite hamburger place. Give details on why it's your favorite with your name, address and telephone number and send it to features@naplesnews.com or to Features, 1075 Central Ave., Naples, FL 34102, on or before July 7. We will publish them as a followup to this story.