Walking into Five Guys Burgers and Fries on Yonge Street in East Gwillimbury is like receiving a jolt. The air is cold, the music is loud and the interior looks like a bare-bones garage. But the people there – a genuine mix of young and old, hipster and conservative – are all hunched over a jointly-shared secret: their hamburgers – their perfect hamburgers.
The testimonials on the walls, the free baskets of peanuts,the red-and-whiteness of the décor, the calm smiles of the staff amid the din- are all unique little things about the spot. But really it is the burgers – their moist tastiness – that has most likely made this chain one of the fastest growing food chains in North America. Oh, and the fries. They rival the thick salty lushness of fries from small-town Ontario chip wagons and the infamous, steamy-soft paper bags of patate frites from roadside casse-croutes in rural Quebec. They’re that good.