Tucson has (at least one) 5 Guys Burgers joints now... and I checked their sodium levels...

[MiddleFingerMom]

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...and it turns out I can splurge on SOME of their food IF I'm careful
about sodium in the rest of my meals.
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So... any suggestions? What do they have that's BEST? Their menu
seems somewhat limited, so this shouldn't be too hard.
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Hurry with your responses, please. I start Cardiac Rehab at my
hospital's Health & Wellness Center on the 19th -- I wanna get this
DONE so's I can look them in the eyes without the obvious guilt or
grease on my face.
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By the way, I just had a burger at my favorite DUer's ranch. Kali
called it the "Kali-fornia Burger".
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Shhhh... don't tell her 'cause I don't wanna hurt her feelings, but
on a... um... you know... ... ... on a scale of 1 to 10, it sucked.
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Suckity-suck-suck-suck.
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Now -- about any 5 Guys recommendations?
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[newcriminal]

1. We went to the one in DC that Obama goes to.

Only was there once but it was good. I think DH and I just got a basic or regular cheeseburger. Their basic is a double so it was big. We all enjoyed it they even had an all vegetable burger. Wasn't really a vegetarian burger, but a lot of vegetables on a bun. OH and their order of fries is huge it could serve 4 easily.

[Chan790]

2. Actually...

If you skip the fries and get the veggie sandwich (or stick to the junior (1-patty instead of 2), no cheese or bacon) leaving off the mayo and the ketchup (or you can leave the tomato condiment if you really want to since it's salt content is comparably-small once you realize it's only about 1 tsp. of ketchup.) I think you'd be fine on the salt...none of the other topping strike me as having any real salt content...maybe the jalapenos and pickles. (I'd be shocked if they don't encourage you to eat both anyways as both are known to be good for heart-health...capsicin and vinegar are both mild blood thinners, expectorants and known to reduce fluid-retention. My dentist once told me that pickles are good for dental health and dental health is the great unmentioned factor in heart-health...clean teeth = less heart-attacks. I have no idea why but I've had it confirmed by my internal-medicine specialist.)

I realize that's blasphemy on the fries but they give you enough fries for like 4 meals and they don't reheat well...if you have to get the fries, go with 2 friends and split the order of small fries.

[newcriminal]

3. Good God Chan....

that's not a burger anymore if you leave off the cheese and the mayo.

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. Good advice -- the cheese ups the sodium content DRASTICALLY...

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...and (SOB) I do so love my cheese. If I go with the burger choice,
it will definitely be the single.
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They've even got the sodium content of their condiments. Something
as innocuous as ketchup or mustard CAN have an enormous sodium level
(and low/no-salt ketchup really really sucks).
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. The fries were surprisingly low (though still high in MY world). They
LOOK good -- so that's undoubtedly going to be a part of my spurge
that I usually pass over anymore (along with some of that seaworthy
ketchup... maybe mayo -- I DID live in Germany for four years).
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. Thanks.
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[blue_onyx]

6. Not necessarily

I looked at the nutritional info at their website and the veggie sandwich has more than double the sodium than the hamburger has.

[MiddleFingerMom]

7. I saw that and was surprised, though...

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...perhaps I shouldn't have been.
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In checking salt contents for awhile now -- I've found that a LOT of
products that have lower fat or are cheaper or have less flavorful
ingredients are jazzed BACK up in the cheapest, easiest way possible --
with the addition of a TON of salt.
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Once you start looking at labels, you become amazed at the amount of
sodium that we are fed (largely unaware) every day.
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Obscene amounts.
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SOMETIMES as a "flavor-enhancer", sometimes as a preservative...
but ALWAYS with a penny saved here and there in the manufacturing
process. Flavors that could be enhanced in much healthier but, of course...
much less cost-effective ways.
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[Dr Morbius]

10. Yup.

A single container of salt, weighing perhaps a pound and a half and costing maybe 59 cents, lasts me at my house for way more than a year.

I do not trust "low-fat" products. I would prefer to buy the regular stuff and eat less of it.

[Chan790]

8. It's because the veggie sandwich assumes you're getting cheese.

It's literally a cheese and toppings sandwich...if you get no cheese, you eliminate almost all of the reported sodium.

Edit: I guess I can state that more clearly...it's a hamburger bun toasted with cheese and your choice of toppings and nothing else...there is no veggie patty.

[MiddleFingerMom]

9. Makes sense. When I worked in downtown Tucson for awhile...

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...some coworkers and I went to a little hole-in-the-wall
Mexican joint that had a pretty good reputation (hence our
great surprise).
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One coworker was DELIGHTED to see a veggie taco on the menu
and ordered two of them.
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It was simply a taco without the meat.
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A taco shell filled with diced tomatoes, lettuce, and onions.
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No refried beans. No CHEESE(???). No sour cream. No nothin'.
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It was both outrageously insulting AND stupid.
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[Chan790]

11. yeah, but if you're a vegetarian, you don't miss the meat here.

I generally try to avoid eating Five Guys too often (like more than once a year) as it's really "unclean" food for a vegetarian to be eating. By unclean, I mean one might reasonably argue it's not vegetarian since it's totally being cooked on the same grill as the burgers in space that likely was occupied very-previously by a burger and being cooked with the utensils as the burger.

Still, a sandwich of grilled and fresh onions, mushrooms, BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato, etc. is mighty fine with a side of fries (I take 1/2 the fries back to work and feed them to my flaco latina co-workers so I can feel skinny when my pants are huge and they're complaining that their size-0's no longer fit.) and a free refills soda.

It's not gyppy like the veggie taco.

[blue_onyx]

5. A 5 Guys just opened by me too

I got the "little hamburger." It tasted good. It was pretty big for being "little."

[Kali]

12. ahem

no stinking snake burgers round here

wonder if the 5 guys will be tasty or just apparent hype like in-and-out burger

man I am still shaking my head on that one

krispy kreme did live up to the hype - at least more than the burger place, but they seem to be gone

[Chan790]

13. The Five Guys lives up to the hype...

it's the fries more than anything else that is special though. They single-source the potatoes (ie. Star Farms. Shelley, ID) and your fries have never been frozen, they were potatoes less than an hour previous to serving.

It's far-and-away the best "fast-food" burger on the market...the food isn't fast though, they cook to order and the wait is >5 minutes usually.

They use better ingredients, cook to order and train their people well. I may not eat the burgers (or the food very often) but I worked in premium fast-food and know a well-run operation when I see one.

[Kali]

14. I will check it out soon.

need to look up the locations. Good fries would be nice! haven't had good junk food fries since they stopped using lard.

[MiddleFingerMom]

15. Completely agree on both Krispy Kreme AND In-and-Out Burger. n/t

[MiddleFingerMom]

17. Northeast corner of Campbell & Glenn (Albertson's parking lot where the Hollywood Video used to be).

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There's an Ace Hardware in that center, so you can use THAT as
an excuse to stop... and THEN say, "Oh, look what's over there!!!
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:rofl:
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[Phentex]

19. Plus, it's a good concept...

They offer just the basic items. They aren't rolling out some stupid chicken burger taco every other week.

It may not be fast but I think the menu saves time by not having so many items or different prices for different sizes like they have at other places. (Dollar menu, regular menu, salad menu, dessert menu, etc.)

[fizzgig]

16. i pig out when i go there

little bacon cheeseburger with tomato, pickle, grilled mushrooms and onions, jalapenos and mayo. i'll get fries if i'm splitting them with my husband (their fries are damn tasty), but even a small is too much for one person, imo.

damn, now i'm hungry

[KamaAina]

18. That burger was the special at AT&T Park this week

while the Giants were sweeping the D-Bags to clinch at least a tie for the NL West! :bounce: