Melanie, Burger Queen of Planet Earth

I have this friend that I love dearly. Her name is Melanie. She was in my youth group years ago. Since then she's grown up, gotten married, become a teacher and a mom. And now ... She is my very own burger expert! Hey, everybody needs one. I just received the following e-mail from her. It must be shared with the world (that would be you.) I love a good burger, but Mel? Mel is P-A-S-S-I-O-N-A-T-E about one! Read and see...

Ron,

I have been a hamburger connoisseur my entire life. When my family and I would make the occasional trip out to eat I would always order a hamburger. I used to cry at Chinese food places because I knew they did not have hamburgers. (Plus I was scared of eating my neighbor's cat) Cracker Barrel brought tears too because they served their burgers on sour dough bread. After many hamburgers and lots of extra body weight my parents started to limit my hamburger fetish. However, this forced me to become a connoisseur of only the best burgers. Due to these facts and my experience as a Language Arts teacher I was challenged by your blog to compare and contrast the hamburger eating experiences of the famous Texas Whataburger and your loved Five Guys Burgers.

First I will start with the overall experience at both restaurants. Whataburger is my first to rate. I lived in Texas for almost ten years. I had heard about Whataburger from my readings of Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby series during elementary school. I recall that Ramona Quimby was also enamored with the famous Whataburger. Naturally when I moved to Texas one of my first ambitions was to try the Whataburger. The commercials are also a draw for Texans. I would say anyone who has ever lived in Texas has had a Whataburger experience.

The Whataburger restaurant is not much different than any other fast food joint. It does feel like a blast from the past due to the orange and white simple decor. One may choose to go through the drive-thru or eat inside the restaurant. If you eat inside the restaurant the only different experience you will find with this fast food joint is they bring your food to your table. This can be a plus if you have small children to jostle around. The food is cooked to order. Just the way you like it, fresh, and warm. The burgers are flat and large in diameter. The fries are thin and salty. It is evident the patties and fries are packaged. I envision someone taking them out of the freezer and dropping them on the grill or in the grease pit to cook. The closest comparison I have come to a Whataburger is the Sonic hamburger and fries. In fact since moving to Tennessee I have been forced to eat the Sonic Bacon cheeseburgers and fries when I crave one from Whataburger. I have been told there may be WiFi in the restaurant. I did not personally experience this myself during my time in Texas. (Which was quite recent)

Five Guys Burgers in Murfreesboro, TN is a much different experience than most fast food burger joints. It is not your typical fast food hamburger. I would designate it as a burger that is fast. There is a difference. At Five Guys you get to fill your empty belly with peanuts while you wait on your hamburger. All the while you are listening to the employees joyfully shouting out the orders and commenting on them. It is pretty loud in the place due to the employees. They are obviously required to look happy about their jobs. It makes the place a little fun to hang out. The burger appears and tastes to be from real hamburger meat. It is cooked to your liking on the grill while you watch at a distance. The fries are thick and very tasty. They are not your typical fast food fry. You may order regular or Cajun seasoned fries. The hamburger is thicker than most fast food burgers. I had to open my mouth pretty wide to get a good bite. It's a good thing I don't suffer from TMJ.

Whataburger and Five Guys both provide their customers with made to order hamburgers. The burgers are fresh and warm for the customers. The food is provided quickly to the customers. Both restaurants are centered around customer satisfaction. Each provides its own unique dining experience to appeal to the customers. Both are well-respected in their territories.

The Whataburger hamburger is larger in diameter than the Five Guys burger. The Whataburger hamburger is flat and appears to be processed. The Five Guys hamburger meat appears and tastes to be fresh ground beef. It is much thicker than the Whataburger hamburger. The toppings on the Five Guys burgers appear to be fresher than the Whataburger toppings. The fries at Whataburger are not as tasty as the fresh cut, thick, seasoned fries at Five Guys. The drink selection at Five Guys was much more varied than any fast food restaurant I have seen thus far. This impressed me. I did miss the Whataburger experience of someone bringing my food to the table for me. It was a little inconvenient at Five Guys to have my husband wait around for the grub while I entertained the toddler. However, not inconvenient enough to keep me from returning to Five Guys.

Overall I would say we enjoyed our experience at Five Guys better than that of Whataburger. My husband says he was never that impressed with Whataburger. According to him there was nothing special about it. As far as Five Guys Burgers I quote, " The burger at Five Guys is a man's burger." If you want a real hamburger with great fries go to Five Guys Burgers. If you just want a filling, made to order, fresh, fast food hamburger go to Whataburger.

Your burger buddy,

Mel