I drove home from Five Guys wondering how much money the chain is planning on contributing to President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.  The man has given them enormous — and free — publicity.  Heck, I’d never even heard of Five Guys until I read about Obama’s visits there.

Now that I’ve been, I can tell you this:  They make a very good fast food burger.   Not on par with the best of restaurant burgers — you can’t compare it to a thick, char-grilled Squire’s burger for instance — but it blows McDonald’s and Burger King out of the water.

Here are the observations about Five Guys:

1. You can go to the location in Nanuet and not worry about running into a Presidential motorcade:

2. Five Guys has a devoted following.  Customers were streaming in.  I heard one man in line ask his friend, “What’s good?”  ”Everything!” his friend replied enthusiastically.

3. The menu is simple to navigate: burgers, hot dogs, and fries. That’s it.

4. “Little” burgers are single patties.  All other  burgers come as double patties.  I didn’t realize that at first. I’d contemplated ordering two regular cheeseburgers until I saw they were doubles.  That would have been a bit much.

5.  Burger toppings are free and include your usuals — lettuce, tomato, pickles — plus other toppings like jalapenos, grilled onions, grilled peppers and A-1 sauce. (Which in all my life, I’ve never seen someone actually use.  Didn’t even know they made A-1 anymore.)

6. Food at Five Guys is made to order; nothing is sitting around or pre-packaged.   The burger patties are pressed and cooked on a flat griddle, and they even toast the buns!

5. The kosher hot dogs look really good.  Split and grilled.

6. Because everything is made to order, you’ll wait a bit longer for your food than you would at McDonald’s.  But it’s not long, just a few minutes.  And it wouldn’t have been a problem had I not come straight from a workout in a ravenous state.   I swear, I almost jumped over the glass partition like Spiderman to snag one of the burgers on the griddle.

7. The Cajun fries are crispy and fantastic, and portion size is out of control.  A heaping “regular” order of fries came in an overflowing cup that spilled into the bag.  It was enough for two or three people.  I shudder to think what constitutes a “large.”

8. And finally, the burgers.  I ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, jalapenos and grilled mushrooms. Thinnish patties (but there were two of them!) that were juicy and tasted like real beef, not processed like at other fast food joints.  Everything was fresh, and I loved having so many topping options.  A very good burger.

9. Oh, and another thing: the employees were efficient and the woman at the register was friendly, giving a smile and a “Have a nice day.”  Not a big deal maybe, but we live in a society where customer service is going down the toilet and people are more surly than Michael Bloomberg meeting the press. I appreciate little friendly touches.

10. As of now, Nanuet is the only Five Guys location in the Westchester/Rockland area.  That won’t last.  Five Guys is going to catch on quickly, and I predict more locations popping up. How about Chappaqua?  If we can’t get Obama, at least former President Clinton could stop in.  I have a feeling he likes burgers.

Five Guys
43 East Rte. 59
Nanuet, NY
845-623-1863