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February 12, 2012

Blogs / Consuming Passions / December 2009 / All wrapped up in chains

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All wrapped up in chains

And so it was with much hype, pomp, circumstance, and free burritos that Chipotle finally opened up a restaurant in WNY. (It's on the Boulevard in Amherst in the plaza that's got the big Target)

I was in Rochester on Friday, the day after Buffalo's Chipotle opened, and it was lunchtime so I figured I'd stop in the Jefferson Rd location to try it out—I wanted to avoid (a) opening week crowds; and (b) the possibility that the food or service would be somehow affected by the location's newness.

I got a barbacoa fajita burrito. It was pretty good. Better than Moe's. A lot better than Salsarita's. But I was expecting to be blown away by its awesomeness. It didn't quite live up to its hype. I'll be back.

Enough talk about Chipotle. Instead, we ought look to our cousins in the Flower City for another fast food joint.

Five Guys 

If you've ever visited out west, you may have tried a little chain called In-n-Out Burger, which prides itself on the freshness of its food. For instance, fries are cut on-site from genuine potatoes. Burgers aren't frozen. Seriously, In-n-Out is the stuff of burger pilgrimage.

I tried Five Guys for the first time during a summertime trip to Washington, and learned that it was a chain with locations in Rochester. I even stumbled onto one in Ithaca a few weeks ago.

Five Guys' burgers are, to me, almost indistinguishable from what one gets at In-n-Out. You can top it how you want, the burgers are fresh, and actual potatoes are cut to make the fries (there's even a sign on the wall informing you of the potatoes' provenance). The menu is ridiculously simple, and the food is astonishingly good. Seriously, next time you're in Rochester for any reason, check it out .

And if you're wondering what should, say, replace the long-defunct Atlanta Bread Company at the corner of Transit and Sheridan, for instance, Five Guys would be the absolutely perfect answer.