[I-Hate-Hulse]

I was at the one in Medicine Hat last week. It's in the new "power center" (gag) development out by the new superstore and WalMart.

You go in and it's a stark white/red ceramic tiled place that screams burger joint. Kind of reminded me of a McD's from the 80's. Definately not like a new Moxies / Earls lounge type of place. They have baskets of peanuts available and you can toss shells onto the tiled floor.

The best thing about these guys is easily the fries. They used peanut oil and the cajun fries are seasoned heavily. Crispy, fresh, and the "regular" sized is pretty much an entire brown lunch bag full of them. Wickedly awesome. The "5 guys fries" is just salted fries... there is not special seasoning of them or anything.

Burger is.....OK. I suppose if you like your burgers fried on a flattop (like McD's used to do) you might like it more that I did. I'm a flame broiled kind of guy and would take a Harvey's burger any day of the week. Portions were ridiculous as you might expect. A great thing is the topping options - sauteed mushrooms and onions were among the many choices.

It's not super cheap. 2 burgers, and 2 fries, 1 drink came to about $20. All ingredients are fresh - there are no freezers on site. Patties and fries are all made from scratch. Kudos to them for that - and you can taste the difference.

Since I was on my way to Saskatoon, a perfect comparison was Fuddruckers. Burgers were about the same IMHO, 5Boys get the nod for the superior fries (didn't have Fuddruckers' nacho cheese though!)

One thing's for sure, if this is what some Americans are eating on a weekly / daily basis, I can see why there's a national obesity epidemic. You roll out of the joint stuffed.

According to my receipt, whoever's the franchisee...lives at Heritage Pointe in DeWinton.