Robert Spina sent me this. It's an article that lists America's fastest-growing restaurants (actually, restaurant chains). Numero Uno is not Numero Uno. It's my fave fast food burger chain, Five Guys which is expanding all over the place. (Note to friends near me: The one in the Westfield mall in Culver City is supposed to open by the middle of May.)
I'm curious to see how the arrival of Five Guys in California will impact the sales of the other chain that sells never-frozen hamburgers, cut-on-the-premises fries, drinks and not much else, In-N-Out. I think Five Guys is better — an admission that to some of my fellow Angelenos borders on treason. It's like a New Yorker saying they have better pizza in L.A. But I've become disenchanted with In-N-Out the last few years. Used to love 'em, now don't particularly like 'em. I haven't figured out how much of that reversal of fortune is them and how much is me.
By the way, folks: When I recommend something to eat here, be it Five Guys or Creamy Tomato Soup, I'm just giving you my opinion based on the examples I've tasted. Don't write to me like I've made some sort of scandalous factual error if you don't love the Five Guys burger at the outlet near you. I assume everyone grasps the concept that you may not like what I like…and maybe that one Five Guys makes better burgers than another or one Souplantation has a better tomato soup maker than another. Some of the nastiest mail I receive is not over whether Barack Obama and/or the Tea Party will be the ruination of mankind. It's about soup. Which is not to say good soup is not important…