Five Guys - Burgers and Fries

You may be asking yourself why is a guy who doesn't eat meat reviewing a burger place; good question, but I have heard about Five Guys for a while and now that they have come to our area I thought I would give them a try so I headed over to their new location at 1237 SOM Center Road in Mayfield Heights. This is part of the new strip mall just North of Eastgate. Five Guys is a snappy set up decorated in white and red tiles with some black accents. A pretty good sized place offers seating at both regular and high tables and a counter along the wall. You enter past piled up bags of potatoes waiting to be made into fries, grab some peanuts in the shells to eat while your order is being made, saunter up to the counter and order from a fairly simple menu. Five Guys offers burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, fries and drinks. That is it, no chicken, fish, happy meals or even milkshakes. Now that does not mean there is no variety as there are plenty of toppings that you can add (bacon and cheese are extra, all of the other toppings are included) from basics like ketchup, tomato and lettuce to the more interesting like grilled onions, mushrooms and jalapenos. I ordered a grilled cheese with grilled onions, mushrooms, green peppers and jalapenos ($2.49) and a regular order of fries ($2.39). While I was waiting for the order to be made I settled in and started eating the very tasty peanuts. About 5 minutes later my number was called and I picked up my order, all of which are served in a bag whether it is to go or for eat in. The grilled cheese was nicely done with the bun grilled nicely and a good portion of the veggies making for a very tasty treat. I especially want to mention the jalapenos which were crisp, fresh and very spicy, helping to take the sandwich up a notch. The fries were very good and the portion size was huge, a regular is suppose to fill a small cup, yet mine seemed to be at least double what I would have expected. The fries are fresh cut and then fried in peanut oil, the result is a very good fry with a nice crisp outside and a well cooked inside, the peanut oil adds a little extra flavor to compliment the good potato taste. Five Guys is decorated with quotes from the many favorable reviews they have gotten around the country; not suprising when they do such a good job and keep their approach basic and focused. I arrived about 1:30pm on a Saturday and the place was very busy and stayed that way; clearly Five Guys is catching on in Cleveland. I admire Five Guys, they have taken an approach of keeping things basic and using quality products to produce very good food at a reasonable price. They do not make excuses, cooking in peanut oil and serving bulk peanuts, they warn if you are allergic you need to stay away. They have not tried to expand their menu or make it overly complicated and they are succeeding with this approach. Go see what you think, they currently have locations in Mayfield Heights, Southpark and Great Northern.

The Boneyard - Mayfield Heights Playground

So its Monday and I remembered that The Boneyard has a $5 pizza special so I thought I would check it out. The Boneyard at 5900 Mayfield in Mayfield Heights is located in an old movie theater and it offers probably the best East Side arcade/bar/restaurant set up. Kind of similar to Dave and Busters, but with a bit different decor. You enter in the back and there are three main choices: there is the extensive game room with plenty of different games ranging from the latest video games to more traditional skee ball and other games for kids to win prizes by collecting tickets; there is the bar area with a big central bar and tables all facing the big screen TVs; and the upstairs dining area which also overlooks the big screens. To go with the Boneyard name, there are plenty of funky scull and skeleton designs around and the atmospere is relaxed and kind of hip. The menu is the same in the bar and the restaurant and offers a good variety of items, including some fairly unique offerings such as pierogis, and an appetizer of a big bowl of Lucky Charms. But I was here to try the pizza; the Monday deal is that after 3:00pm you can get a one item pizza for $5. So I ordered up a mushroom pizza and watched the sports shows while I waited. The pizzas are a 9" thin crust variety, cut into 6 pieces, not a bad buy for $5, but not sensational. The crust is a nice combination of crisp outside and chewy inside, but it does have a tendency to sag in the middle, not much rise on the outer crust. The sauce is a bright slightly sweet classic tomato sauce put on in about the right amount. The cheese gives a good covering and is cooked nicely, a bit on the mild side. The mushrooms were ok, but I was disapointed in how few mushrooms were on the pizza, I really didn't get much flavor off of them. Overall the pizza was pleasant, if a bit bland and for $5 not a bad deal, but not sensational, I won't be heading back for this any time soon. I will of course think of hitting the Boneyard when we need to play the video games and it seems to be one of the more happening bars in the area.