Happiness Is...

...the new Five Guys Burgers and Fries location that just opened in Park Slope, on 7th Ave!

After months of anticipation, the chain burger joint, sorta the East Coast's answer to In-N-Out Burger, opened a mere ten minute walk from my apartment. Glorious.

I got my dinner from Five Guys on Sunday night, a Cheeseburger with ketchup, pickles, and fried mushrooms, and a Regular Cajun Fries. The requisite Costco-size boxes of peanuts were everywhere, but the shells had yet to litter the floor. I even saw one patron, while waiting for his order, neatly sweep his empty shells into his hand and then place them into a garbage can. Park Slope is so different than Manhattan.

I took my order home, at which point the brown paper sack had taken on a wonderfully grease-stained appearance, due in large part to the extra helping of fries that the counter people dump into the bag on top of your food, one of my favorite aspects of the place. Can never have too many french fries. Especially Cajun-seasoned fries. With malt vinegar. The food was what I expected, greasy and delicious, a definite step above McDonald's, but below my current favorite burger in Park Slope, the Sirloin Burger from Miracle Grill, also on 7th. But that's another post.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Five Guys. Welcome.

For my next burger tasting, I've got my sites set
on this tasty looking sign, newly arrived on 5th Ave:















Unfortunately, the visit was not all peaches and sunshine, as you can read below...

One Reason I Will Never Vote for Mike Bloomberg

The Posting of Calorie Counts on Chain Restaurant Menus

As detailed above, I recently paid my first visit to the new Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Park Slope, on 7th Ave. As in many burger joints and fast food restaurants, the menu was posted on a large sign over the ordering counter. However, having not been a frequenter of chain restaurants since moving to Brooklyn more than two years ago, I was unprepared for what was listed next to the rather sparse menu offerings: the number of calories in each item.

There is absolutely no need for me to know that a Five Guys Bacon Cheeseburger contains over 900 calories, or that a Large order of delicious boardwalk-style Five Guys Cajun Fries contains more than 1400 calories. If I'm stupid enough to not understand that eating at Five Guys more than once a week is unhealthy, than I'm probably too stupid to understand that 2300 calories is way too much for a single meal.

Does Mayor Mike really think that this is why he was elected to office, to police the fast food joints in the town? Is that how Rudy made his name? Is this what Bloomberg plans on running on when he fails to get elected President in four years, his war on fat? What a joke. The vast majority of the people in the city of New York are either grown-ups, or have parents who are grown-ups.

Either way, we can decide for ourselves whether or not something is unhealthy without having calorie counts forcibly displayed on menus. And why are chain restaurants the only ones subject to this? Because of the inherent evilness of all corporations? Is a meal purchased at an overpriced eatery any more healthy because the establishment isn't part of a national conglomerate? Or is this just another example of our elected officials assuming that those who eat at lower-priced chain restaurants are just too stupid to run their own lives? Any why am I asking so many questions?

Mike Bloomberg is the single most annoying elected official that I can think of. He's not necessarily a bad leader, or even a person I disagree with to a great degree, he's just ridiculously annoying. He seems to think that his job is to impose his ideals upon the city's populace. It's not. Start cutting the budget, make sure the mass transit system works, and keep crime down. That's it. And hurry up and leave office so you can start planning your failed presidential campaign.