{"id":1297,"date":"2010-12-08T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1297"},"modified":"2010-12-08T05:00:42","modified_gmt":"2010-12-08T12:00:42","slug":"baptist-pastors-five-guys-burgers-providence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1297","title":{"rendered":"Baptist Pastors, Five Guys Burgers & Providence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>On a recent trip to Dallas with my oldest son, Stephen, we stopped by the Galleria Mall.\u00a0 With four stories of shopping, an ice skating rink on the lower level, and the nation’s tallest indoor Christmas tree, the Galleria is a shopper’s paradise (at least if you have money or a credit card).<\/p>\n

For those of us who love food (Baptist pastors most especially), there is no shortage of eateries in the Galleria.\u00a0 We discovered one of those places tucked away on the lower level next to the ice skating rink:\u00a0 Five Guys Burgers and Fries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I spotted\u00a0the sign, I vaguely remembered reading about Five Guys.\u00a0 I told my son that I thought that the burger joint started in NYC, although it turns out that the first Five Guys originated in Arlington, VA in 1986.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Had I\u00a0known about these burgers when I was in college at George Washington University (1984-88), I would have found a way to get to Arlington!\u00a0 But alas, I had to wait 22 years after I left the Washington, D.C. area to eat my first meal at a\u00a0Five Guys.\u00a0 And, in Dallas, Texas no less!<\/p>\n

My son and I hit the Five Guys at just the right time on a Monday night.\u00a0 We walked right up to the counter to order and were immediately greeted by a nice young man (at 44, I’m beginning to feel like an old guy when I write something like that) who gave us a crash course in ordering.<\/p>\n

Now, if this was a burger joint just out to make a quick buck without any care for their customer, especially first-timers, then we would have been “allowed” to both order the “hamburger” and an order of fries for each of us.<\/p>\n

Instead of letting us find out the hard way — both with our appetites and our money — the man behind the counter told us that the “hamburger” was two patties while the “little burger” was one patty.\u00a0 He went on to explain that one “regular” order of fries would be more than enough to feed my son and me.<\/p>\n

With our newly acquired knowledge of the ins-and-outs of Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Stephen ordered a “little” bacon cheeseburger and I ordered a bacon burger.\u00a0 We chose from a large variety of\u00a0free condiments and toppings.\u00a0 We decided we better just get one order of regular fries and two drinks.<\/p>\n

Our total order came to about $17.\u00a0 Now, for two people at a burger joint, that sounds like a lot of money.\u00a0\u00a0A comparable amount of food and drinks at a popular\u00a0fast food establishment might set you back $12-$14.\u00a0 Was Five Guys going to be worth a few extra bucks?\u00a0 We would see.<\/p>\n

In about ten minutes, we had our food.\u00a0 The burgers and fries came out hot.\u00a0 Made to order from fresh ground beef, that was certainly a good sign.\u00a0 When Stephen and I took our first bite into our very first Five Guys burger,\u00a0we immediately knew that the extra few bucks were well spent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love hamburgers.\u00a0 I have eaten these wonderful creations in many different venues, including many that I’ve cooked at home.\u00a0 Not since the hamburgers that I ate as a boy at the Lake Placid Drug Store in our hometown in Florida have I encountered such a great tasting burger!<\/p>\n

Stephen and I were blown away by the delicious taste of our Five Guys burgers.\u00a0 To top it off, the homemade fries (non-Cajun)\u00a0were also super.\u00a0 This was one of those meals where you hate to eat the last bite of burger because the burger was so great and you know that there will not be another bite after that.\u00a0 At least anytime soon.\u00a0 Or so I thought.<\/p>\n

As we were finishing our meal, one of the Five Guys employees came over and asked how everything was.\u00a0 We told him\u00a0we had a first great\u00a0experience with Five Guys, but we were from New Mexico and just knew that there were no franchises near us.\u00a0 He said that Five Guys was expanding into New Mexico, but I thought to myself, “That would be nice, but there is no way that Five Guys is coming anywhere near where I live in Alamogordo.”\u00a0 As Stephen and I left the restaurant, we both\u00a0knew that\u00a0this was another great experience on\u00a0our father and son roadtrip to Dallas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When we got back home, I decided to\u00a0find the\u00a0closest the Five Guys to Alamogordo.\u00a0\u00a0No way!\u00a0 A\u00a0new franchise was already open in Albuquerque.\u00a0\u00a0Folks know\u00a0that Bugs Bunny\u00a0“should have made a left toin at Albukoykee,” but that spot in the road was three hours away and I wouldn’t be in NM’s largest city until late January.\u00a0 Drats!<\/p>\n

How about a Five Guys in El Paso, only 1 1\/2 hours away.\u00a0 Great Scott!\u00a0 Not one, but two new Five Guys in El Paso.\u00a0\u00a0One on the Westside, in the Sunland Park area, was already open.\u00a0 Another,\u00a0on the Eastside near the Lifeway Christian Store (I know where that is) would be opening in a few weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When could I get to El Paso to try a Five Guys burger?\u00a0 As providence would have it, one\u00a0of the students in our youth group was having surgery in El Paso on Monday.\u00a0 Jon, our Student Pastor, was thinking about making the trip to the hospital for the surgery.<\/p>\n

Wanting to spend some quality time with\u00a0my new\u00a0Pastor to Students and visit\u00a0a student and his family at\u00a0a critical time of ministry, we headed off to El Paso.\u00a0 We had a great visit with the\u00a0student’s dad and had time to check out the Lifeway store.\u00a0 After a busy day, we\u00a0headed for\u00a0the Five Guys\u00a0Burgers and Fries\u00a0on Sunland Park Drive.<\/p>\n

At 2:30\u00a0in the afternoon, the place was hopping with people, both\u00a0employees and customers.\u00a0 We placed our order and waited.\u00a0 I knew it would be\u00a0great.\u00a0 Jon was a newbie.\u00a0 After what seemed like an hour (really about 10 minutes),\u00a0we got our food.\u00a0 Cajun fries this time — Jon and his family came to us from Louisiana.<\/p>\n

The verdict?\u00a0 Outstanding!\u00a0 Now, how to get back to El Paso again without a long time between visits?\u00a0 Just so happens there is a Bed, Bath, and Beyond next door to the Five Guys.\u00a0\u00a0We’re already planning a road trip with our wives in the not too distant future.\u00a0 Brenda and Amanda\u00a0can shop to their hearts’ content.\u00a0 But, shopping can be exhausting.\u00a0 They’ll need to eat to keep up their strength.\u00a0 Jon and I know just the place!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent trip to Dallas with my oldest son, Stephen, we stopped by the Galleria Mall.\u00a0 With four stories of shopping, an ice skating rink on the lower level, and the nation’s tallest indoor Christmas tree, the Galleria is a shopper’s paradise (at least if you have money or a credit card). For those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16,36,41],"tags":[80,190,276,342,388,389,3378,416,425,471,836,3395],"class_list":["post-1297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-reviews","category-travel","tag-albuquerque","tag-burgers","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-five-guys","tag-five-guys-burgers-and-fries","tag-food","tag-fries","tag-galleria-mall","tag-hamburgers","tag-review","tag-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-kV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}