I’ve given the obligatory test run of Five Guys Burgers and Fries – the first South Sound stores of the national chain opened in Lakewood last week and in Puyallup in November. I realized as I was eating at Five Guys that I had not collectively written much about our home-grown burger stands since my burger-stand manifesto in 2009. So I hit the pavement and revisited some of my favorites, along with two new burger stands you may not yet know. Click “read more” to see my top five South Sound burger stand picks. Read more »

Hey Pick-Quick fans, have you ventured to Auburn yet to sample the freshly opened Drive-In burger restaurant? It opened a week ago Tuesday.

I stopped in and found a restaurant that was shiny new and with a 1950s sensibility that seemed 21st century designed. A walk-in dining room with high ceilings, big windows to watch the burger crew at work, a sign advertising sustainability, and separate cans for garbage and composting made me think: Burgerville meets In-N-Out. Read more »

Yesterday was the perfect day for surprisingly unseasonable al fresco dining, so I fled the newsroom and beat it to Pick-Quick Drive-In, which has reopened from the winter hiatus that the walk-up burger drive-in takes every December-January. The sun was shining, the crowds were mingling. The burgers still are top notch. Read more »