If you’ve been in California for more than a few minutes, someone has probably told you about In-N-Out. This venerable chain of restaurants has more rabid fanbois than Apple, and for a good reason. They sell excellent hamburgers and french fries; and that’s really all they do. They have drinks and shakes on the menu, but the In-N-Out menu was probably the inspiration for  Steve Jobs’s dictum to keep things simple. There are very few options, but the quality of what they sell is exceptional.

However, an upstart chain called Five Guys Burgers and Fries, started in Virginia, has moved into California in the last few years, mostly around the Los Angeles area. And, in the last few months, they’ve moved north into Silicon Valley. They are often touted as an “In-N-Out Killer” (sound familiar?), and yesterday was my first chance to sample their stuff.

The Five Guys menu is much more feature-rich than that of In-N-Out. In addition to hamburgers (they have a “little burger” with one patty, and a regular “burger” with two), they also sell hot dogs. Moreover, and much to my delight, they also have bacon cheeseburgers, which is the height of burger gastronomy in my humble opinion (In-N-Out does not sell bacon at all, even on their famous secret menu). Five Guys is awash with options: you can have mayo, ketchup, hot sauce, BBQ sauce, A-1 sauce, or any combination. You can top your burger with grilled onions, green peppers, jalapeños, or grilled mushrooms.

Both chains offer fresh (never frozen) beef, and they are roughly comparable on that front. In-N-Out offers small, crispy fries, while the Five Guys fries are much larger and correspondingly less crisp. Five Guys does, however, offer a Cajun variant of their fries.

Unfortunately, Five Guys’s burgers cost about double what In-N-Out’s cost. My verdict: if you’re looking for a good burger, you can’t go wrong either place. If you want to save some money, however, go to In-N-Out. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a flexible, ultimate burger experience, Five Guys can’t be beat.