Grub Scout: Mooyah shakes up the burger routine

As a fan of Five Guys Burgers & Fries, I was intrigued to learn about Mooyah — a Texas-based chain that recently opened its first Tennessee franchise in Knoxville. Like the Guys, Mooyah takes a Keep-It-Simple-Stupid approach to burgers, offering a focused menu that features burgers, fries and not much more.

When The Grub Spouse and I arrived at the Kingston Pike location, we soon learned just how similar these two burger barons are. (In fact, I later read one unsubstantiated rumor that the founder of Mooyah had been turned down for a Five Guys franchise and decided to create his own restaurant based on the same formula.) However, as much alike as these identical cousins are in many ways, there are differences.

Like Five Guys, Mooyah offers a regular two-patty burger and a single-patty junior burger, both made with fresh, not-frozen meat. However, Mooyah offers several cheese options, which I’ve never encountered at FG. Mooyah also has a turkey burger, veggie burger, a grilled cheese and a hot dog on its menu (Five Guys has a hot dog, too).

Mooyah offers a few more customization options than its counterpart — a choice of white bun, wheat bun or lettuce wrapping as well as more sauce and veggie toppings, including steak sauce and Buffalo sauce. Mooyah also offers a single-serving size of fries, Five Guys’ lack of which keeps me from dining there solo more often. But the big score for me was the fact that Mooyah offers shakes, which is one thing I’ve always felt Five Guys lacked.

I got virtually the same thing I get at Five Guys — a regular burger with cheese (pepper jack instead of American), mayo, mustard, grilled onions and jalapenos. The Spouse decided to try the turkey burger with mustard, lettuce and tomato. We got a sharable order of regular fries, and we each got a chocolate shake. Like Five Guys, Mooyah is on the pricy side. Our dinner for two cost $21.

Overall, I give Mooyah the edge in ambience. The dining room has booths and a more colorful, playful decor scheme. Both restaurants pipe in a jammin’ ‘80s and classic rock soundtrack. The Mooyah staff was super friendly, although the folks at my local Five Guys are princes and princesses as well.

When our orders were brought to our table, I felt a strong sense of deja moo. The food came out in bags, the burgers were wrapped in foil, and the fries overflowed their container, filling a good portion of the grease-stained bag.

Mooyah’s burgers come with fresh sesame seed buns, which I could have lived without, but the patties tasted more seasoned. The choice of pepper jack over American cheese in my burger resulted in a slightly different experience, but otherwise, the two chains’ burgers are very similar in texture, consistency and flavor. Even the fries seem to have been cooked using an identical process.

In my book, there’s little anyone can do to make turkey a satisfying beef burger substitute, but Mooyah did as well as could be expected, and The Spouse and I thought the turkey burger was a solid effort. Finally, the shakes weren’t too bad — better than many but not as good as some.

Overall, our tale of two burgers ended with my having a very slight preference for the Five Guys burger, but the differences were almost negligible. And the fact that Mooyah offers many desirable elements that Five Guys does not makes my response to Mooyah a rousing “Booyah!”

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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