Like Paris Hilton, the Shake Shack was born and bred in New York City but continues to confound and enrapture with an inexplicably meteoric rise to fame.
There are other Hilton connections; trust me as I break it down.
First, when you peel back the superficial glitz and fame, you see the Shake Shack is a simpleton of the food world—it’s a glorified burger stand.
But then there’s the pedigree. The Shack’s founder, celebrity chef Danny Meyer, also birthed and owns the storied Union Square Cafe, the Gramercy Tavern and one of my favorite BBQ joints, Blue Smoke, among five other restaurants in the city.
Then you’ve got more celebrity and a dash of controversy with conceptual artist Sol LeWitt. Sol doesn’t have anything directly to do with the Shack, but he erected his most recent installation, Circle with Towers, smack dab on the periphery of the Shack’s main eating area. In appreciation, Shack customers sit on the artwork’s concrete-block ring, an inviting three feet high and 25 feet in diameter.
You’ve got the primo real estate connection. As if being nestled snug in the southeast corner of Madison Square Park wasn’t enough, the Shack is also about a block from the Flatiron Building in one direction and, in the other, the business and social titans of Madison and Park Avenues.
You’ve got the adoring public queuing up and wanting more, and you’ve got the media with its ever-flowing coverage of the adoring public. This ranges from Owen Phillips’ snotty directive in The New Yorker that “the Shack needs to get rid of some fans if it’s going to survive. No burger stand can handle this kind of volume,” to Rob Patronite’s exhortation in New York magazine that despite his 37 minute and 8 second wait on line, he had nothing but “an emphatic yes for the best burger in town.”
So what about the burgers? They’re very good. I think the not-so-secret secret is that they’re made with a blend of fresh-ground sirloin and brisket. I ordered the Shack Burger, a “single-sized” American cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and Russian dressing-like sauce, and the meat had a tang of added-saltiness and was still pink and juicy in the middle, surprising in this bacteria-busting age. When I bit into the thing, I felt like Jules tucking into his Big Kahuna burger in Pulp Fiction. I also quickly wished I would have ordered two. My 16-ounce chocolate shake was thick and rich and I don’t know what kind of ice cream they use, but it had one of the most realistic, non-bombastic cocoa flavors I’ve ever tasted. Great stuff!
And what do I think of the Shake Shack’s fame? No problem. I think it deserves it, and more importantly, it didn’t deter from my eating experience. The prices are reasonable for the area. The crowd’s comprised not of solid tourists, as I would have thought, but chiefly of giddy teenagers, as well as adults who looked as if they worked in the area and that getting a burger there was the highlight of their day; it was for me, particularly after the hour-and-a-half long work meeting I had on Park Avenue at 4:00 p.m. As for the line, it’s a great equalizer and makes it a joy to people-watch and scrutinize the extensive menu—they have Purple Cows! And deep-fried portobello mushrooms as burger toppings! Those who tremble over the excessive lunch lines need to suck it up come back later. At 5:45 p.m., my wait was only about 10 minutes and the place is open until 11 p.m. daily. But it’s only open seasonally, and when the cold weather sets in for good, the Shack closes for winter, so get on down there.
Shake Shack
- Madison Square Park (at E. 23rd Street)
- (212) 889-6600
- Meal 26 of 52: Shack Burger ($4.50) and regular-sized chocolate shake ($4.00).