Shake Shack Restaurant New York

Shake Shack (Burgers / Flatiron / $$)
E 23rd St & Madison Ave (Inside Madison Square Park)
(212) 889-6600
www.shakeshacknyc.com

Brilliant burgers and hot dogs plus shakes worth every single calorie add up to pure magic at this Madison Square Park open-year-round, outdoor eatery; one negative, however, is that half the planet seems to be waiting in line, so check their webcam or be prepared for a monumental wait. Located inside Madison Square Park (not to be confused with Madison Square Garden, which is the stadium above Penn Station), the restaurant is literally a metallic shack. Diners line up outside (more on that line later in this article) and are served through a window. There are mesh-metal tables and chairs alongside the shack, but most people sit in the park or go elsewhere, as space is pretty limited.

The menu consists of six categories: burgers, hot dogs, French fries, frozen custards, concretes, and drinks. Burgers ($5-$9) consist of four ounces of fresh premium beef ground daily, hand-formed, and cooked medium. The famous “ShackBurger” ($5 single-patty, $7 double patty) is topped with American cheese, green leaf lettuce, plum tomato and the special “Shack Sauce” on a grilled potato bun. The restaurant also features a vegetarian “Shroom Burger” ($6.75), which features a crisp-friend Portobello filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese. Hot dogs are between $4 and $6. Try the “Shack-cago Dog,” which is a Vienna all-beef dog on a poppy seed bun. If you ask for it to be “dragged through the garden,” it is topped with mustard, Rick’s Picks Shake Shack relish,
onion, cucumber, pickle, tomato, sport pepper and celery salt. Frozen custards are $4-$6, and concretes (dense frozen custard blended at high speed with Shack-made mix-ins) are typically around $7. Last, Shake Shack also serves beer and wine among its many drinks ($2-$7).

Unlike the burgers served by the shack, the crowd is a salad bowl of locals, businesspeople (the Credit Suisse headquarters building faces the park), and tourists alike. All wait outside the restaurant to form incredibly-long lines, the type you’d find at an amusement park ride. They stretch around the outer banks of the park on weekends and meal-times. Actually, almost anytime, rain or shine, the lines can be crushing. The website, however, tries to make things easier by offering a “shack cam,” which displays the start of the line so you can gauge the wait. To those going “green,” it should also be known that Shake Shack is 100% fueled by wind-generated electricity and that grease by-products are recycled into biodiesel.

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