If you’ve walked past Madison Square Park since 2004, you may have noticed an alarmingly long line leading up to an aesthetic version of, well, a roadside food stand. If you had been curious enough to investigate, you would have discovered the Shake Shack, arguably New York’s best imitation of the classic burger stand.
If thick shakes and greasy fries don’t tempt you enough to make the trek all the way to 23rd Street, though, don’t despair, because soon you won’t have to venture far from the Columbia bubble to get your burger fix. The new Shake Shack is opening on Columbus Avenue near 77th Street, as soon as mid-October.
Shake Shack is the invention of restaurateur Danny Meyer, who is also the brains behind upscale restaurants such as Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern. As the original Shake Shack celebrates its fifth season at Madison Square Park, Jon Vandegrift—general manager of the Upper West Side version—is getting ready to unveil the new location. “Choosing to replicate one of our businesses is nothing we’ve ever done before,” he said. “We think that the Shake Shack concept is so broad that it can be done a lot of different ways.”
Vandegrift assured that the new Shake Shack will feature essentially the same menu, including the Custard Calendar. The Calendar features a different flavor of custard, such as cannoli and coffee and donuts, each day of the week. They have also added some new Concretes—a type of thick frozen custard that is blended at high speeds with various toppings mixed in, similar to a McDonald’s McFlurry or Dairy Queen Blizzard—such as the Natural History Crunchstellation, which pays homage to the Natural History Museum, the Shack’s new neighbor. A proceed of the profits from this Concrete will go toward funding museum programs. Two other new concretes are the Shacky West, and the Upper West Slide.
Another essential difference from the original location is that this new restaurant will include indoor seating, making it ideal even in the winter. Whereas visitors to the Madison Square Park location are forced to wait, order, and eat outside, Upper West Siders will be able to seek refuge from the elements indoors.
Vandegrift hopes that overall, “guests will be able to walk away with the same experience, which is essentially a community of people gathering, waiting on line, and getting to know each other.”
Some Upper West Side residents have expressed concern over the Shake Shack and its notoriously long lines disrupting the neighborhood, but Vandegrift maintains that the Shake Shack intends to cater to the family atmosphere of the neighborhood and forge a solid relationship with residents and visitors alike. “We’d like to establish ourselves as a good thing in the neighborhood,” Vandegrift said.
While the Shake Shack has the liquor license and custard treats for canines to prove its distinction from the classic small-town hamburger stand, it is still able to maintain exceptionally reasonable prices. Hamburgers start at $3.75—although it’s not worth visiting unless you splurge an extra dollar for the ShackBurger with speciality Shack sauce. Fries are $2.75 and Frozen Custard Shakes go for $5.25.
New York Magazine awarded Shake Shack with the “Best Burger” distinction in 2005, but some visitors still maintain that it’s not worth the wait. The lines at Shake Shack can be up to an hour at peak time, especially when the weather’s nice. It’s not certain how the wait at the new location will compare to the original, but the excitement surrounding the opening suggests traffic will be similar. It’s probably best to visit the Shake Shack—which has yet to set a definitive opening date—on an afternoon when you have little to do, or lots to put off doing.
And even though the bank account of most college students could use the same bailout that our national economy needs, the fare at Shake Shack is worth that small dent to your wallet.
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