Shake Shack Visited 7/20/2011 4.5 Forks

Shake Shack Madison Square Park, E 23rd St & Madison Ave., New York, NY 10010

Ahhh, Shake Shack, how I love you.  I had my first taste of Shake Shack many years ago and never forgot it.  Funny enough, I've actually never had a beef burger from Shake Shack.  I've only had the 'Shroom Burger ($6.50) and can never get it out of my head.  One day, I will try a burger but for now the 'Shroom Burger has captured my heart.

The original Shake Shack is in Madison Square Park and for many years the lines would be beyond ridiculous.  It was to the point where on their website you can actually monitor the length of the line and make a decision if you wanted to wait in line.  Luckily now, several new branches of Shake Shack have opened which allow you to get your burger fix almost anywhere in NYC, but the original location is still one of the most popular branches.  I found myself by Madison Square Park this past Wednesday night and felt like I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab a bite to eat.  Even at 8:30 on a random weekday the line was still fairly long.  At one point, a tourist behind me asked me "Is it worth it? Should I wait in line?".  I told him it was pretty damn good but that it was up to him if he wanted to wait.  He eventually left but I wished he had tried to hold out.  Knowing that the line could take up to 30-40 minutes, I didn't want to held accountable for anyone dying of hunger while waiting for food.  In the end, it did take me 45 minutes from start to finish to get my food.

But when I got it...damn, the 'Shroom Burger is pretty damn amazing.  It's a portobello mushroom with cheese deep fried inside of it so that when you take a bite of it the cheese oozes out of it.  The bread is almost like a potato with its soft and buttery taste.  Just everything about the burger is glorious, but a warning that you do kind of feel a bit like a deep fried mess afterwards. The fries are also highly addictive.  They are of the crinkly cut kind and perfectly crisp.  Dan and I also split the concrete jungle ($6.00) which was vanilla custard, hot fudge, bananas, and peanut butter.  This was my first concrete at Shake Shack and while it was pretty good I wasn't completely blown away by it. Don't get me wrong, it definitely hit the spot but it's hard to enjoy it when it's half melted by the time you're done eating your burger and fries.  While the long lines are a definite bummer to the Shake Shack experience, I definitely recommend that everyone try a burger ('Shroom or regular) at least once in their life and hope that they don't get addicted.