[ahr]

I had dinner the other night with some of the Burger Club guys & gals at New York Burger Co., initially much praised elsewhere. Unfortunately, the food on the tray added up to less than the sum of its attractive parts -- though better-balanced when ordered as a double.

On the way back, we passed through Madison Square Park. The scent of grease from the Shake Shack was so seductive that one of us bought a burger, which, based on just a tiny taste, was very promising.

[Rail Paul]

The NY Daily News recently offered an article on several Manhattan burger establishments. Based on my observations of the Burger Club methodology, I think there's often a difference in the burger results when one person orders one burger, and ten people simultaneously order ten burgers. Scares, the kitchen, maybe...


Burger Article

[Orik]

Maybe the places serving 4-5oz patties of ground beef just aren't particularly serious about cooking them to perfection?

I can see the point of sampling the larger sized burgers, where there's significant interior, but the small ones end up being just slightly better than McD.

[Rail Paul]

ahr, on Aug 26 2004, 11:45 AM, said:

On the way back, we passed through Madison Square Park. The scent of grease from the Shake Shack was so seductive that one of us bought a burger, which, based on just a tiny taste, was very promising.

Shake Shack closes for the season on November 1, so make any planned trips in the next few days or wait until Spring...

[omnivorette]

Aaaarggghhhh!

[Wilfrid1]

Ah, don't bother. You are all nuts, and so is everyone on Chowhound and eGullet. Completely crazy.

So, I go down to Shake Shack off-peak and just go for the straightforward SHackburger with cheese. Little tiny burger on the kind of soft white bun known in England as a bap. Bit of tomato, bit of lettuce. Slice of American cheese. And the special sauce about which I can remember nothing.

And you people are standing in line for this?

Yes, it is better than McDonalds. In a sane world, McDonald would be about this good, and no-one would be standing in line for it.

Barmy. The lot of you.

Edit to add: Loonies.

[Elissa]

Completely in accord Wilf. What they're so excited about I couldn't tell.

[Wilfrid1]

Scary, isn't it? I swear, if it wasn't in a kiosk in a park, and had no Danny Meyer-ness to it, it wouldn't get a mention.

[fantasty]

I was similarly unimpressed when I took myself there for lunch a week ago. I did like the fries, but the vanilla shake was a pathetic, watery thing. If there is a next time, I'll stick w/the Chicago style hot dog.

[Wilfrid1]

I would have ordered fries if I'd known how small the burger was going to be. We used to get served burgers like this at school.

[mongo_jones]

Wilfrid, on Sep 7 2005, 10:27 AM, said:

I would have ordered fries if I'd known how small the burger was going to be. We used to get served burgers like this at school.

they had burgers back then?

[Wilfrid1]

I don't know. I can't remember.

[Tamar G]

I liked the one hotdog and shake I had. Not worth the 45 minute wait (between the line and waiting for the food), but definitely not bad and cheap. I don't like to order burgers unless I know I'm getting a nice fat patty of high quality beef that's going to be very rare on the inside. That doesn't seem like the Shack type. McDonalds fries and nuggets are good, but the burgers are disgusting.

[Wilfrid1]

It's the line that boggles me. I could understand someone picking up one of these burgers for a snack - there is nothing nasty about them.

But it's a fucking destination! The line is ridiculous!

[omnivorette]

I like the Shackburger. Fries are so so, and shakes are nothing special. But wait on a long line? Forget it.