Saturday in the Park

Nothing says summer in Manhattan to me more than spending a sunny Saturday afternoon in Madison Square Park at my favorite (so far) NYC burger establishment, the Shake Shack (www.shakeshacknyc.com). The original Shake Shack stands at the southeast corner of what is, for my money, one of New York’s prettiest parks (there are also locations in the Upper West Side and the Mets’ CitiField). Despite being a strictly outdoor eatery, Shake Shack is open year-round and, in nice weather, the line to order can stretch a full city block. That is exactly what happened on Saturday, when after weeks and weeks of seemingly never-ending rain, I was finally able to meet up with a couple of friends to spend one of the first sunny weekend days of the summer outside. From the looks of it, the wait would be about 45-50 minutes long, but fortunately, for me, I’ve been to the Shake Shack more times than I can count, so I was prepared and ready to wait.

Time waiting to order passed quickly and about an hour after getting in line, we were sitting down with our burgers at one of the tables provided by the city’s Parks department. Much to Jon’s dismay, I’m sure, I refuse to eat burgers with tomatoes on them (hate tomatoes – HATE them). It takes away from what the burger is all about, I say. And while I won’t flat out put mayonnaise on my burger, I may use a mayonnaise-based sauce as a topper (ie, Shack Sauce). So, I ordered a plain cheeseburger, fries, an Arnold Palmer to drink, and a side of homemade Shack Sauce (for both the burger and the fries). On the outside, it’s a run-of-the-mill looking burger, but it’s so much more tasty. It’s made fresh every day of half ground sirloin / half brisket – very juicy and flavorful. I topped the meal off with a peanut butter sundae (Shake Shack also makes EXCELLENT frozen custard – I don’t know what frozen custard actually is, except that it is completely delicious).

My cousin and her boyfriend came down to the city on Saturday and got in line for a burger as I was finishing my sundae. He was a first-timer and after his burger, told me that it was definitely worth the 45-minute wait. All in all, great day spent at the park with good food and friends. I’m sure the Shack Shack hasn’t seen the last of me this summer. And, of course, I’ll try to fit some other burger places in, too!