Shake Shack (at 77th and Columbus)

Two Double Shack Burgers:
one for me and one for my mom

Danny Meyer does it again! I haven't eaten anything here that I haven't liked. I always get a double shack burger with everything on it--everything being cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion, pickles, and sauce. The sauce is somewhat akin to the sauce on a big mac, but better.

Everything they make is done with high quality, fresh ingredients, which greatly improves the flavor of the food. Nothing tastes like fast food, not even the burger patties which are more flavorful and much leaner than most. The flavor is enhanced by the cooking technique; they sear the patties so that it is sweetly caramelized and almost crisp.

Shroom Burger

For vegetarians, there are shroom burgers. Basically, it's a portabella mushroom that's stuffed with cheese and breaded. I've never eaten it, but I've been with people who have--they both said it was delicious.

Cheesy Fries!

Of course you have to have fries with that. There's a choice between plain old crinkle cut fries--made with Idaho potatoes and nothing else (except the frying oil, obviously)--and cheesy fries. The cheesy fries are their normal fries with copious amounts of melted cheese (American, I believe). Gosh they are good.

They have milkshakes made with their frozen custard. These are very good, but not the best milkshakes I've ever had. The frozen custard plain is delicious. It's basically very rich soft serve ice cream. They have special flavors every day as well as the classic chocolate and vanilla. Both the regular flavors are excellent, especially when swirled with toppings and sauces to make a "concrete". The special flavors, a different one for each day of the week and changed monthly, have always been delicious. My favorite was coffee and donuts; coffee frozen custard with chunks of plain, sweet, cakey donut. Could it get any better?!

There are only three bad things I have to say about Shake Shack and none of them are all that bad. First, the service can be hit or miss, but it's counter service so that's not the end of the world. Second, the prices are steep for counter service. Then again, the food is high quality and it costs less than burgers at sit down restaurants. Third, it's impossible to find seating and the line is almost always out the door; and kI suppose that's a good thing if you look at it from the restaurant's point of view!