The Shake Shack

Is a little food place where we can get our yummy,
Shake Shack baby, Shake Shack bay-bee
Shake Shack, baby, Shake Shack Shake Shack, baby, Shake Shack
burgers fries, that's where it's at, Ooo shake baby, that's where it's at

Last night I got a call from one of my West Coast friends, Wen-Ai, - she was vacationing in New York with her sister. She had heard I was coming back into town for my mom and was calling to see how things were and if I were free since her sister and her sister's boyfriend had left her for the Yankee game. After consulting with the family, I was assured that it was fine and that I should go and get out of the hospital.

So we made plans to meet up at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. We were both very excited, myself ever since I got a text from my friend Lauren from Citi Field where she had it for the first time.

At the start of my trip I was a bit anxious. I felt a bit weird about leaving my mom and my family in the small we have basically commandeered outside of the ICU, despite everyone encouraging me to go. Around the time the train got to Harlem I was able to focus on enjoying myself ("because that's what mom would have wanted" - isn't that what people always say to make themselves feel better about what they're doing?) and sort of fell back into the routine of getting around the city, well except that I think I got off at 28th street instead of 23rd. Okay, so I was a little rusty.

So I met Wen-Ai at the corner of 23rd and Madison, after helping guide her from from the subway station. As we turned towards the park we saw the line. Honestly it wasn't that intimidating, anyone who has seen lines in New York (Top of the Rock, the Empire State, the WTC back in the day, hell even the bathroom lines at Yankee Stadium) isn't really worried by them, but I was pretty shocked it was that long at 8pm on a Monday Night. I mean, I had read articles about how horrible it is during lunch time as everyone in a 15 block radius descends on the park to try and grub up before their lunch break is over, but thought we were going to be hitting it at a downtime. Silly Californian, down time is for the West Coast.

Anyway, the wait was pleasant thanks to some wonderful weather - a cool, slightly breezy, clear night. As we got closer to the actually shack we saw some of the memorabilia shirts available, and what I thought was the best one - a baby's shirt that read, "I waited 9 months... this line ain't that bad!". Fantastic, gotta love the quintessential NY attitude. Another highlight moment occurred around the same time, when they turned on the lights (a collection of outdoor bulbs strung from the shack to nearby trees over the tables and folding chairs set up in the park). As the bulbs illuminated you could hear the crowd "aaaahhh" as if they had lived their lives in complete darkness up until that exact moment. It was good for one of those quiet, "you gotta love life" laughs.

Alright, so to the food. The best thing about the menu - it makes sense. No code words, no silly names as opposed to In N' Out, which West Coaster's swear by and I teasingly blamed Wen-Ai for, because she was the closest native West Coaster. Basically the Shake Shack menu resembles something you would expect if I ever opened a burger joint. I went with a double hamburger (they asked if I wanted a salad on top of it!, rather than just globbing on lettuce, tomato, onions and mayo. I was happy) with lettuce and a black & white shake. Between the two of us we split an order of fries. The burger was delicious, great bun and the patties are plump and meaty. The shake was good. I'm actually still not sure if the name "black & white" meant chocolate and vanilla or a reference to another fantastic NY delicacy, the black & white cookie (perfected by Zarros). I'm thinking it's the latter because the shake definitely had a taste to it that was beyond simple chocolate and vanilla, perhaps actually a bit of cookie? Either way, I enjoyed it very much.

All in all, it was a relatively good night - beautiful night, great food and enhanced with humorous and interesting conversation with excellent company.

Now if only I was back in town for a vacation as opposed to a family emergency. Eh, que sara.