Your City

Last Saturday there was a queue 200 people long at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. Like the queue on their website, Saturday’s line snaked out of the park and down 23rd street on the park’s south end. Notorious for brutal lines, Shake Shack did add a “Shack Cam” to their website so you can view the horrendous line. The tag line reads “Save Time, Check the Line,” but I’m not really sure if that saves time or just deters people from going at all. Lucky for line haters, the wonderful Shake Shack expanded to Upper West Side.
Note: For those of you living underneath a rock, Shake Shack is Danny Meyer’s pet project, fast food stand that opened in Madison Square Park (right near his beloved Tabla and 11 Madison) in the steamy summer of 2003. Shake Shack salutes Meyer’s St. Louis heritage by using frozen custard rather than ice cream for their sundaes and shakes and grilling thin burgers that mimic places in St. Louis like Steak ‘n Shake and Carl’s Drive In. They also have portobello and chicken burgers, hotdogs and Pooch-Inis for you for your four legged friend.

For loyal Shackers, here’s some new news that you might already know. It might be quicker to take the subway to the Upper West Side and wait in their, always shorter, queue. In fact, it is. On Saturday afternoon when my brother and I saw the 200 person line, I hopped on the subway UWS bound to see if I could beat him. I ordered to take away and had a nice little chat with fellow patron Blake DiMarco about the whole Shake Shack expansion experience. She said, and I quote “With their pillow like potato bun and fresh ingredients, ShackBurgers do not disappoint.” Then she went on to say that the UWS staff are friendlier – probably because they don’t have to deal with sweaty, tired line-waiters. Upon her suggestion, I ended up also getting a caramel frozen custard concrete with almonds, brownie bites and other health food accessories. It was well worth the belly ache.

Then I hopped back on the subway to meet my brother, hoping our perfect timing would allow us to eat together. Um, not the case. He was still at least seven people from ordering. Moral of the food reviewer’s story: Shake Shack is so delicious that I took two subway rides to get my fix. So go on…shack up.
Note: Met’s fans can shack up at the new Shake Shack Citifield!

I’ve been frequenting both Spice and SEA ad nauseum during this depressing recession. A girls gotta eat! So imagine my surprise when I sat down to remind veteran NYCers that the ‘ol reliable Spice (originally on University, then made babies) still has those scrumptious signature shrimp fitters just to discover that Spice and SEA are a little more than kissing cousins. They’re Thai twinners!

Lunching at Spice Chelsea last week, I had a delicious lunch special that included those yummy little fitters as well as Tom Yum soup and Hawaiian Ginger Pineapple stir fry. It was crowded with attractive men. In Chelsea ladies, you can look, but you cannot touch.
And I couldn’t get my fill of Thai food apparently, because later that week my mouth was burning on fire at SEA from my mango green bean salad. Spicy deliciousness. I followed it with the model popular noodless pad thai. It took all of my effort to pass on a glass of $6 Pino Grigio, but if I were you, I’d have one…or two. Drink away those April showers! And with all of the locations (Chelsea, Uptown, Union Square new Astor Place Spice and SEA on 2nd and in the BK) you really have no excuse not to.

Spice East Village, Chelsea, Union Square, Uptown

Carry On!