Simply Sandwiches

Everyone loves to sit in Madison Square Park and grin at the city spinning around them. It’s an old fact. Everyone loves Shake Shack. Another aging fact.   Everyone grumbles about the line. Also a fact. The hamburgers are delicious. Fact again. The towering mountain of meat, cheese and deep fried mushrooms known as the “Shack Stack” is fantastic. New fact!

What might seem very un-gourmet coming from the Danny Meyer owned  Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) is a tasty sandwich that tests everyone’s jaw-dislocating ability. It’s not a hamburger is the UBERBURGER. It sings a song that goes something like this: bun, burger patty, cheese, deep fried cheese filled portabella mushroom, burger patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, (mustard), bun.  See, it really is the uberburger. Try to order it that way! Say, “one uberburger please.”

The burger is overwhelming. It’s a test. It’s an experiment in hyperbole. It’s delicious. I’d order it again in a heartbeat. Naturally, if you’re not that hungry or are under 5′5″, you probably should stick to a regular (or double) burger. It’s also a good idea to clear your calendar for an hour or two afterward, eating that much meat and cheese induced a class 3 food coma (difficulty keeping ones eyes open, general feeling of warmth and contentment, sluggish verbal response). The burger’s here aren’t as chic as they could be and they’re not the best in the area, but the experience of ordering from a stand and sitting in the park in a safe cocoon of calm is like no other.

The love for shake shack is so big, last year someone started a user-contributed photostream of the line (apparently abandoned) at Shack Watchers.

It looks puny from this height:

’shroom Burger:

The Stack Unveiled:

It looks delicious from this height: