My First Shake Shack Experience

It seems lately there's more hype around here every time a new burger place opens than when any other restaurant arrives. Naturally, I tend to pay attention because, well, I like burgers. And you may remember that I waited in a line for 90 minutes in 2010 to try to get a free burger at the newly-opened 500° -- though I only got a buy one, get one free deal instead. And I compared 500° to Five Guys.


Since I wrote that post Five Guys opened a second downtown location, as well as one at Grant Ave. near Roosevelt Blvd, which is a lot closer to my house. So when I get a chance I stop in either one of these locations.


Based on the comments I've seen online from New Yorkers, where the Shake Shack chain originated, I was very excited to hear that Shake Shack was opening here, at 20th and Sansom Sts. This is right next to one of the comic book stores I regularly frequented, which would be great if I hadn't cut back on comics after DC Comics decided to have Superman wear his baby blanket as a cape.


So the other day, after it had been open long enough (almost 2 weeks) that the lines during off-peak hours (such as between lunch and dinner) pretty much dwindled, I visited the Shake Shack. At 3:20 pm, the wait in line was maybe five minutes. And also because of the time, I was able to sit at a table with no problem.


After looking over the various menu items, I decided on a single ShackBurger, which is a basic single-patty burger with lettuce, tomato and their own special sauce.  I also got an order of fries, a regular-size soda and a dessert item. They have what they call Concretes -- described on the menu as "dense frozen custard blended at high speed with mix-ins." They have some that are Philly-centric, or you can just pick your own mix-in items. I ordered the "Center City Pretzel," which includes vanilla custard, "Philly-style soft pretzel," caramel sauce, marshmallow sauce and banana. I ordered the regular size instead of the half-size.

It took about ten minutes for my order to be ready. So how was everything?

Burger Chat: Five Guys vs. 500 Degrees

If you follow me on Twitter (and if you don't, why not?) you know that on Tuesday I waited in a line for around 90 minutes trying to get a free hamburger. A new place called 500° (they're also on Twitter) opened up in Center City, and they had special promotions running all day. Opening at 11 am, the first 100 people were getting a free burger.

I was number 103, because my alarm went off at 8:30 but I didn't actually get out of bed until 9:30. Since the two people ahead of me left when they found out they weren't getting a free burger, I actually was number 101. So close and yet so far. I couldn't get an entirely free burger, but there was an additional special: buy one, get one free.

A little background: Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened up a Center City location a few years back, and I found myself eating there regularly on Wednesdays when I made my comic book run. They have very good burgers and fantastic fries. However, I had a customer service problem back in July 2008 that was not resolved to my satisfaction, so I haven't been back since. If I happen to be somewhere where another Five Guys is located (such as last year when I found one at Harborplace, at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore -- I was sooooooooo happy that day) I'll eat there, but the Center City Five Guys is off-limits to me. I've missed it.

Then I read this item at philly.com:

Rob and Maggie Wasserman, whose burgers at Rouge on Rittenhouse Square get national attention, are less than two weeks from opening a burger-only shop called 500º at 1504 Sansom St., about four blocks away.

Naturally, much R&D went into the 500º burger. Rob Wasserman explains that they don't want to replicate the Rouge burger, a 12-ouncer topped with Gruyère and caramelized onions and served on a challah roll.

At 500º, chef Matt Zagorski is going with 5½ ounces of beef, also on a challah roll...In sum, the Wassermans are aiming to serve a delicious sub-$6 burger, the culinary equivalent of the 4-minute mile.

Needless to say, I was intrigued. Could this be my replacement for Five Guys?