Content about Beating the Waiting Game
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May 26, 2006
I'd eaten the good and the bad, the big and the small, and paid dearly as a result. The quest had gotten serious, and I was ready to admit defeat and bow at the altar of the shack if I had to eat another huge, dry burger. A true alternative to the Shake Shack seemed like an idea too good to be true.
But like all quests, the best inevitably came last, far away, in a place called 9th avenue. We'll call it the promised land....
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May 25, 2006
Two things people like to wait in line for. Again.
Burgers and Cupcakes
458 9th Ave, at 36th st.
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.94 miles
Travel Time: 27 minutes
# of People in Line: 9
Burgers and Cupcakes is humorous only to New Yorkers, who can't help but smile at the gall of building a restaurant that caters solely to the big apple's idiocy to stand in line for the most obscenely simple things. I was spurred to undertake the odyssey out to Hell's Kitchen specifically...
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May 25, 2006
Pop Burger
60 9th Ave, b/w 14th and 15th.
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.81 miles
Travel Time: 24 minutes
# of People in Line: 5
This place is way too hip for its own good, and you could walk by its meatpacking district location a couple of times before you noticed that it’s not just a club. In fact, there’s just a tiny blue “pop” stuck on the door and that’s all--incognito is obviously the cool thing to so. Wide-...
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May 23, 2006
American Burger
100 W 32nd St
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.53 miles
Travel Time: 16 minutes
# of People in Line: 3
Once I'd scanned both New York Magazine's and Village Voice's online restaurant section a few times, it was time to delve into some of the less charted and less proofread parts of the web. That usually involves a good Google scan and then devolves into hour long plunges into Chowhound for some kind of hidden secret.
Nearly...
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May 23, 2006
Bruce’s Burger
33th and 7th Ave.
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.79 miles
Travel Time: 23 minutes
# of People in Line: 2
Decked out in full 50's dinner kitsch, Bruce's Burger tries to conjure up the good times of the care free suburbs in the middle of Midtown chaos. It's billed in neon as a drive-in, which of course is impossible considering it doesn't even butt onto a street, being tucked nicely into a shopping center by a K-Mart....
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May 23, 2006
Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop
174 Fifth Ave, at 22nd st.
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.05 miles
Travel Time: 2 minutes
# of People in Line: 7
You want close to Shake Shack? How about half a block from Madison Square Park? Charmingly vintage, Eisenberg’s is run by a big friendly guy who takes every order and scrawls it on a paper bag, sending it down to the far end of the restaurant and the cooks. The bar is lined with lone...
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May 23, 2006
New York Burger Co.
303 Park Ave. South
Travel Time: 2 minutes
# of People in Line: 4
When the grease fumes clear on this little quest for Shake Shack Alternatives, there is really only one place that deserves the mantle, and that is the New York Burger Co. A block away from the shack, NY Burger Co. provides the shortest walk, shortest line, and shortest wait, which all translates into more Madison Square Park Time.
They, however, could...
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May 23, 2006
As the quest continues, the well reviewed alternatives start disappearing, and things get a little more treacherous. Big, greasy, disgusting, messes sprout up at every corner, making me want head back defeated into the line of shame at Shake Shack for some real food. But thanks to some random posting on Chowhound, I was given a little guidance. Today's search for the best alternative to Shake Shack featured charbroiled...
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May 23, 2006
Most of the places we've reviewed for our Alternatives to...
Most of the places we've reviewed for our Alternatives to Shake Shack extravaganza of grease have been within a short walking distance of the Shack. But few would allow you to order your food, receive your food, and still leave you enough time to walk back to Madison Square Park to enjoy the grub the real way.
Fortunately, we were feeling rather lazy so it was...
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I dream of Shake Shack. That beacon of irresistible American fare starts simmering in my brain around noon, when I can begin to smell the delectable combination of sirloin and brisket, the potato bun, the perfectly proportioned fresh ingredients, and that secret sauce. We all have our favorite lunch time spots, the local place around the corner, and this one is mine. Being just two blocks from my work, I get to see the shack...
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May 22, 2006
Blue 9 Burger
92 Third Ave
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.61 miles
Travel Time: 18 minutes
# of People in Line: 0
Of all the burgers around the area, this one probably comes the closest to replicating the style of the Shake Shack. They are both in the same vein as the West Coast burger staple, In-N-Out Burgers, which are hyper-fresh and vegetable laden. Everything is made to order, a fact they make perfectly clear on all of the...
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May 22, 2006
The Burger Joint
241 Third Ave.
Distance from Shake Shack: 0.33 miles
Travel Time: 11 minutes
# of People in Line: 4
Not to be confused with its definite-article-less famous namesake, Burger Joint, which is famously "hidden" in the Le Parker Meridien, this joint is just a short jaunt over from Madison Square Park on 3rd Avenue and 20th Street and is home to some serious sliders. For those who didn't grow up with the wonderful world of...
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All content copyright Nick Kindelsperger and Blake Royer.
