Midtown Lunch

Put away your stop watches and metro cards and complex maps with the quickest route to Madison Square Park, because this news is huuuuge. There’s a big article in this mornings New York Times about Danny Meyer and his growing Shake Shack empire, and it includes the bombshell that Midtown is getting its own Shake Shack! It’s going to be on 44th and 8th, and will open next year along with new locations in Soho, the UES, and Miami Beach. The Times solicited a reaction from Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen, which is just a few blocks away from where the new Shake Shack will go, and unsurprisingly have expansion plans of their own (the owners of Schnipper’s founded Hale & Hearty soup.) They were said to be “sanguine”, which could be code for “deliriously in shock.” I know I am!!! [Photo and Story courtesy of Eater]

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Both Shake Shack’s Are Do-Able From Midtown in 60 Mins

As promised, I attempted to make it up to the new Upper West Side Shake Shack today in under an hour.  Unlike the the lunch’er who made the Monday attempt, I took the 1 Train.  I also didn’t leave early, or late- I went in prime lunching hour.  Here is how it went down…

12:17 Enter 1 Station on Broadway and 50th
12:23 Get on the Train
12:30 Train Arrives at 79 St. and Broadway
12:35 Get online at the Shack, which stretches out the door
12:55 Get to the counter to place order
12:58 Food is Ready

Now at this point, you could leave and make it back- in theory. We decided to stay.

13:17 Done Eating
13:25 Enter subway station at 79th and Broadway
13:26 Train Arrives
13:33 Exit Station at Broadway and 50th

1 Hour, 16 Minutes. A few things worth noticing… 5 mins from subway to the shack. 8 minutes to get back. You walk slower after eating lunch at the Shake Shack. You can easily shave 20 minutes off this time by taking your food to go, and you could aruge that the B is faster? Not sure. So, technically we could have made it there and back in under an hour- provided our office was located at the door of the subway station. You still have to make it from your office to the station.

Either way, the burger was great- but I will not be going back anytime soon. And it has nothing to do with the time.

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Photograph by Food in Mouth

Two commenters took the Shake Shack challenge today, and did it in just over an hour.  Lunch’er Tom went from 1 Rock Plaza to the UWS location in 1 hour and 7 minutes.  Here is his timeline:

1214PM: Leave Desk at 1 Rock Plz
1217PM: Arrive at Uptown track for B train
1224PM: Get on the “1219″ B train
1234PM: Arrive at 81st street
1238PM: Get in line at Shake Shack
1252PM: Order single cheeseburger and fries
1258PM: Receive food
0103PM: Just miss B train and take C train instead
0112PM: Arrive at 50th and 8th Ave and walk back to desk
0121PM: Arrive at desk
0130PM: Regret not getting the double

And Lunch’er Joanna went to the Madison Square Park location from Rock Center, and claims to have traveled, eaten and even chatted!

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Photo by Food in Mouth

One question has always plagued me (and no doubt many other hamburger lovers who work in Midtown):  Can you make it down to Shake Shack and back in 60 minutes from Midtown during lunch.  The short answer is no.  The longer answer is no… definitely no.  Sure there are going to be those few miraculous exceptions, but for the most part- if you want to eat at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park during a time that would acceptable for lunch’ing, the wait on line is too long to make it down there and back to your desk in Midtown proper.

But what about the new Shake Shack?  That’s right… the Shack has expanded, opening their long awaited Upper West Side branch this past weekend on Columbus Ave. btw. 77+78th Street… a five minute walk from the 79th Street 1 station, and the 81st B/C station.  My hunch is, with fewer large office buildings on the UWS, and the Shake Shack’s new technology (which will surely decrease wait times for your food) this could be do-able for the Midtown Lunch’ers whose offices are close to the 1, B or C lines. 

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