An Open Letter to Shake Shack

 

Dear Shake Shack,

I miss you. You’ll never know how hard it is to not be able to walk 15 blocks and visit you at your Madison Square Park location. Or to go see a Broadway show, preferably Book of Mormon right now, with the hidden agenda of going to see you afterwards.

I even miss checking the shack cam but waiting in your long lines anyway. I used to love looking around at all the excited faces who haven’t gotten to know you yet. They soon would come to love you more than they had imagined.

I miss having a hard time choosing between the deliciously classic double shack burger and/or the edgier ‘Shroom Burger, then adding fries and a small vanilla shake. It’s always all or nothing for me, you know that though. During my last visit to your new Lincoln Road location I tried the Shack Stack and am surprised to say I regret it. Now I can’t stop thinking about it. I don’t know why I did that to myself when I knew I wouldn’t be able to savour the heavenly goodness that is that cheesy explosion.

I read about you recently in the 101 Best Restaurants in the United States list done by The Daily Meal. The fact that you are so popular and everyone loves you makes it REALLY hard to forget you, or at least replace you. They had the audacity of naming you number 11, leaving you out of the top 10. More than 150 food critics, writers and bloggers voted based on the cuisine, region, atmosphere, level of buzz and price range. I’m sorry, but both you and I know you should be in the top 10. I think everyone knows it. I will write them an open letter soon.

Your success has allowed you to grow very quickly, and I’m very happy for you. I’ve seen it in the addition of new locations and your fancy neon green hamburger sign  on Tumblr and Pinterest pages. I even noticed you’re opening in Covent Garden, London. We missed each other by a year. I was in London for the summer last year, you know. It almost feels like you timed it this way on purpose, like you don’t reciprocate my love. So please, if this is not the truth and you really do love me prove it. Open your heart and doors to us all in Melbourne, Australia. I know you haven’t been here yet, but you’ll love it I promise. If I did it, you can too.

Patiently waiting to be together once (or 3,000 times) more,

Your biggest, hungriest fan

Rain, Rain, Go Away.

Just in case this Melbourne rain is getting you down and weird (mostly talking to you Floridians) I thought I’d tell you about the sunniest, most Aussie day I’ve had yet. The day the pictures above were taken. And no, it wasn’t the Aussiest (this word may be made up) because I was showing my family around the CBD like a champ; it was because I selfishly suggested we have chips and beer for lunch.

“Chips and WHAT for WHAT?”, they cross-examined. They were confused for three reasons: 1) they thought I was talking about a bag of potato chips, 2) as a member of their family I should know that chips would not fill them up, and 3) chips/french fries are always on the ‘Sides’ section of a menu.

We were raised believing that chips only served the purpose of accompanying your main meal. That meal could be steak, a cheeseburger or a bland tuna sandwich  but chips should never, ever, try and upstage the meal.

“What was I thinking”, I wondered. I even did a little of, “Maybe I’m loosing my mind.”

Yea, right! The weather was perfect, those chips were great (and all gone), the aoli sause was impressive and the Coopers was refreshing. It just goes to show there’s nothing quite like spending a beautiful day in Melbourne being all Aussie and stuff.

So if you get a chance this weekend find yourself some Australian beer (Fosters doesn’t count, no one drinks it here.) and a delicious, salty, finger burning basket of chips! I suggest Little Creatures Beer Hall in Fitzroy – maybe I’ll see you there?

Happy Friday!

Huxtaburger and Denise // Melbourne

I’ve done it! I’ve found my favorite cheeseburger in all of Melbourne… well,  for the moment.

I’ve traveled through Melbourne often and far in search of a delicious, mouth watering burger. I’ve taken the tram, then train, the car and never a taxi, but I should have known – all I needed to do was walk. Huxtaburger is on Smith Street and Peel Street on the border of Fitzroy and Collingwood and about a 10 minute walk, 5 minute bike ride from my house. Bad or good? We’ll soon find out.

It’s a very small restaurant, but if you’re going down Smith Street you’ll easily spot it. They’ve got a great name and stand out theme colors. You may say something to yourself like, “Oh wow. That looks real yum. H-U-X-T-A-B-URGER. Can’t wait to go there.” It’s what I did last year before leaving to London* and look at me now!

Okay, okay, I’ll tell you about the actual hamburger. She’s called Denise (the hot one) (those parenthesis are not my own, they’re actually on the menu)(but she IS supppper hot!). She’s a Huxtaburger, meaning a beef pattie, mustard, mayo, tomato cause, cheese, lettuce and pickles, but for a dollar extra, Denise also comes with jalapenos and sriracha mayo. What a babe! The chipotle fries on the side are addictive because the seasoning is spicy as and who doesn’t love setting their mouth on fire. Everything comes so nicely packaged, I wanted to order more to see what other patterns they would used for serving. How adorable is the bucket of chips! That’s beside the point though. The points is: you have to go and tell me if you enjoy it as much as we do.

We went in the late afternoon and easily found a nice wooden table complete with red benches. But Jack told me it gets packed during lunch time, which I chose not to believe since I’m bitter about him going to Huxta and having HER without me. Either way, for the quality and prices (Denise is under 10 bucks!) I would ask a stranger to share a table with me any day.

*If you asked me for advice on planning a trip based solely on the consumption of one burger, I would most likely tell you about London’s El Chapo because 1) read this and 2) Denise tried to steal my boyfriend.