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Praise Be To God: The Shake Shack Cometh… Officially!
Posted by Victor Fiorillo on April 28th, 2011
You know that you’re living in a food-worshiping town when the prospect of a burger and milkshake stand from New York could fuel rampant speculation, off-the-record phone calls, and anonymous tips. But such has been the case for over a year regarding the esteemed Manhattan-founded Shake Shack, with the first fattening tidbits coming in to Foobooz way back in December 2009.
This morning, mega-realtor Michael Salove (his firm Michael Salove Company is involved in the vast majority of Center City retail and restaurant transactions) confirmed that he just signed Shake Shack for a spot downtown. And as if that’s not enough to get us all jazzed up, his exact words were: “We have just signed our first Philly location.” Meaning that one day Philadelphia will, like New York, sport five Shacks? One can only hope.
Salove did not provide an exact address, though we’re hearing 20th Street near Sansom, somewhere in the immediate vicinity of that nasty adult book store whose time has come and gone (long ago). The people at Shake Shack HQ answered our inquiry with a non-answer of the sort that you tend to get from people at HQs. They did tell us about the five new Shake Shacks they intend to open in 2011 (two in DC, one in Battery Park, one in Brooklyn, and one in Connecticut), but Philly was not on the list.
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April 28th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Shake Shack is going to take over the world.
I for one welcome our new burger overloads. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted internet commenter, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground grease caves.
April 28th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Oh man, opening next to Village Whiskey? The turf war will be on.
April 28th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I would not take what Salove says as official if the chain itself hasn’t confirmed it and he hasn’t given a location.
April 28th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Ooh.. that’s bad news for me, I live above the Trader Joes. I’m gonna have a hard time keeping my number of visits there in check.
April 28th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
That means no more whip-its from John’s Books.
April 28th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
hahaha @barryg – so true!!
April 28th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
here’s hoping they’ll open in logan sq’s sister cities since frog burger seems to be no more
April 28th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
shake shack single handedly got me to like burgers, very excited
April 28th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
Yawn
April 29th, 2011 at 10:36 am
Awesome! When I visited on a few weekends ago I was thinking they would be perfect in philly. YUM!
April 29th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
This is great. Too bad it isn’t in Franklin Square instead of Squareburger.
April 29th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
What’s the story with this place? Fast food? Like 5 Guys?
April 29th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
It’s a burger/shake joint modeled after the St Louis custard icon Ted Drewes (Danny Meyer grew up in SL). The burgers are griddled In & Out-style burgers. Shake Shack was the genesis of the Pat LaFrieda ground beef craze. The burgers are awesome – better than 5 Guys, way better than Squareburger – but they’re still not as good as a good restaurant burger (say Village Whiskey). That’s not what they’re trying to be, anyway.
So yes, this is great news.
April 30th, 2011 at 4:01 am
BURGERS are over!
April 30th, 2011 at 7:51 am
We don’t need New York.
April 30th, 2011 at 7:52 am
But since the rumored location is two blocks from my house there’s a good chance I’ll dine at the interlopers.
April 30th, 2011 at 8:31 am
It’s not good because it’s NY, it’s good because it’s good. And we should want all the good we can get, homegrown or imported doesn’t matter. People need to get this bug out of their asses over NY.
April 30th, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Shake Shack is good. I’ve enjoyed it. But Philadelphia’s burger culture is doing fine on it’s own.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:20 am
And it’ll be even better with the addition of Shake Shack.
May 3rd, 2011 at 7:55 pm
How about the concretes!! I love their custardy goodness!!
May 4th, 2011 at 5:02 am
True, that’s what is being overlooked – their custard is excellent!
May 4th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I’m a 500 degrees fan. Is shake shack better at burgers,fries and shakes?
May 22nd, 2011 at 8:39 pm
I think Philly could use more New York. Unfortunately, I think the food culture isn’t as adventurous as I’d like. And, there simply aren’t enough people in Philly to support all of these places. But, I think the more the merrier! Bring it all! Let the good ones stand. Bottom line, the burger and beer pubs will be left standing in this city. That’s what we know.
May 22nd, 2011 at 8:55 pm
@Hutch: Yes, IMHO Shake Shack outdoes 500 Degrees in all respects.
That being said, the burgers that 500 Degrees were serving up yesterday at the Rittenhouse festival were outstanding and much better than what they normally serve in their store. Whatever they were doing differently yesterday, they should bottle it and serve it on a daily basis.