Friday, January 19, 2018

At the Shack 01.19.2018

It was Gallery Night in the 3rd Ward, Milwaukee. I was showing my work across the street from a somewhat recently opened Shake Shack.
I didn't want to go in alone but, my favorite sidekick, the wife wasn't available.
As I stood across the street looking in at the line formed three lanes wide, I asked myself. Is this a good idea? How long will this take. What should I get? Will they think I'm weird if I just want a cheeseburger?
I made the move. Walk signal gave me access to a crosswalk that can be difficult to navigate, at times, especially on Gallery Night. People and cars are distracted easily by the scene and fashion.
Once inside the restaurant (?) I took a quick look up and down the menu. Again, I had to ask myself why the same sandwich has to be called something so different. Well, a cheeseburger is just that.
The girl at the counter was very empathetic to my old school issue of a burger and cheeseburger being about all you had to contemplate.
I asked, "is there just a cheeseburger with tomato, lettuce and onion? Maybe not listed but, available.
My order went in at 7:26PM. I got it at around 7:36PM. For some reason, they give you one of those electronic devices that is supposed to notify you when you stuff done. Like Olive Garden. My thing didn't buzz but, the girl called my name over the din of the crowd.
I took my bag full of grub back across the street to a secluded space for consumption.
Bite number one. A lot of pickle, tomato and onion. The bun, delicious. Second bite, I decided to just pull a little beef off the sandwich. Pretty decent. I'm guessing it's not hand formed. Griddle top, frozen? Good flavor no matter. Third bite was from the combination of the bun, veggies and meat. Really good flavor, fresh veggies. I was surprised, I must say.
I think the crowd told the story. A lot of students, some families and people that just had an interest in what it was all about.
The numbers: 3.5+ of 5
Staff was very responsive, helpful and present. Not so normal for semi-fast food. The price, not bad but, for the final product, I'm not sure. Culver's, Kopp's etc can give me the same speed or faster and offer similar price and pace.
Still, I had fun watching the crowd.
I checked out the Wiki page. I like the story. At times I too think, I just want to be a funky guy blogging about burgers. Don't really care that much about how many people follow me etc. But, trust me, if I was approached by someone that said we can make this more than what it is, I might jump.
Fear this will never happen because at that point, I don't think it would be as fun.