What was most striking is how devoid of life Lower Manhattan is, particularly around the Financial District and Chinatown. Canal Street is eerily empty. But the farther along you get, the more you see. The sheer number of restaurants and bars in the Village operating by candlelight is astonishing. And even all the way downtown, you notice things you wouldn't expect, like tourists making the de rigueur pilgrimage to the Wall Street Bull, where a City Line tour bus happens to pull up. Also, the lights are back on at Zuccotti Park, while they are out across the street. Kind of seems like a waster of precious power, but it is also a refreshing reminder that life goes on.

By the time you get to Midtown, though, it's life as usual, with crowds everywhere—including in front of the Shake Shack in Times Square. And waiting, sometimes an hour or two, in front of Grand Central to cram onto one of those forlorn buses that have replaced the subway back to Brooklyn. So the Sandy tremors have not totally dissipated.

Choo chew! (Peep Meat)

History has shown us that when being invaded, one party’s failure to cooperate seldom ends peacefully. Although in this instance World War Three won’t be the outcome, for some New Yorkers, it may feel like it: Shake Shack is not coming to Grand Central just yet.

A legal battle is looking certain as Grand Central Mexican restaurant Zócalo has refused to vacate its space in the terminal to make way for the new Shake Shack, according to Crain's. Last summer, word of the famous burger franchise’s intentions of moving into the landmark leaked out like a melting shake, but a year later there are still no shackstacks available in its marble corridors.

"Zócalo is desperately pursuing any possible means to remain in possession of space it no longer has the legal right to occupy, contrary to the legal rights of the MTA and Shake Shack," an MTA spokesman told Crain's. He noted that a civil court in a landlord-tenant proceeding already ruled that the Mexican eatery is in unlawful possession of the space, since its lease has expired.

In the current lawsuit, Mr. Shapiro, who also owns two Flex Mussels restaurants in the city, alleges that because Shake Shack is a chain that operates 14 locations, including outposts in Dubai and Kuwait City, it is ineligible for the spot under the request for proposals restrictions. The request limited bidders to chains with fewer than 10 operating locations, according to the suit.

Like in invasions of the past everybody loses. Owner Danny Meyer must wait to open his 6th Manhattan shack. A mediocre Mexican restaurant looks to be entering a legal battle it cannot win but most importantly it could well be another year before commuters will be able to get their hands on one of the coveted patties.

Yum! (Gothamist)

Battery Park City. Like the Upper East Side or Mill Basin, it's the sort of out-of-the-way neighborhood you never visit unless you live there, or maybe there's a concert going on at the Winter Garden?which feels more like the Financial District anyway, so does it count?

Well, NY1 has a report out about how Battery Park City has finally come into its own, and it is indeed a place worth visiting. Much of the credit is given to Danny Meyer for spicing up the food scene, but really, credit is due Lloyd Blankfein.

From NY1:

The growing demand is generating growing interest from businesses who are realizing this is an untapped market. Restaurateur Danny Meyer recently opened three restaurants -Shake Shake, Blue Smoke and the North End Grill - which has quickly become a hot spot. Now people from all over the city are coming to the area to dine.

"The decision was made to open in this neighborhood because we felt it was underserved. It?s a growing community and we just really wanted to be a part of it," says North End Grill General Manager Kevin Richer.

Ah, but the real reason Mr. Meyer is here? Because Goldman Sachs kicked out all the crappy retailers when the investment bank moved in next door and brought on Union Square Hospitality to bring a little more flavor to the neighborhood.

You want an Applebees or Chevy's, try Mill Basin.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

The Fulton Mall will never be the same. (Edward Reed/Office of the Mayor)

Just 20 minutes before opening Tuesday, there was no line outside the Brooklyn Shake Shack. Lines are as much a part of the burgeoning brand as grass-fed patties and seasonal custards. It is even part of the company motto, “Stand for Something Good.” Both sidewalks of the Fulton Mall were clogged with shoppers, students and suits, but none of them had yet queued up outside the boutique burger shop, which was about to have its grand opening.

Marty Markowitz was there, though. He had even come the night before and helped himself to a double cheese burger, Shack-cago Dog, fries and one of the signature concretes (what Danny Meyer likes to call his Blizzards.) that had been named after him, the Fudge-gadabout. (The other was the Borough Precedent, with vanilla custard and granola, not exactly Mr. Markowitz’s cup of custard.)

Mayor Bloomberg was on his way, not only to feast but also to boast—a city program had helped speed the opening, done in just under a year, and facilitated the hiring of 52 Brooklynites.

But where was the crowd? This was the great white hope on the Fulton Mall, the game changer that would gentrify this last unruly stretch in the heart of the once boisterous borough. The opening had been blasted across blogs citywide since it was revealed on Friday.

Had Danny Meyer’s great Brooklyn adventure backfired?

Then, at about quarter to 11:00, they began to arrive, in ones and twos. The first in front of the tinted-glass solarium (reminiscent of a Wendy’s, really) was Arthur Torkiver, wearing a green fleece and rimless glasses and sporting a thick brown beard. A student at Brooklyn Law from Midwood, he said he had always planned to be first, or at least second, through the door. He had subverted the line, though, by taking up a position at a law school building across the street. From there, he kept one eye on his case law, the other on the door, as he studied for exams. When the reporters began filing in, he decided to come down.

“It’s a nice addition,” Mr. Torkiver said. “There’s a lack of eating options in the area. I won’t have to choose between Burger King and Wendy’s anymore.” He said he would order his usual Shack Stack—a beef patty and a cheese-covered, deep-fried mushroom patty married on a bun—plus one of the new Brooklyn-themed concretes, the Urban Lumberjack, which Mr. Torkiver said contained bacon. “It sounds brilliant,” he said. Actually, it was the locally purveyed Redhead bacon peanut brittle, one of many Brooklyn-centric mix-ins available—the Fudge-getaboutit has lip-puckeringly bittersweet chunks of Mast Brothers chocolate inside.

“I went to the one on Vecesey Street and it’s a very decent burger,” said a woman bundled up against the cold in down parka and skullcap and standing just behind Mr. Torkiver. “I was surprised it was coming to Brooklyn, but I guess this is the new Manhattan.”

Michael Wasserman had come from Sheepshead Bay as a special birthday treat. He had taken off from work—his very pregnant wife also happened to have a doctor’s visit in the neighborhood that morning—and he seemed the most eager of all. “I emailed the general manager last night,” he said. “I didn’t want to get here at 10 and find out they weren’t opening until three.” He said Shake Shack served his favorite burger outside of Williamsburg’s DuMont.

Let's eat! (Edward Reed/Office of the Mayor)

The line was about a dozen deep by the time the mayor arrived a few minutes after 11:00. He swept inside with his security detail and placed an order to a flood of flashbulbs. “I just wanted to congratulate Shake Shack, they already have restaurants around Manhattan, at Citi Field, in Washington, Miami, Westport, Conn., Sarasota Springs race track, Dubai and Kuwait City, and now they’ve hit the big time, Brooklyn,” the mayor said, adding, “I think Marty owes me for that one.”

The borough president was indeed happy about his ability to simply cross the street whenever he wants his Shack cravings satiated. He even taught the crew a set of hand signals. “You look right through that window, that’s my corner office,” he said. “This,” he made a peace sign, “means double. This,” he held up one finger, “means a single. And this,” a two-handed come-hither, “means bring it on.” What a hamburger he is!

Steve Levin, the local councilman—who claims to have the best-tasting district in the city, stretching as it does from Greenpoint to Dumbo to Park Slope—said he would be the popular person in the City Council now that the Shake Shack had opened. "It's right between my district office and my legislative office, so I'll be able to bring plenty of snacks to my colleagues."

After the bright green ribbon was cut, The Observer asked Mr. Markowitz if he thought Shake Shack was not just another Manhattan interloper in his borough. “It goes both ways these days,” he replied. “We’ve got people from Brooklyn and Brooklyn restaurants nourishing hungry Manhattanites here and there.”

Darren Cole was standing nearby, one of the first people through the door to place an order—the staff had tricked Mr. Torkiver and his cohort, switching entrances from Fulton to Willoughby when the doors finally opened at 11:30. Another Brooklyn Law student, he said people were saddened when a rumor started going around that Tony’s Famous Pizzeria was closing to make way for something new. “But then they heard it was Shake Shack, and they were cool with it,” he said. “Pizzerias come by the dozen, but this is Shake Shack.”

Still, the life-long Brooklynite could not seem to shake a certain sour taste in his mouth. “Yes, we’re not Manhattan’s stepchild, stepbrother anymore, but maybe you’d like to see less of a chain, more of a mom and pop,” he said. (To think, Shake Shack now ranks as a chain. We remember when it was just a shack.) “Plus,” he continued, “the culture of Brooklyn is changing and this helps facilitate that. Take it as you will.”

By now, the restaurant was packed. The mayor was finishing his meal—he said he had ordered a hamburger and fries—seated at one of the high banquets with aids and a few security guards joining him. He kept inviting people to share in the bounty, as though he might devour it all himself. The Observer could not help but notice that there were no calorie counts posted on the signs.

Outside, the line ran halfway down the block, at the other end of which is a Burger King. A group of workers were leaving, meals in hand, when The Observer passed by. “I took one look at that line, and I said never in Brooklyn,” said a gentleman named Eric who looked like he had eaten his fair share of Whoppers over the years. “I’m gonna wait until someone dies.”

“You know someone will cut the line, there’s gonna be a fight, and that’ll be it,” his colleague Michael said, helping to explain his friend’s macabre vision.

“I’ll wait until they clean the blood off the floor, then I’ll be the first inside,” Eric cut in. “There won’t be any lines after that.”

Shack stacks! (Gothamist)

Talk about burying the lede under some extra toppings.

In a story about 11 new eateries opening in Downtown Brooklyn, the Post let slip that the eagerly awaited Shake Shack will finally be opening its doors on the Fulton mall tomorrow.

The restaurant will be the seventh New York City location for the high-end burger-and-fries joint from celebrity chef Danny Meyer, famed for its Chicago-style hot dogs and frosty “concrete” shakes.

“It’s an enormous honor for the Shake Shack team to become employers and citizens of this vibrant community,” Meyer told the Post.

A Union Square Hospitality spokesperson confirmed to The Observer that the restaurant will be opening tomorrow, bright and early at 11 o'clock, just in time for the lunch-time rush.

If it seems like the gentrification of the Fulton Mall is finally here, as the arrival of Shake Shack portended, not so fast. The Observer has been suspicious of such pomp in the past, and a run down of the other establishments soon to open seems to confirm our down-market beliefs. Sure, there is a French place with haute cocktails opening in the MetroTech complex, and a new hotel on Duffield Street will house "The Marrow, a new German/Italian restaurant by chef Harold Dieterle of “Top Chef” fame."

With Cesar Ramirez's Michelin-adorned-and-adored spot a few blocks away, this seems like a burgeoning buffet hot-spot. But consider the other eateries about to open:

• Wingstop
• Bergen Bagels
• Panera Bread
• Five Guys
• Sugar and Plumm (it's a candy store)
• American BBQ and Beer Company (the work of some Vegas restauranteur)

Not exactly Smith Street, is it?

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Rangel.

 

Wednesday, August 3

The Ultimate Art Machine

Is the Guggenheim the Shake Shack of museums? Locations, locations, locations! Not content with outposts in the Basque Country and the United Arab Emirates (as well as the now-shuttered Las Vegas outpost, which seems in retrospect a bit of an overreach…to expect real culture to take hold in the land of bilk and money), the Guggenheim is now creating a mobile lab, opening today, that will set up shop in nine cities over six years in a quest to spur discussion on urban life. The slow migration of the auto-company-sponsored BMW Guggenheim Lab (a mobile laboratory isn’t cheap, dears!) begins in New York with the erection of a mobile structure themed around “Confronting Comfort.” (While the Guggenheim Lab is referring to balancing individual desire with the common good, surely you’ll be reminded that a new BMW forces you to “confront comfort” in a whole new way!) Catch it while you can—the mobile lab jaunts to Berlin next, then on to a yet-to-be-announced city in Asia.

BMW Guggenheim Lab, 33 East First Street, opens today from 1-9pm, visit guggenheim.org for more information.

Thursday, August 4

Single-Source Stories

When we hear “Talking Head,” we think rock star/bicycle enthusiast David Byrne, of course—we see that guy everywhere! But some talking heads come on reels, not wheels: the Anthology Film Archives continue their Talking Head screening series of documentary films featuring testimonials from a single individual. The mini-genre’s rife with unreliable narrators and charismatic characters: today brings screenings of The Confessions of Winifred Wagner (about Richard Wagner’s daughter-in-law and her friendship with Adolf Hitler) and Martin Scorsese’s Italianamerican and American Boy (regarding, respectively, his parents and the Taxi Driver actor Steven Prince).

Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, The Confessions of Winifred Wagner at 6:45pm, Italianamerican and American Boy at 9pm, visit anthologyfilmarchives.org for tickets and information.

Friday, August 5

Soundgarden

This weekend, the Shinnecock Indian reservation, in Southampton, is invaded by hordes even wilder than cigarette buyers looking for a tax-free carton. The Escape to New York music festival brings electro-loving ravers in for a weekend spent sleeping in campers (it’s glamorous camping, or “glamping,” for the Sunday Styles set), listening to music and enjoying all the good, clean fun the Hamptons have to offer. Tonight, noted memoirist Patti Smith and girl-group-but-not-in-the-Phil-Spector-way Best Coast perform on the main stage. It’s not just music and glamping (something about that word—we just can’t take ourselves seriously when we say it!): the organizers were responsible for the U.K.’s Secret Garden Party, an annual festival that transforms a manor house’s grounds into what a Telegraph reporter described as “a fairy woodland filled with strange sculptures” and “a Tower of Babel disco.” If this all sounds a bit foreign to you, gentle partygoing reader, know that in bringing a manic all-weekend festival to the States, the organizers adopted one indigenous custom: there will be a massive brunch for all attendees. Glamorous!

Escape to New York runs through August 7, Shinnecock Reservation (Southampton), visit escape2ny.com for tickets and information.

Saturday, August 6

Newport Lights

If you find yourself among the Gilded Age relics in Newport tonight (we mean the mansions, not the social set), contribute to the preservation of one grand home. Once owned by Pennsylvania coal baron Edward Julius Berwind and modeled after a French chauteau, the house at the Elms is fine ($1.4 million in 1901 money could buy you a pretty sturdy house), but its carriage house and stables are in need of a pick-me-up. Tonight’s black-tie dinner dance—whose theme is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”--will raise money for Newport’s Preservation Society, which plans to turn the stables of The Elms from equine domicile into a historical society devoted to researching the town’s architectural history. Let’s make sure that horsey smell is powerwashed out before the important work of this research center begins!

The Elms, 367 Bellevue Avenue (Newport, R.I.), 7pm, call (401) 847-1000 x120 for reservations.

Sunday, August 7

McQueen for a Day

The Met is open until midnight tonight so that late, late latecomers can check out Alexander McQueen’s wares before the exhibit closes permanently. A night spent experiencing the glories of the museum? We remember that children’s book! Most everyone we know has raved about the Costume Institute show, but we’ve been pretty busy all summer (the Newport mansions can’t save themselves, you know, and there’s pretty intriguing costumery to check out there as well!), and the museum’s been bending over backwards to accommodate busy (lazy!) people like us all summer, with admission on Mondays and now late-night shows. Is any innovation quite so welcome in this go-go city as a museum for the nocturnal? We hope the trend catches on—nothing would lull us to sleep quite like the soft glow of MoMA’s Rothkos. (We do love McQueen, too, but we’re sure those severe, radical clothes will give us a few nightmares!)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, exhibition open until 12am August 6 and 7, visit metmuseum.org for more information.

Monday, August 8

Day for Night

We’re still vicariously embarrassed for dear old drama geek Anne Hathaway in her noble, pathetic attempt to host the Oscars by sheer force of will. She tried so very hard! She laughed at her own jokes to fill cavernous silences! Well, her new film might have put the brakes on her earnest, overbearing schtick and given us the chance to remember why we loved her in the first place. Ms. Hathaway, as a British lady separated from her one true love but for an annual brief encounter, puts her high-school-production-of-Oliver! on for the new film One Day, which she’s fêteing at the red carpet premiere tonight. Do you think Ms. Hathaway’s erstwhile Oscar co-host James Franco would consider it a suitable art project to come as our plus-one?

One Day premiere, an Upper West Side movie palace, screening at 7pm.

Wednesday, August 10

Rangel Me an Invite

It’s Christmas for politicos with the annual Charles Rangel birthday gala (the Congressman was born in June, but that’s not a slow news month that will guarantee headlines!). Planned attendees at the Plaza Hotel bash include Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer—all familiar faces from last year’s bash, which went on during Mr. Rangel’s ethics investigation. Also planning to attend is Aretha Franklin, who’ll sing for the assembled guests: she was supposed to sing last year, but fell and broke her ribs, so Psychic Friend Dionne Warwick turned up instead. Broken ribs are perhaps the only excuse that can keep prominent machers away from the ever-popular Mr. Rangel: “I felt bad—because Aretha felt so bad!,” said Mr. Rangel’s fundraising consultant Darren Rigger, who noted that Ms. Franklin was pleased to make up for her truancy. As for the party--why the Plaza and not, you know, something in Mr. Rangel’s district? “Charlie is iconic,” said Mr. Rigger. “We needed a place that had that same feel—you remember the Black and White Balls, the galas, it sends a powerful message. There’s a lot of places, and I’m not going to say bad things about other places, but this place is iconic for throwing a gala.” Indeed! If Truman Capote were alive today, he’d love nothing more than hanging out with New York politicians.

Plaza Hotel Grand Ballroom, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, 6pm-8pm, visit charlierangel.org for tickets and information.

Can Junior's keep up?

We take it back. Yesterday, when it was confirmed that Apple would be coming to Grand Central Terminal, The Observer declared the marriage of two of our favorite things. Nothing could be better. Except maybe if we could gnaw on a Shack Burger while perusing the glass cube, greasing up all the iScreens.

DNAinfo reports that the watched-like-a-Warren Buffet-at-a-quarterly-call Shake Shack wants to open a stand in Grand Central, though it has merely filed an application at this point.

"As we expand Shake Shack we are looking to make our home in vibrant locations throughout New York City and beyond," she said. "We are interested in exploring the idea of bringing a Shake Shack to Grand Central, and have responded to the MTA's [request for proposals]."

The chain, which serves raved-about burgers, fries, frozen custards and shakes, is reportedly eyeing the Zocalo space on the Lower Level Dining Concourse, according to Gothamist.com, which first reported Shake Shack's plan.

The spokeswoman described the terminal, which is seeing a major influx of new tenants, including Beer Table Pantry and the Tri Tip Grill, as "a spectacularly beautiful historic landmark that serves as both a transportation hub and cultural point of interest for residents, commuters and tourists alike.

The choice makes a lot of sense. Not only is the place clogged with commuters, tourists and lines, lines, lines, but it's one of the city's architectural gems—the perfect place for David Swinghamer, Shake Shack's boss and a trained architect no less whom The Observer profiled last year.

mchaban@observer.com :: Follow on Twitter @MC_NYC

The lines that snake around famed Manhattan burger franchise Shake Shack's outposts have become notorious for being ever-present, no matter which location one frequents. As is the smell of delicious hamburgers being deliciously assembled. So goes the struggle of working near a Shake Shack (full disclosure: the Observer has one on the same block, terribly):

Do you even chance it? Do you send subordinates to do your waiting for you? Or do you work at a company so capable of deriving infinitely complex financial instruments designed to filch zillions from the American economy that you have your own (mythical) Shake Shack grill, thus abstaining this concern from your universe entirely?

Or do you come up with a quasi-con designed to entertain you on your lunch hour, get others to pay for your lunch, and pick up pageviews?

Well, Gloss editor (and Observer columnist) Jennifer Wright took that last option and ran with it. Here's how the Shake Shack Con works:

1. Get someone to stand in line for you.
2. Take people's orders from the back of the line, with a fee attached.
3. Put a plant in line so you can get other people to go along with the plan, which isn't all that convincing and which is fairly sketchy on face-value.
4. Take the money, place the orders, collect the burgers.
5. Enjoy the cash you paid for your lunch with that you just made, and then some.

On the one hand, it's time consuming, requires an entire operation squad, and the payoff can't be that great. On the other hand, if you've got five people sitting around at lunch of a Friday near Madison Square Park, and you've got nothing pressing...it's actually not the worst idea.

They also made a video of it, which will just make you hungry for Shake Shack. Or get lunch-rich quick schemes.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Until recently, the most pressing question facing Brooklyn patty partisans was whether to get the pickles on the side.

Then several months ago The Observer reported that Shake Shack was heading for Fulton Mall, adding some much-needed sizzle to the borough's burger options. Now comes news that New York's beloved burger chain will have to go bun-for-bun with Denver-based Smashburger, which is opening a location just blocks away at 80 DeKalb Avenue.

The tenant was represented by Timothy King, Eric Altschul and Ryan Condren of CPEX Realty, who are also helping Smashburger scout for two more Brooklyn locations.

"Downtown Brooklyn is hot," Mr. King said. "It's a booming area with almost three million residents, 11 colleges, 37 banks and a multitude of subway and bus lines as well as entertainment, recreational and cultural facilities."

For our part, we're waiting to see how this grill-off unfolds. Smashburgers are slightly more expensive than their Shake Shack counterparts, and Smashburger doesn't offer any of the Shake Shack's famous frozen custards (obviously). But, then again, there's the delicious Smash sauce. What's a carnivorous BroBo to do?

lkusisto@observer.com

It was Friday, Dec. 17, yet again below freezing. The sky was a glacial blue, and the wind whipped down the avenue. And, yet, the line formed, as it does every day at three other New York locations and one in Miami. Office workers, theatergoers, tourists, all awaiting the same thing: a Shackburger and maybe one of those eponymous shakes.

Such lines--for what are simple, quintessentially American meals that could be had in innumerable locales for less money--has led Mr. Swinghamer, along with his longtime business partner Danny Meyer, to take a shot at stealing the king's crown, of toppling the golden arches, of going global with New York's Shake Shack.

"We came to the realization--are we serious about this, are we going to do one or two, or are we really going to give this a shot and prove that our culture can grow, that the quality is there, no matter the size," Mr. Swinghamer said, eating a crinkle-cut French fry.

For 2011, that means four new stores in the States, all in the Northeast: Westport, Conn., Washington, D.C., Battery Park City; and a long-awaited Brooklyn outlet. Two others are planned, for Dubai and Kuwait City.

"We want every Shake Shack to be better than the last," Mr. Swinghamer said. "There's no way we're going to go backward, like so many others who expand too big or too fast."

Sorry, hold on.

He rose from his stool, for the third or fourth time during lunch, walked over to the huge swinging back door next to the "handcrafted in Brooklyn"-stamped table and shut it. It had gotten stuck again, and cold air was gusting inside. Confused patrons did not realize the entrance, the line, was at the front of the Shack, not on the corner.

Returning to the table, Mr. Swinghamer took out a business card and scribbled a reminder to have the door fixed. It was working exactly as designed, but he would no doubt engineer a way around that.

It is this attention to detail, such a hallmark of the Danny Meyer brand, that landed Mr. Swinghamer the job of running the now semi-autonomous Shake Shack. Asked over the phone why he had selected him, Mr. Meyer demurred. He said his four partners had a certain everyman expertise that allowed them to share roles within the company. As for the expansion? "It was going to be one of my partners, and there was not anyone who came close in terms of skill set to get this done," Mr. Meyer allowed of Mr. Swinghamer.

For one thing, Mr. Swinghamer is the only partner with what Mr. Meyer said was "multi-unit" experience, having spent a dozen years in Chicago working for Richard Melman at Lettuce Entertain You, a pioneer in the haute chain business. (Before that, he spent three forgettable years with Chi-Chi's.) He joined Mr. Meyer in 1995, agreeing to the move after the pair shared a Cubs-Cardinals game that turned into dinner and drinks. Neither man could remember who won the game.

Yet Mr. Swinghamer's chief asset is one he never thought he would use after abandoning it in college: a few years spent studying architecture at the University of Minnesota, where he also fell in love with restaurants while working as a line cook to pay for school.

"Each Shake Shack has a certain sense of place, a feel, and while the burger is the same, the signage isn't, even from Madison Square to the Upper West Side," he explained. "A Shake Shack in Brooklyn is not going to be a Shake Shack in Dupont Circle, and that is why we--I, really--pick all the locations. Even just which side of the street to put it on matters."

He could have been lecturing at Pratt. That deliberativeness is why it took four years to settle on a restaurant in Brooklyn, that it would be a Shake Shack, that it would be on the Fulton Mall and not Coney Island. It is the reason Mr. Swinghamer moved the stage 20 feet forward at Jazz Standard, to create a more intimate setting with diners. It is the reason a Shack in Nolita was abandoned, because some neighbors objected, even though the majority of them did not. It is the reason there are lines.

"When we opened the second Shake Shack, we really thought we'd see a dip at first," Mr. Swinghamer said. "But instead, sales went up in Madison Square Park. Now we have four, and last year was our best year ever. And that's the idea behind this expansion. Not only to make every store better but to make all of them better."

Just then a class of high-school kids from Bed-Stuy filed in, looking for lunch after a field trip. "That's what's so exciting about an expansion--to find the right location, such as downtown Brooklyn, we make, really, a lot of people happy," Mr. Swinghamer said. "It's not targeting a certain narrow demographic."

And with that, he got up to close the door behind them.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo