nothin Shake Shack Debuts With “Skull & Cones” | New Haven Independent

Shake Shack Debuts With Skull & Cones”

Paul Bass Photo

The line went out the door at noon on opening day Thursday.

Allan Appel Photo

The modern version of the roadside burger stand” opened Thursday in New Haven with an homage to Louis’ Lunch, a lot of Yale blue on both the menu and the walls, and six soaring 19-foot windows to bring the Green inside.

The interior walls are clad with wood salvaged from the Yale Bowl. The concretes, or dense custard desserts, have names like Skull and Cones, and one of the all beef flat-topped wieners is named Handsome Dog for those of you nostalgic about your Yale mascots. 

In this edible incarnation he’s topped by shallots marinated in Brooklyn’s Shackmeister beer.

And 5 percent of every Elm City Coffee Break (vanilla custard, coffee cake marshmallow sauce, shortbread cookie, caramelized pecans) goes to benefit Solar Youth.

With such local touches, culinary, architectural, and philanthropic, the modern version of the humble roadside burger stand, as Shake Shack characterizes its signature style, has a ribbon-cutting scheduled Thursday at 11 am. The new location is on Chapel Street between College and Temple.

After you place your order, you are presented with a buzzer. You go off to sit, you read friendly messages from buzzer. When your order is ready, it buzzes you to come to the pick up window.

It’s the second in Connecticut (after Westport) and the 17th in the Shake Shack empire, including one in Dubai and one in Kuwait City. The company employs about 800 people worldwide, but prides itself on being a local joint or modern burger stand in whatever town it rolls into.

All the shacks grew out of of a modest high-quality hot dog vending cart deployed in 2001 in then derelict-plagued Madison Square Park, in Manhattan. It was the idea of restaurateur Danny Meyer (Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, 11 Madison), who thought his fine diners should not have to exit his eatery only to deal with an intimidating park.

People lined up for the quality wiener, and that, along with an active conservancy group and art exhibitions, began to revive the now elegant urban jewel; the flagship Shake Shack emerged there and began to spread. Read more of that history here.

Standing for something good,” reinventing fresh quality American comfort foods as a creative chef would in a fine dining restaurant, and being a hospitable destination are the values the new Shake Shack wants to stand for, said Edwin Bragg, the chain’s director of marketing and communications.

He said that the eye-filling vista of the New Haven Green right out the high glass windows of the new eatery echoes Shake Shack’s Madison Square Park beginnings.

Other features of the Elm City shack include low-to-the-ground seating in front of a ski-chalet style fire, ample outlets for electronic plug in, Wifi, and encouragement to linger in the high-ceilinged space to take in the view of the Green across Chapel Street.

And, and if you’re a Yale student, the Shake Shackers encourage you for a while to forget the homework,” said the culinary manager, Mark Rosati (pictured).

In addition to the Yale location, a big draw for the company to plant its newest shack in Connecticut is the rich culinary tradition of the Elm City, Rosati said.

The Stonington-born Rosati said he has been not only going to Louis’ Lunch for at least 16 years but prowling all the burger, lobster, and hot dog-purveying shacks” of the Nutmeg state since he can remember. As a kid I was in training [for this job] and didn’t know it.”

New employee Jennifer Sanders said Shake Shack encourages her to be her bubbly self. “51/49, they tell you. You bring the 51 [percent of your personality], 49 they teach you.”

Beneath a bright sun Wednesday afternoon Jenn Sanders was helping to make it all happen. The New Haven native applied online for a job at the new Shake Shack and considers herself very lucky. She earns $9 an hour, she said. She was unsure of the benefits situation.

Sanders is one of 70 people, full and part-time hires, out of 800 who applied. She’s going to be a greeter and a porter, not on the cooking side, but the hospitality. They allow me to be myself. I can be bubbly and over the top. It pays to be nice,” she said.

If the line gets long outside, as it often is at other Shake Shacks, other workers like Chris Ray, who is also a porter, transform into hospitality champs.” They go up to people and talk about Shake Shack, and in general make nice.

Ray had never heard of Shake Shack until he applied and got the job, let alone consumed a concrete. At a staff family event preceding the opening, Ray ate his first SmokeShack (cheeseburger topped with natural applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry pepper and ShackSauce).

Now he’s a believer. Absolutely amazing,” he said.

The restaurant has an approximately 145-person capacity with living-room type seating in the front and three banquettes in the back with some sports-bar style TV monitors high above.

Weather permitting, there will also be four tables in front of the restaurant on the sidewalk.

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