Allan Appel Photo
Ken Thorn likes the salt and the grease. So he drove all the way from Naugatuck for a Shake Shack bacon cheeseburger, medium, the way he likes it. Plus a Woodchuck cider drink, with spices of the season. He once went to Louis’ Lunch but didn’t return — because, he said, they give you what they want, not what you want.
That’s exactly what appeals to Officer Kathy Bisson, a Louis’ customer on her downtown beat for the past 10 years. Burgers with onions or tomatoes but no ketchup. Take it or leave it. She takes it, along with a Pepsi.
Officer Kathy Bisson and her take-out Louis’s lunch.
As the face-off between the city’s oldest burger and its newest entered its third week, devotees lined up in both corners. They directed words of praise or critique as much to the ambiance and eating “experience” as to the meat patties themselves.
Shake Shack’s “Burger Ltop,” that is with lettuce and bacon; and the “Shroom Burger,” that is with mushrooms.
For example, on a Friday of heavy rain, Thorn was relaxing with the remnants of his burger and a few sips left of Woodchuck cider in front of Shake Shack’s fire; he had plenty of minutes left on the meter outside.
It was the second time Thorn had driven all the way from his Naugatuck home for a Shake Shack burger and experience.
Thorn works the night shift in Waterbury for the public works department. The first time he came to New Haven was on opening day; last week he was back again.
Not only did he pronounce the Louis’ burger he remembered “a little dry,” he added: “You can’t even bring ketchup in. They get mad at you.”
A Louis’ Lunch burger, a “little bloody,” the way regular Will Cleary likes it.
But there was more that draws him to the newest burger on the block: “I enjoy the fire. They definitely don’t have that at Louis’. There I feel I have to rush,” because there aren’t many seats. “Here they give you a beeper, no rush.”
Thorn did concede that “it’s neat the way they cook it [on the ancient broilers at Louis], but here it’s more flavorful, greasy.”
Over at Louis’, the putative birthplace of the hamburger, no panic could be detected in the air, only the rich aroma of onions and meat. The restaurant’s six or so tables were all filled and Officer Kathy Bisson was one of several people on a waiting line for take-out.
“We’ve been here before Shake Shack and we’ll be here after Shake Shack,” said Paul DeNegre, who’s been cooking at Louis’ for 20 years. He was paraphrasing Louis’s owner Jeff Lassen.
Paul DeNegre preparing multiple Louis burgers.
With a reporter, Bisson calculated that she has ordered approximately 500 burgers there over the past decade.
How would she characterize a Louis’ burger?
“It tastes good!” she said.
There was more than meets the eye in Bisson’s appraisal. As a cop, she likes the Louis’ take-it-or-leave-it approach.
Sign high on the wall at Louis’s.
Then she stepped up to the small counter, was handed her burger in a brown paper bag, and with a can of Pepsi she was out into the blowing rain. “I’m not going to melt, ” she said on leaving.
Her loyalty notwithstanding, Officer Bisson said she will probably try a Shake Shack burger.
Locals v. Tourists
Danbury’s Al Matthews and Debra Bly made Louis’s lunch part of their New Haven weekend.
Al Matthews was in from Danbury for a New Haven weekend and was at the large circular table by the door with a number of other tourists finishing up the last morsel of his Louis’ burger, with onions.
Asked to rate the burger, qua burger, he said called it good. Asked for a rating on a one-to-ten scaled, he replied: “Six.”
It wasn’t just the burger that was making Matthews’ time at Louis’ clearly enjoyable. “It’s the ambiance, the history” said Debra Bly, also from Danbury, who was joining Matthews for a New Haven weekend. She pointed out the several people taking photographs of the restaurant as they ate.
Matthews said that for years he has heard of Louis’, the reputed 112-year-old birthplace of the hamburger as we know it. Friday’s meal was the fulfillment of that quest.
“We’ll have to wait a few hours before we go to Shake Shack,” he said.
While the received wisdom is that Louis’s attracts mainly tourists like Matthews and Bly, there were also many regulars like Bisson and Will Cleary, the music director at St. Paul and St. James Episcopal Church at Olive and Chapel.
“See. A little bloody. Just the way I like it,” he said of his burgers.
That there are regular locals at Louis’ and out-of-towners like Ken Thorn at Shake Shack belies the received wisdom.
Tuck in by the Fire and the Wifi
Shake Shack Vice President for Operations Zach Koff said the outlet has had a big response in its opening weeks. The Yale and Gateway students they expected to be the core of the business have come through, big time.
Koff reported that 350 Handsome Dogs have been sold since opening, and 1,000 burgers a day. The latter is fairly typical of Shake Shacks. It hasn’t been just students lining up, sometimes out the door.
“I have a gentleman who wrote me an email that he’s been here five times.”
Koff attributed the repeaters to the fire, the lounge, and on average the 30 minutes-to-an hour visit that each customer is enjoying.
That applied to non-students like Thorn, who said he was using up all of the 50 minutes he had on the meter.
Another attribute of the “experience” is that Shake Shack has never offered free WiFi before at any of its locations. Koff pronounced it a big success in New Haven. “This is the first place we created a place for you to stay a little longer, fire place, comfortable group seating.”
Ryan Day and Marilyn deGuery had a 1.5 hour working lunch, with burgers and cider.
Ryan Day and Marilyn deGuehery came in and worked for an hour brainstorming the annual report they are preparing for Love146, a not-for-profit that fights international child trafficking.
Neither of them had been to Louis’ and expressed little interest in doing so. deGuehery pronounced Louis’ more of a “novelty” of a burger. Shake Shack is certainly not fine dining, but is the place you go for a higher-end burger, she said.
Their office is located around the corner, and they worked for an hour together at Shake Shack before ordering burgers: A double cheese for him, with sauce, and a regular hamburger for her.
“The 95 cents [the sauce costs] is too much for a condiment,” deGuerhery said.
All told they would be there for an hour and a half, a working lunch. Before they ordered and their beepers went off, they too were sipping Woodchuck cider.
Been to both in the past month and I'll be back to both. Very different burgers, very different ambiance, both excellent. If one had to stay and one had to go, I'm sticking with the local family-owned institution each and every time...