Whenever I run into my friend Verena (EIC of this great site), as I did at yesterday’s Tory Burch Pre-Fall 2011 Press Preview, we get to chatting about our mutual love of truly spectacular burgers. (Really, we do talk about – or eat – burgers pretty much every time we see each other. I love her.) Verena, in fact, was the one with whom I braved the $26 Black Label Burger at Minetta Tavern (it turns out that I actually prefer the “bargain” $16 one, mostly because it tastes like a for-real hamburger as opposed to an oddity).
Anyway, after Tory Burch Verena headed off to Lure Fishbar for the bacon marmalade-slathered burger that got a 98/100 ranking on Burger Bedlam’s citywide search for Best Burger (…and now I need to go there), but I had visions of Shack Sauce dancing around in my head. Luckily, according to Serious Eats’ very scientific comparative study of the city’s four Shake Shack locations, the one on the Upper East Side gets the runner-up prize (Madison Square Park still beats them all). I’m almost positive that I went to high school with the author of that article, and I remember him being a very nice and intelligent guy, so I’m inclined to take him at his word. So I made my third trip to the UES location, and spent the rest of the afternoon in a very happy hamburger haze.
Want to make Shack Sauce yourself? Click here. And click here to learn how to make a DIY Shake Shack Poochini (really, do: the reaction is pretty out-of-control adorable).
And now, because burgers and high fashion go together so very well, a couple of my favorite items from the Tory Burch preview:
I would wear this bracelet all summer (and spring, fall, and winter) long.
Espadrille wedges are one of my favorites styles for summer shoes, and I keep worrying that they’ll go all untrendy on us and stop showing up in the stores. No worries; it seems they’re here to stay!
Top image via.
