The Other Critics

Pete Wells Isn’t Really a Fan of Shake Shack’s Burgers, Gives the Chain a Star Anyway

Not that good, but still worth a star!
Not that good, but still worth a star!

If you opened a small but growing chain of burger joints in New York City, and the restaurant critic from the Times said that your burger was often “cooked to the color of wet newsprint, inside and out, and salted so meekly that eating it was as satisfying as hearing a friend talk about a burger his cousin ate,” you might not expect to last very long in this burger-saturated city. If you are Danny Meyer, and the burger chain is Shake Shack, you will apparently get a star and a full review that says, in essence, “Hey, the fries suck, and there are better burgers out there, but at least the employees are friendly!” We’d say this bodes well for North End Grill, but between this Shake Shack review, and last week’s three-star rave review of Il Buco Alimentari, we’re not even sure if Pete Wells is interested in reviewing actual restaurants anymore. [NYT]

Pete Wells Isn’t Really a Fan of Shake Shack’s Burgers, Gives the