So I realized my last post missed the biggest restaurant group in NYC, the Union Square Hospitality Group creators of my favorite burger joint in Madison Square Park Shake Shack!!Shaq-fu is as good a reference as any to the uptown downtown food-fight that I've been chronicling, for no good reason, of late. What I like about the new shake shack is that it not only means that soon I will be both working and living a few blocks away from a shake shack (I need a good insurance policy), but the suspense... 'late 2008' means that I can live from now until then in an 80s montage. Let me explain:
Tom's Theory of Relatively Easy Renovation ca. 1980-1991:
"In the 1980s, all you had to do was paint an old residential or commercial space to change the course of events that shapes your life"
There is also Tom's corollary, evidenced in Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo:
"you can also dance outdoors, and thereby earn money to fund such a renovation, which guarantees that you will win in your upcoming life endeavor."
One stipulation, you cannot chart such succe$s unless you do it on posterboard with either a jagged upward sloping arrow or a magic marker made fundraising goal thermometer. You can however have an awesome soundtrack and have life move at an 80s pace during such montage.
Examples that I can remember of my theory bourne out in montages:
1) Revenge of the Nerds, renovating the LLL house to Bone Symphony's "Put one foot in front of the other"
2) Better off Dead fixing up a camaro to Howard Jones' "Like to get to know you well". Also has one of the other best pieces of wisdom the 80s had to offer from Charles DeMar "Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn."
3) Career Opportunities cleaning up Target ensures that jim will hook up with jennifer connelly4) Dancing, painting and fundraising thermometers in Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo BTW Entertainment Weekly has a list of worst sequels, and they mention electric boogaloo in the article text, but EW dared not actually make that masterpiece one of the top 25 worst.
5) Secret of my Succe$s filmed at 101 park ave is basically a big montage with breaks for dialogue. Includes jagged posterboard growth charts, and I think instead of painting Michael J Fox changes clothes, dressing up and down to change his destiny.
Did I miss any?
So from my photo-heavy Columbus Shuffle post you can see that the painting, dancing and other renovation montage worthy actions are soon to be what's poppin' at the old jacques imo's location, and soon it will be a Shake Shack. And then, well the Upper West Side will be compleat.
Now I know what you're thinking...what about what I read in Gawker not 2 years ago about shake shack's sanitary conditions?
So, Shake Shack was once accused of stealing business strategy from the Muppets Take Manhattan when they hired rats to work in the kitchen. Big deal.
Maybe it was the muppets who started this whole painting for success craze anyway back in the muppet movie - download for free to your iPod or PSP my favorite track from the electric mayhem: Can you picture that?
