Shake Shack Paramus, Thank You Randy Garutti

Waited in line for over an hour to get a Shack Shack burger? You bet your life we have. We’ve been ardent fans since the Madison Park location opened in 2004, where people happily queue up to get this fabulous quintessential American food.

So happy they have come to New Jersey.

The Wine: Shake Shack Paramus is BYOB, we would suggest a lively Malbec or Zinfandel $-$$

The Food: Burgers are the thing here, and we enjoyed them all.

The Place: Shake Shack, Route 17 South, Paramus NJ

Here is the Shack Burger, a Single or Double Cheeseburger, topped with crisp fresh lettuce, tomato and the magnificent ShackSauce; a favorite of mine the Shack-cago Dog® "Dragged through the garden with Rick's Picks Shack relish, onion, cucumber, pickle, tomato, sport pepper, celery salt and mustard." Love authentic Chicago Style Hot Dogs. And the new Fresh Hand Cut Fries. Washed this down with the luscious Draught Abita Root Beer, Made in Louisiana at Abita Brewing Co. Could go for some Abita beer here.

Or if wine I would pick a spicy Malbec like Ben Marco or something from Patagonia like Valle Perdido or from Salta like Dos Minas. Mendoza is great for Malbec but you can find better value from the other less know but excellent regions.

Diana had the vegetarian Shroom Burger which is made with "a crisp-fried Portobello mushroom filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheeses, topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce."

Pierce had both in the famous Shack Stack® "Cheeseburger and a ’Shroom Burger topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce." Shake Shack.

Two other wines I would recommend would be a California Zinfandel or an Italian Primitivo for this place. Nice bright wines pair well with the flavors here. Nearby Total Wines in 17 North is a good place to buy.

The crowds here can get pretty dense, I hear. Nothing like Madison Park, Upper West Side or the Theater District locations. We arrived a little before seven and had to wait a short while for a parking space. By the time we finished the abundant dinners had thinned out.

The set up is about the same as other Shake Shacks. Order and get your buzzer, find a table and go gather your food when it is ready. Shake Shack is a very efficient operations and I swear they give their staff smiley friendly pills. It is nice and comes off real.

Shake Shack is a part of Danny Meyer’s renowned Union Square Hospitality Group and is run by the illustrious CEO Randy Garutti who has the passionate mission of realizing “Shake Shack's philosophy as the "anti-chain" chain expands internationally, saying that they stay small by making decisions as though there's only one restaurant.” Eater

Since it’s humble opening of the in 2001 as a food cart, Shake Shack has expanded to 34 locations around the world. There were some hiccups with quality suffering at times. That has been resolved, the Paramus location is firing on all eight cylinders and is fabulous.

We had a great dinner. Huffington Post explains why.