Shake Shack [New York]

Appropriate that I follow up that In-n-Out entry with its biggest contender: the Shack Shack Shackburger. The place is a chain of sorts: 3 locations in the Big Apple. I visited the Upper West Side location, a few blocks shy of the 72nd street 1 2 3.

Now I'll be frank: this place isn't as good as In-n-Out. It's close. Very close. But it's a bit more expensive, and the taste just isn't quite up to par. Then again, with burgers like these:


I can understand why your average NYCer vouches for the Shack so vehemently. The shakes by the way, are also pretty damn good.

Taste:

I had the Double Stack, a happy combination of juicy beef patty, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, special "Shack Sauce," and fried portabello stuffed with muenster and cheddar cheese. It's a particularly thick burger, very full-flavored, lots of taste, dripping in burger-juice, mostly savory in nature. What puts this monstrosity a step above the rest is how they treat their mushrooms. Cheese stuffed fried portabello. Absolute genius. Never has there been a better match between mushroom and...uhh...anything? In the end, it's the mushroom I ended up remembering more than the burger.

They market the shake as 'custards.' Deeper in the description you find that they're combinations of soft serve and ice cream. A great combo. I tried the caramel milkshake--a perfect blend of caramel and light vanilla blended into a smooth, creamy drink somewhere between feathery and medium in thickness. Shake Shack does a good job of avoiding the two major flaws in most milkshakes: artificial flavoring and thickness.

Reflections:

A good experience. A filling burger. Slightly pricey (8.50 for the double stack, 5.25 for the shake), but a good time nonetheless. I mean, if you had a choice, In-n-Out all the way, but seeing as the two are a continent apart...this will suffice.