It started with overhearing someone ask for extra Shack sauce and discovering you can get pickles on your Shackburger.
Waiting at the Shake Shack window in Madison Square Park, you hear interesting conversations among co-workers, couples, Shack-ployees, and last-minute customer requests. One, "Can I have a side of Shack sauce?" inspired a Shack-quest that required above-and-beyond commitment from The Daily Meal's Eat/Dine section: the secret menu.
Secret menu? Shake Shack? Yes. Shake Shack has a secret menu — kind of. No, you can't go up to cashiers at any location, ask for items by name, and have them nod and punch in the order. Well, that's not entirely true. They will, for example, readily make a grilled cheese sandwich by name.
First, some disclaimers and a primer for the uninitiated. If you haven't had Shake Shack but think you love burgers, you don't as much as you think you do. You would have found this one. It's one of America's best fast-food burgers — better than In-N-Out. But that's another conversation. To those who complain the Madison Square Park line disqualifies comparison to In-N-Out: Other locations don't have the lines. Case in point: Miami, Westport, the Upper East and Upper West Sides, Battery Park City, and you'd have to guess, the Middle East.
To those who complain prices at the chains discredit comparison: Consider that In-N-Out is oft compared to Five Guys. Prices can vary depending on location, but let's take a look at how they stack up for a second. According to In-N-Out's site, a cheeseburger costs $4.12 ($3.75 plus tax). Similarly, looking at prices on Five Guys' site and on Menupages, their "Little Cheeseburger" (one patty, the regular cheeseburger is a double) costs in the range of $4.99 to $5.03. For the record, a Shackburger, which includes cheese, costs $4.50 pre-tax. You're gonna argue over a dollar? Same price range — give it a break.
Now that that's over, here's the dirt on the Shake Shack secret menu. There are official, exclusive, special-menu items at each Shack location that you may not know about (even at the seasonal Shacks like CitiField, Saratoga, and Nationals Park, where menus are trimmed down). Most are concretes ("dense frozen custard blended at high speed with toppings and mix-ins"), not secret menu items per se, but checklist orders for the Shack-obsessed (strange to think they once closed during the winter, huh?). Others, like the corndog and the peanut butter and bacon burger, are special offers you have to get while the getting's good. To be clear, we're not talking about these items (click here for that list).
This goes beyond burgers and ice cream. It means using everything on the menu: burgers, drinks, dogs, ice cream, and all sides and fixings used to compose all conventional menu items. It means rethink everything, especially thesport peppers, which may be the most underrated and underutilized ingredient there.
Stop thinking about the menu the way you always have: limited to what the print declares. Shake Shack seems happy to oblige requests. Take a cue from The New York Times' former restaurant critic Frank Bruni when he noted that he'd been a blockhead for not ordering a double after complaining forever that the condiment to burger ratio had been off. Consider all the ingredients on the menu at whichever of the 13 locations you're at (it will soon be 15 when the Brooklyn and Philly spots launch.) Think about mixing beverages too (they do an underrated float, which ison the menu). Order Shake Shack your way.
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