Midtown Lunch

Some Shake Shack locations are now featuring the Smoke Shack, a $6.25 bacon cheeseburger with cherry pepper relish, bacon from Niman Ranch, and Shack Sauce. The burger is still living on the “Today’s Special” board, so don’t look for it on the large official menu. GrubStreet and A Hamburger Today posted earlier this week that the Smoke Shack is only available at the Madison Square Park and Upper East Side locations, so I hit up the park, because — of course — I had to get my hands on one asap! And, I can confirm this is one tasty burger.

I have bought Niman Ranch bacon before, and it is of very high quality. There was two very long pieces of bacon folded diagonally to cross each other on the burger. One piece was so crispy that it broke with just a little pressure from my fingers. The second piece was softer and didn’t break. My preference is very crispy bacon, so I hope they work on this in the coming weeks to be consistent and crispy. The Shack Sauce is what it is, basically a glorified Thousand Island Dressing, like it or hate it. What I found the most interesting was the cherry pepper relish. It provides spiciness, tartness and a slight chill that counterbalances the grease and gooeyness of the melted cheese, sauce and oozing burger. This balance is why pickled jalapenos are sometimes added to burgers, but this was soooo much better.

Union Square Hospitality Group confirmed the Smoke Shack’s limited release (sorry, ML’ers!), but they did say that due to overwhelming response (uhhh…duh! It is a bacon cheeseburger!), they will be releasing it to other locations later in the summer. We will be sure to keep you updated whenever that happens.