The famous burger joint of the East Coast is finally making its way to the Bay. Shake Shack has announced it will be opening its first Northern California location at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. This new Bay Area Shake Shack is guaranteed to be one of the busiest restaurants Palo Alto has ever seen.
Shake Shack is a fast-casual burger restaurant that started as a food cart in New York City. Since its inception in 2004, Shake Shack has expanded globally, opening over 150 restaurants from Tokyo to Chicago. The new Northern California location will be the latest addition to the Shake Shack family.
Some of Shake Shack's famous menu items include their burgers, hot dogs, crinkle-cut cheese fries and thick concretes made with frozen custard. Recently, Shake Shack has expanded their menu offering fried chicken sandwiches and chili cheese dogs. The chili dog revelation made me so happy I smiled the whole entire wait in the Century City Shake Shack line. Also, those aged 21+ will be pleasantly surprised to find ShackMeister Ale, an exclusive beer for Shake Shack by Brooklyn Brewery, and organic Shack Red and Shack White wines.
Out of all the items, my favorite things to order is the concrete. Each Shake Shack location has their own unique concrete that contains specialty ingredients which fit the theme of the location. For example, the Las Vegas Shake Shack has the "All Shook Up" concrete which is peanut butter banana cake mixed with vanilla custard, a fitting tribute to Mr. Elvis Presley. I suspect the new Bay Area Shake Shack will offer a concrete with items such as our beloved Ghirardelli chocolate or Tartine Bakery cookies.
This fast-casual restaurant is praised for having high-quality food that delivers on taste. Shake Shack is often named to be the East Coast version of In-N-Out, which brings out a fearsome debate from loyal fans of the franchises. While both places offer amazing meals, Shake Shack is properly categorized as a "high-end" fast-food restaurant with significantly higher menu prices than In-N-Out.
Shake Shack will open its Palo Alto restaurant in Fall of 2018 with locations in Marin County and San Francisco on the horizon. Hopefully, this new expansion will trigger Shake Shack's to open in every major city in the Bay Area. I know that there are many, many people in Northern California who would be frequent Shake Shack patrons.
Personally, I am excited that I will finally be able to get my cheese fries without having to drive hours to Los Angeles. Shake Shack has revolutionized the fast-casual restaurant world, proving you can provide people with food that is served quickly, tasty, and semi-affordable. Though many Bay Area natives wish to stay loyal to In-N-Out, I urge you all to give this restaurant a chance, there is enough love in this world for both burgers.
Also, as a word of advice, when in doubt, always order dessert.
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