Shake Shack finally has a Brooklyn accent.
Star restaurateur Danny Meyer’s high-end fast-food chain finally made the move across the river to a new home on the Fulton Mall — and in addition to its celebrated burgers, fries and famous namesake milkshakes, this Shack’s packing a few borough-specific desserts made with our finest fixin’s.
“Brooklyn is a fun, unique borough, and it’s really where the food revolution is happening,” said Shake Shack Culinary Manager Mark Rosati, who designed the menu that features three new signature thick shakes. “These ingredients are true and true Brooklyn.”
The new “concretes” — hand-spun custard mixed with a variety of extras — are only available at the Fulton Mall location. They include the “Fudge-eddaboutit,” with chocolate custard drizzled with a custom chocolate-cinnamon sauce by Williamsburg chocolatiers Mast Brothers, and big chocolate chunks scattered throughout; the “Urban Lumbershack,” with vanilla custard, fried Belgian waffles, bananas and bacon-peanut brittle; and the Marty Markowitz-inspired “Borough Precedent,” with vanilla custard with fresh seasonal fruit compote made in-house and Brooklyn-made Early Bird granola.
“In Brooklyn, you’ve really got people who understand great quality ingredients; there’s more and more of that happening here now,” said Chief Operating Officer Randy Garutti. “Our frozen custard has a higher egg and fat content, and our sauces are premium — no Hershey’s or Snickers here — if we can’t make it, we source it from the best, which is what we’ve done here.”
On top of the hyper-local concrete concoctions, Brooklyn’s Shack will offer the franchise’s signature suds, “ShackMeister Ale” — dreamed up by none other than Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver.
But Garutti said that the menu’s Brooklyn angle is only part of what will make the new store a neighborhood staple. Shake Shack, which has 14 locations including seven in the city, prides itself on low prices, high-quality ingredients and a friendly staff, and Garutti is determined to maintain the Shack’s code of ethics while responding and adapting to the culture of Fulton Mall as it develops — the chain will join other new high-end additions such as Panera Bread and Sugar and Plumm on the Mall.
“Shake Shack always wants to be a mirror of its community,” Garutti said, citing tables and walls that were hand-crafted in Brooklyn from wood from an upstate bowling alley.
Foodies love the offerings, but some critics will likely point out that Shake Shack’s prices are higher than the usual lunchtime fare on the working-class strip between Flatbush Avenue and Adams Street, and are more in line with a new wave of national chains that have finally “discovered” Downtown.
A double thin-patty cheeseburger costs $7.10 (toppings extra), a chicken hot dog is $4.40, shakes are $5 and concretes are $6. A regular soda is $1.90.
Shake Shack (409 Fulton St. at Adams Street in Downtown), open 11 am-11 pm. For info, visit www.shakeshack.com.
Reach Arts Editor Juliet Linderman at jlinderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8309.
