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Best Bites Chicago

This week’s Best Bite: Salted Carame’L’ concrete, Shake Shack

This Best Bite is one of the 20 foods and 15 drinks I’ve set out to taste and document in 2015. View the full list to see my plan and progress.

Salted Carame"L" concrete, Shake Shack
Concrete with vanilla custard, banana, and Glazed & Infused salted caramel old fashioned doughnut

Why it’s this week’s Best Bite: I’ve never had the wear-withal to stand in line at the original Shake Shack in New York’s Madison Square Park (or any other location, for that matter), so I was happy to finally make it to the 2-month-old Chicago outpost. On this visit, I had my eye on dessert; specifically, the creamy frozen custard that’s just as beloved as the burgers and fries. The Salted Carame”L” concrete was spun with sizable hunks of banana and salted caramel doughnut, but still kept the focus on the sublime vanilla custard base. As one of the Chicago-exclusive concrete flavors – which explains its punny name – the doughnuts are locally sourced from Glazed and Infused, and a portion of sales support the Greater Chicago Food Depository. My only regret is that I didn’t snag a few of Shake Shack’s crinkle-cut fries to dip into the custard, Wendy’s Frosty–style, for the ultimate in sweet and salty.

The details: Shake Shack, 66 E. Ohio St., Chicago.

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Categories
Best Bites

2014 Best Bite #14: Salted caramel pretzel shake, Steak ‘n Shake

For the third year in a row, I’m using each day in December to celebrate the rest of the best bites (and sips) that I didn’t get to blog about in 2014, posted in chronological order. Browse all of this year’s Best Bites, or look back at year-end Best Bites from 2012 and 2013.

Salted caramel pretzel shake, Steak & Shake
Salted caramel pretzel milkshake with salted caramel syrup and sweet ‘n salty caramel pretzel pieces

Why it’s another 2014 Best Bite: Steak ‘n Shake is one of those places that I’ll always associate with fond memories from childhood and college alike. On this occasion, when a Indy-native friend and I needed to quell our nostalgic cravings, I went for a newer shake offering that tasted even better than I’d expected. Rich and salty caramel was swirled in with heaps of pretzel pieces for a treat that made me feel like both a grown-up and a kid.

The details: Steak ‘n Shake, 2209 Oakton St., Evanston.

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