To many fans, there is no more important menu item at Shake Shack than the classic ShackBurger, and with good reason: The savory-tangy Shack Sauce and perfectly-griddled, high-quality beef, plus the cushy toasted roll and lettuce-tomato fixin's, deliver irresistible flavor in every bite. For some of us, however, the burger chain's identity as a superior spot for frozen desserts takes precedence. Thanks to its roots as a food stand that took inspiration from nostalgic foods (not only burgers and dogs, but also malted milkshakes and the like), Shake Shack started out with a menu that included house-made frozen custards.
These luscious custards are still the base of the chain's notoriously thick signature shakes, but were also once used in another type of creation which — if you're a fan of the Dairy Queen Blizzard or McDonald's McFlurry — might sound familiar. Shake Shack's take on the candy-meets-creamy confection was known as a concrete, and was made from scoops of custard combined with mix-ins and sauces, then whipped into a tornado of sweet perfection. For many years, the happiness of spooning my way through one of these treats was on par with (if not even a slight step above) that of biting into a hot, cheesy ShackBurger.
Which is why, when they disappeared from the menu, I was devastated — and still haven't quite recovered. Why I miss the Shake Shack concretes The concretes at Shake Shack were part of the custard menu that has narrowed considerably since my early da.