660 Woodward AvenueOur weekend in Detroit was just about over. We were finally getting close to the time of L’s flag football game that brought us to the East Side in the first place.
We spent a pretty great day at Belle Isle. We walked through the Aquarium, the Conservatory, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, went on a short hike to the lighthouse, then hit a playground over by the Nature Center. It was a pretty relaxing, enjoyable afternoon.
We took the kids to Chicago last summer for a mini vacation. L fell in love with the idea of the big city so we decided to let her see Detroit. I wanted to be right in the middle of town so she really got the idea that Detroit is a big city.
We needed to grab something for lunch before heading over to Ford Field so I went with something I knew the kids would enjoy.
I picked Shake Shack because…well, they have shakes.
The Detroit Shake Shack location is on Woodward Avenue in the First National Building near Campus Martius Park. We drove around the block a few times looking for street parking but ended up just finding a garage a few blocks away and walking through Campus Martius to find the restaurant.
Shake Shack is expanding across the country but is still pretty limited to big cities. I’ve sought out the semi-fast food restaurant on trips to Chicago and Washington DC just because it’s one of those things I don’t get very often.
The set up is very similar to a typical fast food place. There’s a queue and an order counter right as you walk in the door. We needed a minute to look over the menu so we stayed to the back and let people go around us as we decided.
Unlike fast food, once the order is placed, you can go sit down in the two level dining area and an employee will bring out the tray of food. They don’t give you a number like Culvers though. The employee kind of pays attention when you order and if they don’t recognize you, just start calling out a name.
Our kids are weird when it comes to burgers. B will usually eat at least half of a plain cheeseburger and that’s what he did here. L won’t eat burgers are all so she just got an order of fries.
The fries aren’t anything fancy which always disappoints me with these more exclusive chain restaurants. The fries are simple crinkle cuts. That’s it. Nothing really else to say about them. J ordered the fries as the Parmesan Garlic Fries with Black Truffle Sauce and while they were tasty, they were still crinkle cut fries.
J and I both ordered burgers. I got the Smoke Stack. This is a classic Shake Shack cheeseburger with applewood smoked bacon and a special cherry pepper mix and Shack Sauce. This is the sandwich I usually get when I go to Shake Shack and for good reason. It’s a little bit spicy and a whole lot tasty. I really enjoy Shake Shack’s burgers on their own merits but whatever this cherry pepper is, it just ups the game.
J went a little more traditional with a Shack Burger simply topped with lettuce, tomato, and Shack Sauce.
J, L, and B all got shakes to go with their meals since that is why we chose Shake Shack in the first place. The holiday shakes are already out and that got everyone’s attention.
All three chose the Christmas Cookie Shake. This shake is made with Sugar Cookie flavored frozen custard then topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. As you’d imagine, these were a hit with eveyone.
Our bill for lunch was around $50 so it’s not quite fast food prices but it’s not really fast food “quality” either.
Shake Shack was a really good choice for us on this Sunday afternoon. We got to walk around Downtown Detroit a little bit and we got a tasty quick lunch.