Taste Test: We Ate Shake Shack's New Cheese-Smothered Bacon Burger

bacon cheddarshack
Tony Merevick/Thrillist
Tony Merevick/Thrillist

It's not every day that Shake Shack launches a new burger or menu item (unfortunately), so when the better burger chain revealed that a new, cheese-sauce covered bacon cheeseburger is coming soon, we knew we'd have to get our mouths on one ASAP. We finally did exactly that on Thursday, ahead of the burger's nationwide release on June 3rd.

Fittingly called the Bacon CheddarShack, the new limited-time burger is Shake Shack's spin on the classic bacon cheeseburger and perhaps even the ParkBurger it released last spring to celebrate the reopening of its famous Madison Square Park outpost. It's super simple: a smashed beef burger topped with Niman Ranch and, most importantly, a glob of Wisconsin aged cheddar cheese sauce, all on a potato bun. The cheese sauce is the star of show. 

bacon cheddarshack
Tony Merevick/Thrillist

Eating it

You'd think taking your first bite into a burger topped with cheese sauce would send a greasy, hot river of the stuff running down your arms, right? Fortunately, despite the healthy (haha) amount of the sauce on the Bacon CheddarShack, this doesn't seem to happen, although we did find a bit had escaped into the wax paper wrapper. This is great news, because as we mentioned before, the cheese sauce is a downright stunner and you'll want as much of it in your mouth as possible. 

Let us it explain. Shake Shack wasn't messing around when they concocted this cheese sauce. It's sharp, creamy, and salty. It brings out the meaty flavors of the beef and complements the salty smokiness of the bacon. Somehow, the sauce isn't overwhelming, and thankfully, it doesn't feel like it's coating your mouth. And yet, it acts as a damn good meat glue, keeping the bacon and beef together for easy eating.

Oh, and did we mention that it's salty?

Although the burger is available as a double for almost $3 extra, all the bacon and cheese on a single is probably enough food to do the job -- especially if you order fries, too. Throw in one of the new Blueberry Pie Oh My shakes or concretes (also for a limited time), and they'll probably have to roll you out of there. That almost happened to us. 

Mark Rosati
Tony Merevick/Thrillist

The verdict

Before digging in to the Bacon CheddarShack, we sat down with Shake Shack Culinary Director, Mark Rosati (pictured above), who explained why the chain wanted to make a simple bacon cheeseburger in the first place. It turns out the aforementioned ParkBurger was a big part of it.

"We wanted to do something a little different and add to the dialogue of what a bacon cheeseburger could be," he said. "We had so much positive feedback from customers who were sad to see the ParkBurger go, that we thought, 'Why don't we bring something like this to all shacks?'" 

But what Rosati seemed to emphasize the most is that the Bacon CheddarShack fits into Shake Shack's overall desire to make good and simple food. Keyword: simple. Because, as he put it, people don't care about a complicated list of ingredients; they just want their food to be good. 

The Bacon CheddarShack is both simple and good. 

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Tony Merevick is Cities News Editor at Thrillist and thinks everything tastes better doused in cheese sauce. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick.