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It’s finally here, true believers: Shake Shack’s first Seattle restaurant opens at 11 a.m. Saturday, October 6, in Denny Triangle. That faint rumbling isn’t a dreaded earthquake, but the sound of diehard Shackburger fans rushing to form a line at 2115 Westlake Ave. — there’s a free Shake Shack T-shirt in it for the first hundred customers.
Along with its long-anticipated opening date, the East Coast’s cult-favorite burger chain has revealed its unique Seattle menu items. Unfortunately, there’s no Canlis burger, despite the businesses’ close connection and madly popular summer preview, but some other excellent Seattle businesses are represented.
Seattle’s special burger is the Montlake Double Cut, featuring Washington beef — from Gebbers Cattle Farm in Brewster and Hutterian Farm in Reardan, sourced in partnership with online meat retailer Crowd Cow — with Beecher’s Just Jack cheese, caramelized onions, and whole-grain mustard mayo on a Macrina Bakery bun. A bit bigger than the standard Shackburger, the Montlake Double Cut is the first time one of the international chain’s specialty burgers has used a patty, cheese, and bun entirely from local purveyors. The end result will be available only at the restaurant, only in limited quantities each day.
On the utterly decadent sweet side, a coffee and croissant concrete features Sea Wolf Bakers croissant brittle and chunks of Theo dark chocolate swirled with coffee caramel sauce into vanilla custard, while the Shack Attack concrete has a base of chocolate custard mixed with those chunks of Theo dark chocolate again, plus fudge sauce, chocolate truffle cookie dough, and chocolate sprinkles. The Pie Oh My concrete will mix an entire seasonal slice from A La Mode Pies into vanilla custard.
Local beers, from the likes of Reuben’s Brews, Fremont Brewing, and Aslan Brewing, will share tap space with the Shackmeister Ale made by Brooklyn Brewing, and signature Shack Red and Shack White wines from the Gotham Project round out the alcoholic drinks menu.
The Shake Shack space, an increasingly rare standalone building in Amazonia, is relatively large at 3,015 square feet, including an outdoor patio. It has an installation by local artist Jesse Brown, as well as plenty of eco-friendly design elements: Tabletops are made from reclaimed bowling alley lanes; booths are made with lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
The restaurant will also donate 5 percent from every sale of the Pie Oh My concrete to Youth Care, an organization working to end youth homelessness. It seems like that number’s going to add up quickly once those doors open — Seattleites love to dip their crinkle-cut fries in ice cream, after all.
