Shake Shack March 2011 Flavors - Any Must-Haves?

[tpigeon]

Ok, I will start by saying I had banana bread pudding. While I thought it was very good and worthwhile, it did not quite get to must-have territory.

Looking forward to trying:
Coffee & Doughnuts (Friday)
Chocolate, Peanut Butter Pretzel (Saturday)

[FoodDabbler]

I can check off coffee and donuts, as well. Mine had a fair number of doughnut pieces in it, but the coffee flavor was not the most exciting I've had. It was decent but narrow, without the layers of flavor that better coffee ice creams have (a certain mouthfilling quality, a hint of bitterness). I haven't had any in a couple of years, but I'd say that even Haagen Dazs coffee is more complex. These March flavors are proving a bit of a let down. The February ones were more interesting. Maple Walnut Spice, for all its missteps and lack of consistency, was an ingenious combination of the expected and the un-.

[ellenost]

Looking forward to better flavors in April.

[sugartoof]

Thanks for the reports. Sounds like more misses than hits lately.

[tpigeon]

Add chocolate peanut butter pretzel to the list of misses. The pretzels were not salted. I was very disappointed.

[quof]

The chocolate peanut butter pretzel sounds just like the Pretzel Concrete in the Theatre District, and the chocolate chuckles sounds like the Crunchrete at UES. It seems they are running out of ideas; they need to hire a new Flavor Developer. Where do I send my resume?

[sugartoof]

I think it's all about Danny Meyer's current flight of fancy, and where he's putting his enthusiasm for encouraging his staff.

[LNG212]

Ditto. This was the big disappointment for me too. (Guilty - I should have completely read through this thread before going there today!) The crunchy bits were nice but no salt flavor. <<sigh>> Looking forward to April ...

[FoodDabbler]

I have pineapple nut brittle and mint chocolate chip under my belt now. If this continues I will need a larger belt. Neither is a must-have. I rather like the pineapple flavor of the pnb, but the brittle is a rather odd coconut confection, mixed into the ice cream in large chunks (in what I got, anyway). The first rule of brittle is that it be brittle. Coconut makes more for chewy texture than brittle. I can't call this SS union a marriage made in custard heaven. I like the mint chocolate chip even less. I can forgive the bright green color -- SS wears artificial colors proudly -- but it's too strong for my taste. It's easy to overdo mint, and SS does. You might as well throw a tube of toothpaste in the freezer and squeeze some in your mouth an hour later.

[ellenost]

I feel so bad for you FoodDabbler. You deserve a medal for braving these flavors. Hopefully, Shake Shack retires these flavors permanently.

[FoodDabbler]

Oh, I do OK. I had the egg-in-a-jar and some foie gras at the bar room at The Modern last night, so that balances out everything. Plus, if I have something I don't like I only eat a few spoonfuls, then stop. I spend too much money on food. I've none left over for a new belt.

[FoodDabbler]

I just had banana bread. It's a bit like a banana bread dough custard. I agree with what was said at the start of the thread: it's good but not (for me, at least) a must-have.

[tpigeon]

Chocolate chuckles is not a must-have. Even for those of you who love peanut butter.

[loratliff]

Has anyone tried the Carmelo Anthony-themed shake yet?

[ellenost]

That's the shake I had tonight when I found out that the Chocolate Chuckles was peanut butter and chocolate (don't like peanut butter). It was a great shake (too bad I drank it about a half hour after I picked it up--but it still tasted great and retained much of its thickness). The combination of caramel and marshmallow (two of my favorite flavors) worked for me. I'd get it again.

[FoodDabbler]

I endorse your endorsement of this shake. Had a small taste today and liked it a lot. Not only would I get it again, I will.

Edited to add: It's on the sweet side, though.

[ellenost]

Do you know for how long Shake Shack is keeping this flavor and whether they offer it every day?

[tpigeon]

I think you are talking about the carmelo anthony shake in honor of his joining the knicks. I don't think you will be able to get the shake for long as our lebron hot dog did not last very long in miami.

[ellenost]

Too bad since this shake is delicious.

[nightkitchen]

Tried the Afternoon Tea flavor on Sunday and loved it. The tea flavor's not too intense but tastes just like milky PG Tips tea. At first I thought you'd really have to be a tea lover to prefer this over the regular vanilla, but then I hit a raisin and some some bread bits with crystalized sugar and realized they broke up a scone in there, so it's really indicative of the name. I would definitely have this again.

[ellenost]

Thank goodness none of the March flavors really appeals to me!

[ellenost]

BTW, the Shake Shack website as of a minute ago, still has not updated the Custard Calendar for the new March flavors.

[FoodDabbler]

It's updated now. The flavors not appealing to you is no excuse. Much like British royalty you have your duty to your people. I was looking forward to raving about pineapple nut brittle (although I resisted it today), having you try it and say there was no taste of pineapple and no brittle, and that you'd thrown it out.

[ellenost]

Sorry to disappoint you FoodDabbler, but if I'm going to ruin my diet, it needs to be for something delicious or at least has the promise of being delicious. The only one that shows the hint of promise is "Chocolate Chuckles". Your "job" is to go taste it, and report back. It's a tough assignment, but I think you're up to the challenge. Enjoy!

[FoodDabbler]

Oh well, I shall have to soldier on next week, unsupported, undieting, and ununwilling. You, at least, could be unserious for a few minutes on Monday and try Chocolate Chuckles. I'll be out of town till after SS closes that night.

[ellenost]

OK, FoodDabbler, I stopped off on my way home from work tonight to try the Chocolate Chuckles. I asked the counterperson what was in it, and when she said peanut butter, I stopped right there. There are a few foods (OK maybe more than a few foods) that I don't eat: peanut butter is near the top. Sorry, but I didn't try it. I did instead get the special milkshake of caramel/vanilla: darn good!

[FoodDabbler]

You get an A+ for effort. And you have my gratitude. I do not object to peanut butter as such, but I don't like it in ice cream. I'm on the way back to Manhattan as we speak and I was toying with popping into SS if I got in early enough. You've saved me the trip. I'll try and hit banana bread tomorrow, and report.

[tpigeon]

BTW in case you do not know, there are no actual banana bread chunks in this flavor.

[FoodDabbler]

Sweet mother of god. Is there no honesty in this world?

[tpigeon]

It's a travesty I tell you.

[kathryn]

I think the Coffee & Doughnuts is only OK. It's basically coffee-flavored ice cream with some doughnut bits in it but it's the luck of the draw as to how many doughnut pieces you get (it always seems skimpy to me).

[FoodDabbler]

Do these flavors come back in other months? We haven't had a Friday in March 2011 yet. (Thanks for the facebook tip.)

[tpigeon]

I have noticed that they do recycle at least some of them.

[FoodDabbler]

I see. I wonder how they decide. The flavors don't seem tied to the season hugely, but perhaps some are. Thanks for posting the March list, by the way. I'll have to plan my strategy carefully. I'm to be away from Manhattan for over half of March.

[Jess321]

I happen to remember that last March the Saturday flavor was the same as it is this year, only because I remember REALLY wanting to try it and I was out of town every Saturday in March last year. It never came around again in the year since then, to my knowledge, so I'm excited to try it this March-though it will have to wait a week, as I will be out of town this weekend. I'll review once I try it!

[tpigeon]

Thanks for the early warning kathryn.

[uwsister]

That sounds pretty good. I remember in October or November they had vanilla custard blended with pumpkin pie, and I would always ask them for extra pumpkin pie and to blend it all the way down so I wouldn't be eating plain vanilla ice cream towards the bottom. They usually followed the direction pretty well. Maybe they'll throw in extra doughnut pieces if you ask?

[kathryn]

That's the Pie Oh My! isn't it? I thought that was a concrete, so that's why they were blending it. The Coffee and Doughnuts is just a regular custard flavor.

[uwsister]

Yes, you are right - it was a concrete. Whichever month it was, I was totally addicted to it. So doughnut pieces are already in the frozen custard and you can't ask them to put more? :(

[tpigeon]

Pumpkin Pie Oh My was my favorite dessert at shake shack so far.

[uwsister]

Mine too! I wish they had it year-round.

[FoodDabbler]

So did you have it last March? I'm curious whether they have monthly flavors they recycle every year.

[kathryn]

I've had it a few times--once it was June when I had it. I work nearby and have been in the same building for a few years.

Actually....if you google for the flavor you'll see different blog reports from different months of the year so they're not on a strict 12 mo schedule.

[FoodDabbler]

Thanks. Interesting suggestion to Google the flavor. I hadn't thought to do that. I just tried it with coffee and donuts and found something from June '08 that reports doughnut chunks in the custard (http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/06/coffee-donuts-custard-shake-shack-flatiron-manhattan-nyc.html ). I wonder if one could come up with a chart that maps flavor, month, day-of-week, and year. In 2008 the C&D flavor was a Wednesday one, not Friday. This would have to be a 4-dimensional chart unless one comes up with something clever, as in the famous chart depicting Napoleon's march through Russia (http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters ). The question is: Is mapping the progress of Shake Shack custard as important as mapping the march of Napoleon?

[tpigeon]

I tried Google and found it wanting for this purpose, so I decided to create this thread instead.

[FoodDabbler]

Is the list online? I looked for it today, but was only able to pull up February. The curse of the cache.

You're a man/woman/other of your word. I was wondering if you'd keep your promise to start a custard thread every month. Did you try anything in February, eventually? You contributed to the significant weight gain of several hounds who tried, retried and debated the merits of maple walnut spice. It would be good to hear that you're ruining your health, too. A small banana bread pudding won't do.

[tpigeon]

I did not. I was about to try the walnut maple spice, but I ended up needing to travel unexpectedly.

You should know that I had a triple scoop of the banana bread pudding -- just to make sure I had enough to make a good judgement.

Here are the flavors: Monday – Chocolate Chuckles; Tuesday – Banana Bread; Wednesday – Pineapple Nut Brittle; Thursday – Mint Chocolate Chip; Friday – Coffee & Donuts; Saturday – Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel; Sunday – Afternoon Tea

I noticed the website did not update their calendar yet so I checked out their facebook page.

On second read - Pineapple Nut Brittle could have potential as well...of course I am also interested in hearing about any of them. You never know...

[kathryn]

They are often slow at updating the PDF menus on the site, but their Facebook page usually has the updates.

https://www.facebook.com/ShakeShackFans

[coasts]

The iPhone app is usually up to date.
http://i.imgur.com/glumG.jpg

[kathryn]

The iPhone app "Shack HQ"? It isn't official one and is just pulling from the web site menus.