Author: amywes5_wp

Food Wars: East Coast Shake Shack vs. West Coast In-N-Out Burger

For years of visiting the West Coast, I have heard I need to try In-N-Out burger.  As soon as I was finally going to visit the East Coast (NYC), all I heard was I needed to try Shake Shack. Apparently, people are only fans of one or the other. In fact, there’s pretty much a war between these two institutes. So, within the past 6 months, I finally got a chance to try both of them.
Here are my honest thoughts. Sorry, not sorry, if you disagree.

*I ONLY ate the burger. No fries. No shakes. Burger alone. That’s all that matters in this fight.

In-N-Out Burger

Double (no cheese) animal style: $3.38

The price is incredible for a double burger with lots of veggies and that great house-made animal sauce with grilled onion pieces. It was pretty large. It was way better than any McDonald’s or Burger King or Sonic burger I’ve tried in our Arkansas parts.
However, it wasn’t very greasy or juicy, (no juices running down the arm) which I need if I’m going to branch out to a fast food burger. However, the last couple bites soaked up some good sauce and grease and were VERY good!
My last complaint would be the lettuce. I love a lot of lettuce on my burger, but not a big clump of the whitest iceburg possible. I ended up removing the lettuce and then I could finally taste the burger.
*This was a Dallas location.

Shake Shack Burger

Single Hamburger: $4.29

Here at Shake Shack, ordering a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger is an oddity. They clearly think you want NO toppings if you don’t want cheese and you must request all the toppings you want, that will be provided to on the side. So weird. Just make me a burger without the cheese, please!
Anyway, so I add my fresh veggies and their house sauce and dig in.
I’ll start by saying even a single patty here is much larger and beefier than the double at In-N-Out. It very much tasted like a David’s Burger from around our parts….which I love. It was extremely juicy, elbows had to be wiped clean afterwards. The lettuce was romaine and the perfect amount. All the veggies were crisp and fresh. The sauce was delicious, but I couldn’t tell a difference in either this sauce or In-N-Out’s animal sauce mixed in with the burgers.
Though, this burger is a whole dollar more expensive. And I have to put it together myself.
*This was a Manhattan location.

Final Decision

SHAKE SHACK!!!! No doubt. If you like David’s Burgers as opposed to other nation-wide typical chain burgers, you’d agree. While both are exceptional for fast food, I’d choose Shake Shack any day.
If you’ve tried both, what do you think?

Food Review: Crushcraft Thai in Dallas- Spoiler Alert, it is AWESOME.

My “second lunch” after the delicious Banh Mi at Nammi (hey, there were a couple hours in-between) was a carefully chosen, very healthy option: Crushcraft Thai Thai Street Eats. It has hundreds of great reviews online and another blogger I follow, Daniel Eating Dallas, suggested it a while back. So, here’s the breakdown:

ENVIRONMENT

Crushcraft Thai is a really nice area of Uptown Dallas and is in a very modern shopping center.  When you first walk in, the menu is plastered to a wall on brown paper. You then have to memorize what you want to and walk over to the counter to place your order.  This is the only thing that bothered me. There were no paper menus for me to read off of while ordering, so I had to keep jumping over 2-3 feet to read the wall to order the three items I wanted. Awkward.
Suggestion: pull up their menu on your phone and take it with you to the counter. Much easier.
Also, with the only menu on the wall in a small area, this area gets pretty crowded.

Behind the counter you at which you order and pick up your food, there are some bar stools to sit at.

Though most patrons, myself included, chose to move further into the restaurant in the much more fun and colorful seating area. This room is spacious, colorful, and bright.

MENU

You can find their menu here (as it is hard to read my picture) on their website: http://www.crushcraftthai.com/menu/

In short, there are many delicious options, making a decision on what to order a tough one. There are many rice or noodle dishes (ex: drunken noodles), a few coconut milk curries (ex: panang over rice) , some “craft greens” options that sound very healthy (ex: chicken lettuce wraps), and many unique sides and “shareables” (ex: tofu fries). Plus, everything is pretty cheap!

FOOD

First thing to mention, at the serve-yourself drink station, there are 7 different types of sauces to take to your table. I love me a sauce bar! Most are very spicy, fyi.

Tom Kha Soup + 3 Fresh Rolls, $7.99 (pictured on the left)
Description: Chicken or tofu, rice wrap, basil, cucumber, crushed peanuts, toasted rice, chili lime dip, with a cup of thom kha soup.

This was the least flavorful dish we ordered. (Meaning it only gets better!) The spring rolls were fresh and pretty flavorful, but not nearly the most flavorful I have had. The chili lime dip was delicious and really helped.
The Tom Kha, which is probably my favorite soup overall, was pretty bland. It definitely had a tomato tinge to it, which was weird. It was worth eating, but definitely nothing I’d get again.

Green Papya Salad Cup, $1.95 (pictured in center)
Description: none given

Even though there was no description, this VERY flavorful and spicy salad had green papaya “noodles”, slices cherry tomatoes, green beans, and crushed peanuts with a vinaigrette full of chiles and lime juice. It was the BEST papaya salad I have ever tried, though it was so spicy it was hard to eat all of my half (split with Drew)…even with breaks in-between for non-spicy fresh rolls.  I would definitely get this again. Plus, it was really large for less than $2!!!!

Mahaw Lettuce Bites $1.85 (featured on the right)
Description: Wok-seared pork, pickled radish pineapple chutney, crushed peanuts, seasonal microgreens.

Wow, this was so unique and delicious! Even though these are called “bites”, each one was easily 3 bites each. The salty pork with the vinegar-y veggies and the sweetness from the pineapple hit all flavor components. The only downside was it was a little dry. Adding a little sauce to the top of it definitely would help the dryness. But it was still fantastic! I would  get this one again for sure.

OVERALL

While there are some hits and misses here with the environment and some of the food, I don’t think you can go wrong coming for a to-go meal or a quick, healthy meal. The sides and shareables are probably the best deal. Though, I definitely want to try some panang curry next time!