Shake Shack Is Going German For Oktoberfest With Brats & A Bad Pun
By Anthony Todd in Food on Sep 20, 2016 3:23PM
Some of the dishes on the Shacktoberfest menu. Photo courtesy of Shake Shack.
We're big fans of Shake Shack here at Chicagoist (especially when it's delivered straight to your room), but we've got to admit, this promotion has us a bit baffled. Shake Shack has announced that, starting this Friday, they'll be offering an Oktoberfest-themed menu. What?
The new German-inspired menu, which they are calling (of course they are) Shacktoberfest, includes a number of traditional favorites like brats, beer, pretzels and more. On the one hand, this doesn't make a lick of sense, since Shake Shack has nothing German about it, at least as far as we know. It sounds like someone in the marketing department decided to play a joke on the management, and instead of getting the joke, the management said "That's a great idea! What could possibly be better for a fast-casual New York burger spot than German food?"
On the other hand, we've got to give Shake Shack credit, because they've done it up right. Their special brats are from Usinger's in Milwaukee, home of the best brats ever, and they're featuring the cheddar-stuffed variety. They're serving Bavarian pretzels with cheese sauce, an apple strudel shake that sounds amazing, and a hamburger with a brat on top of it. It's entirely possible that, despite our confusion, we will scarf down everything on this menu.
Guess you got us this time, Shake Shack. The complete menu is below. The promotion runs from Sept. 23 through Oct. 2.