Thursdays with TT: Delta Dugout/Shake Shack

Over the past couple of months I have become quite the food blogger. I or (CT) bring a camera to every restaurant we go to. Since Yvo has been busy with school, I am stepping up and will now have a weekly column, Tuesdays with TT. Bon Appetit!

UPDATE: I am becoming a blogging machine, so I will also be reporting on Thursday afternoons for you.

A couple weeks, I got an email from Delta informing me that they would be hosting the “Delta Dugout” at Madison Square Park to celebrate the Subway Series of Mets vs. Yankees. It sounded very similar to the viewing of the U.S. Open that they usually do each year in the same park. Since Madison Square Park is one of my favorite parks, not only because of Shake Shack, I knew I would make an effort to go down and check it out.

It was a pretty hot and humid day already before noon on a Sunday. A thunderstorm just passed through, so I didn’t expect much of a crowd when I got there. I was actually surprised by the amount of people there, but still it wasn’t that many people. My goal was to get one of the 500 blankets they were giving away each day to Delta SkyMiles members. Although I prefer Continental, I am still a Delta member, so I was able to score a free blanket.

Most of the activities were geared towards kids. Unfortunately it turned out that Sunday was “Mets Day.” The day before was geared towards the Yankees, but I was busy on Saturday. There was face painting, balloons, pitching competition, Wii baseball, and a couple of other activities. They also had people pushing airplane food trolleys around the park handing out pretzels and peanuts. These days that is more food than what you get on a plane.

At the north end of the park was the big screen to watch the game. The reflecting pool was drained and a baseball diamond turn was put in for people to sit on to watch the game.

Hill Country had a booth setup selling various food offerings. I have been to HC before and wasn’t that impressed. Since it was Father’s Day, AB and I were hosting my parents for a barbecue. I smoked a brisket, since I was so successful with it previously. Therefore, I decided to skip HC and instead go to Shake Shack for lunch.

Shake Shack was offering the “Delta Dugout Dog” over this weekend. A nice touch since usually only the UWS location does special offerings like this. It is a “griddled Vienna Beef hot dog topped with spicy Tabasco simmered onions.”

AB & I decided to get an early lunch at SS, since I had a lot of prep to do with the grill. It was just about noon and the sun came out, but lo and behold, basically no line to speak of. Unheard of when the sun is out. It was less than 10 mins from line to food. I think that is a world record.

I convinced AB to try the Dugout Dog, since I don’t like onions on my hot dogs. She liked it and the Tabasco gave it a nice kick.

I went with my go-to Double Shack Burger. The patties were thicker that usual, which was odd. I also don’t they were seasoned as usual. It was still tasty but not as good as usual. It could have been due to the griddle still being relatively “fresh” at that time of day.

We shared an order of fries. Good as usual. I always liked SS fries, I don’t understand why some people think they are terrible.

I also decided to get as a drink/dessert, the “Fair Shake” milkshake, since the custard flavor of the day was “Cherry Almond”. I have learned that the fruit flavored custards usually aren’t that good. It is a vanilla milkshake mixed with 100% certified organic Arabica fairly traded coffee. It was delicious. Probably the best coffee milkshake ever.

All in all it was a great event and very generous of Delta to do. It is events like these that make living in New York, so much fun. The Yankees also shut out the Mets today, so that’s always a good thing too.