BOSTON, Aug 22 ― Shake Shack, Danny Meyer's popular East Coast burger chain, is launching a limited edition lobster burger. The crustacean, which has long been reserved for fine dining restaurants, has become one of the new darlings of street food, similar to other high end ingredients.

Shake Shack's lobster burger, dubbed the “Surf'N'Shack,” is a surf-and-turf item consisting of an Angus patty topped with Maine lobster served with lettuce and tomato in a potato roll. The limited edition sandwich is available only until September 20 and only in Boston and Connecticut. Shake Shack is sourcing the lobster from a local and sustainable purveyor, Homarus, and since lobster doesn't come cheap, this is one of the priciest burgers on Shake Shack's menu at US$8.99 (RM37.50) a pop.

Shake Shack isn't the first to introduce lobster to its fast food menu though. McDonald's this summer decided to bring back its lobster roll for the first time in ten years at participating locations in the North East US, serving up “100 per cent real North Atlantic Lobster and mayonnaise dressing layered on a bed of crisp leaf and shredded lettuce, served on a homestyle, toasted roll” for US$7.99.

Lobster going back to its roots

Are fast food restaurants making an effort to up the quality of their ingredients or are previously upscale ingredients just attracting a new clientele? Lobster in fact was once considered a poor man's meal, the bottom feeders of the ocean not fit for upper class fine dining. An overabundance of the crustacean made it a relatively common and cheap meal for locals, and it wasn't until the late 19th century, and booming tourism to New England, that lobster once again became a sought-after item.

Thanks to chains like Red Lobster, lobster has even been democratized across the country, and it is not at all uncommon to find even local truck stops serving up platters of lobster and fries with a side of drawn butter and ketchup. Yet in many other countries, such as France, lobster remains a luxury and the lobster roll, served at exorbitant prices, has become a new culinary fad.

Foie gras burgers

France is bringing the American lobster roll back across the Atlantic, but America has also taken to using luxurious French ingredients in otherwise casual foods. Whereas Quick, a fast food burger chain, has already presented the “Suprême foie gras,” a foie gras burger that sold for only €5, in New York, Daniel Boulud at db Bistro Moderne made history with the creation of the “Original db Burger,” a blend of seven meats, including braised short ribs, stuffed with foie gras and truffle (US$35). The “Foie Gras Donut” at Do or Dine in Brooklyn is a deep fried donut filled with foie gras (US$11), and this is just to offer an inkling of what some restaurants are doing with the French luxury ingredient. ― AFP-Relaxnews