Jacques Torres' Favorite Fast Food Is A New York Burger Institution

Nowadays, famous chocolatier and pastry chef Jacques Torres might be most well known around New York for his chocolate stores. Plus, he's the co-host of "Nailed It!," the popular Netflix cooking show known for being more lighthearted and a little bit less competitive than its fellow productions. However, even though desserts are his specialty, he enjoys going out to eat for a quick dinner. Turns out, Torres is a fan of Shake Shack, the fast casual restaurant from New York, which has spread all over the United States.

In an exclusive interview with Mashed, the famous chocolatier talked about nights with the family when they all go out for food. "I have a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old, and a lot of time, what do they want? They want fast food," he says. "I want to go to Shake Shack and they want to go to McDonald's. It is the battle here." While Torres likes the burgers, he explains that with fast food joints like Shake Shack, the appeal isn't necessarily the food, it's going somewhere to make the family happy: "At the end of the day, the family time around the table, eating with the kids, is fun."

Shake Shack is frequently compared to its West Coast rival In-N-Out Burger, but (secret menus aside) the former has a slightly more elaborate menu where milkshakes take center stage alongside the burgers, hence the restaurant's name. The chain's flagship store is its location in Madison Square Park in Manhattan, where Shake Shack first began as a simple hot dog stand in 2001. Jacques Torres' favorite Shake Shack's beef patties, which the company claims are pure Angus beef made from muscle cuts, can be small, but they're accented with the usual fixings and tangy burger sauce of ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, and pickles. 

Torres, who goes by the nickname "Mr. Chocolate," was similarly opening up his first chocolate store named Jacques Torres Chocolate in Dumbo, Brooklyn right around the same time. However, he was already a fairly established chocolatier by that point: He got his start as a pastry chef in southern France before becoming Executive Pastry Chef at the now-closed restaurant Le Cirque in Manhattan. As of now, two Jacques Torres Chocolate locations are still open in Dumbo and Grand Central Station, and both of them are near a Shake Shack location in case you're up for dessert after your burger.

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