Image by jeremydeades via Flickr
Steak ‘n Shake is not, by any means or stretch of the imagination, haute cuisine (and I don’t care what Marc Summers says – Steakburgers may be tasty, but they don’t qualify as one of The Best Things I Ever Ate). Gen Con attendees tend to end up here a lot during the show though for several reasons, the chief among them being that they are open 24 hours. The food is also relatively inexpensive and the service is fast. It’s a great place to grab a quick bite to eat while you’re on the go if you want something a bit more elegant than the fast food counter. All of that being said, there isn’t a lot of “healthy” on a Steak ‘n Shake menu (not really surprising from a place known for Steakburgers and real ice cream Milkshakes). It is possible to get out of there without murdering your diet, though. You may just beat it up a little.
Breakfast – The best way to get out of here without blowing too many calories on breakfast is to order items a la carte. Scrambled eggs, bacon, and wheat toast are going to be your friends here. All of the meal choices have options you’re going to want to substitute out to cut calories (namely the hash browns). The easiest low calorie choice would probably be the Breakfast Bagel with Bacon. Whatever you end up doing for breakfast here avoid the Sausage Patties! A serving of bacon has 110 calories and 9 grams of fat, while in comparison the sausage has 450 calories and 41 grams of fat. That’s a HUGE amount of a calories to tack on for a side dish, and we all know that bacon is the greatest breakfast food ever anyway.
Lunch/Dinner – As with breakfast, you’re going to be best served here by ordering individual menu items over platters, but even if you get a platter you don’t necessarily have to get fries with it, now do you? Your best bet would be to gravitate towards a Single Steakburger or Single Steakburger with cheese, a BLT, or Chicken Fingers as all of those items come in at 400 calories or less. An order of fries, in comparison, is 440 calories. Better choices in the side department would include Coleslaw, Cottage Cheese with Pineapple, or a cup of Vegetable Soup.
Dessert – Yeah, ok. Like I’m really going to have a low calorie dessert option for a Milkshake place. I seem to recall them offering fruit smoothies a few years ago, but I can’t find any mention of them on the Steak ‘n Shake web site so it may have been a limited time thing or something they discontinued. Really, this becomes one of those “if you want it, get it, and don’t worry about the calories” situations. Do yourself a favor by minimizing the damage and get a smaller one, though.