The latest venture of Jacksonville’s Medure Brothers (the minds behind Matthew’s Restaurant and Restaurant Medure), M Shack, is working to establish itself as the place to visit for creative burgers at the beach. The airy space includes a full bar and fits well with the beach location. The menu is displayed on large chalkboards on the wall–but FYI, you don’t have to stand back from the counter to decide on your order, there are smaller printed menus there too.

M Shack

M Shack interior

With promises of competitively-priced, high quality burgers, I had to go see what they had to offer. And once I caught wind of their menu a few weeks before opening, I knew what I’d be ordering: The Medurable, an M burger (fairly standard cheeseburger) topped with foie gras and bacon onion compote, $18. Mario had the much more affordably priced The Sunrise Burger (bacon, farm egg, American cheese and Shack Sauce):

The Medurable

The Sunrise Burger

I was shocked to see such a HUGE slice of foie gras on the burger. Though there’s little to complain about when foie gras is involved in any dish, my only hang-up was the lack of a nice sear on the outside of the slice. However, judging from other photos of the gourmet burger I’ve seen popping up around the web, M Shack has rectified that issue. If you’re wondering about the taste, the foie is thick enough to get the earthy, buttery texture and flavor, but still acts much as a “sauce” for the burger with its rich fattiness. I know that was not at all confusing.

I thought the house-ground “Black Angus blend” patty was delicious. Cooked to medium (unless otherwise specified–but you really shouldn’t get much more cooked than that), the juicy burger is a tad small, but its freshness makes it one of the better burgers I’ve had in Jax. Mario was satisfied with his burger, but not overly impressed. I think it was missing foie gras

The fries were a major disappointment. Though M Shack says everything is made in-house, the fries tasted no better than frozen. We didn’t go for any of the gourmet options (truffle parm, queso cheddar, “Ultimate” [Queso, Prosciutto, Cheddar, White Truffle Oil and Fried Farm Egg]), but with the fries we had as a base, we felt any of the dressings would be wasted. I hear nearly unanimous praise about M Shack’s milk shakes, but didn’t try one on our visit.

I enjoyed the food (aside from the fries, which need improving) and community atmosphere at M Shack, and look forward to more visits. The majority of the menu is quite reasonably priced for such a quality burger.

www.mshackburgers.com