Shake N Take Burger

Let's hear it for obsession; hip hip hooray! Why, you ask? Ah, little Pilgrim, you have much to learn. Because without this delightfully compulsive mental disorder, mankind would not have built the Egyptian Pyramids. There would be no Taj Mahal. Worse yet, there would be no Shake N Take Burgers! (Yikes!)

The story goes like this, see, Shake N Take proprietors Dee and Greg Holsted (this is a real "mom and pop" operation, where Dee is the mom and Greg is the pop) moved to Boise from El Reno, Oklahoma, an area that is seriously obsessed with burgers. Not with just any burgers, mind you, but with a particularly juicy flavor-bomb known as the Fried Onion Burger.

Over the years, this once-local obsession grew to something bordering on mass hysteria, spawning a "Fried Onion Burger Day Festival" in El Reno, where locals found themselves hypnotically drawn to a ten-foot circular grill in the center of town to perform the ritual frying of the World's Largest Fried Onion Burger. The event now draws as many as 25,000 people (greasy-fingered people with wide grins and full bellies) annually.

Having arrived in the Treasure Valley, Dee and Greg found it an agreeable place to live, albeit a place conspicuously devoid of their favorite Oklahoma delicacy. Suffering severe withdrawal symptoms, the two found that weekly trips to El Reno were impractical, as was an admittedly hair-brained scheme to "kidnap" their favorite OK restaurant, Sid's Diner, utilizing a minivan and 426 skateboards to tow it to Idaho under cover of night.

Eventually, the couple was left with but one course of action; to steal (er, I mean "borrow") Sid's menu and open up their own little burger joint in Meridian.

Hungry Idahoans now flock to Shake N Take Burgers to chow on their world famous EL Reno Fried Onion Burger. In homage to Sid's Diner, they also also serve authentic Coney Dogs (bright red weenies topped with homemade chili and a superfine slaw with a mustard kick). Non-fried-onion lovers can enjoy the Shake N Take "Regular," one of the most amazing homestyle burgers in town, with a hefty quarter-pound of sizzling beef plus fresh lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle (and add bacon, chili, slaw or egg for just a buck!)

Just about every menu item comes with satisfying heaps of hot, crispy fresh-cut fries, and your meal probably won't feel complete without one of Shake N Take's un-straw-ably thick milkshakes or malts (somehow you'll have to choose between Chocolate, Vanilla, Peanut Butter, Caramel, Butterscotch, Banana, Butterfinger,Heath or Oreo).

Take advantage of today's sizzling-hot deal to get a $20 Shake N Take Gift Card for as low as ten bucks! And tell a friend or two about this deal, too - you can save more money, and there's nothing better than sharing comfort food with comfortable company!