The Crack Shack revisit

Since our initial visit to The Crack Shack shortly after they opened, we’ve been back a few times and still really love it. They’ve now expanded their hours, added menu items, and serve their full menu all day.

Mini Biscuits

Served with their miso maple butter, these unassuming little biscuits are little morsels of heaven. At their sister restaurant next door, Juniper & Ivy, the smoked butter biscuit is one of the best biscuits I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting. The biscuits here are not quite as transcendent, but they are worth ordering. Flaky, moist, fluffy, soft and everything I look for in a good biscuit. The miso butter adds a unique sweet and earthy savoriness that makes the biscuits even better.

Chicken Oysters

Chicken oysters are the two small, round pieces of dark meat near the backbone of the chicken. They are supposed to be the tenderest, most flavorful pieces of the chicken. In this dish, they are brined in a pickle juice, before being deep fried, seasoned with lemon juice and served with mustard seed tartar and fried kale. The brining gives these chicken pieces an extra injection of juiciness in each bite.

Chicken lollipops

Unlike their regular fried chicken which has a pretty thick coating, the chicken lollipops are covered in a light layer of breadcrumbs. It’s a much lighter, crispy coating that I found quite enjoyable.

Señor Croque

This is probably the most popular menu item here, judging by the number of photos I’ve seen of it on Instagram. A crispy chicken patty covered in melted cheddar cheese, bacon, fried egg, served on brioche bun slathered with miso butter. It’s smoky, salty and a very solid breakfast sandwich. We get it every time we’re here and it’s always satisfying.

Brick House

This may be my new favorite sandwich here. I wish I had taken a picture of this next to the Senor Croque just to show you how monstrous it is. The sandwich is appropriately named given its size. It consists of a hefty, thick piece of spicy fried chicken breast that manages to stay miraculously juicy throughout. It’s topped with caper mayo, fennel, arugula and served on a kaiser bun.

Kale Caesar

We also got a side kale caesar salad. This was the only small letdown of our meal. I found the dressing a little too runny for my liking.

Bananas Foster soft serve with candied bacon

For dessert, they offer a rotating assortment of fresh baked cookies and soft serve. I’ve heard good things about both. On the day we visited, the flavor of the day for their soft serve was Bananas Foster. They have a variety of toppings to choose from and I chose candied bacon. I was very impressed with how much bacon was on my soft serve. The ice cream itself was richy, creamy though it didn’t quite capture the essence of Bananas Foster flavor for me. Nevertheless, it was the perfect ending to a fabulous meal.

Overall, we are really enjoying the chicken and sandwich creations at The Crack Shack. I love the casual, outdoor dining experience. It’s great for families and adults. They have a full bar and a bocce ball court. The staff have always been very attentive and friendly when we are here and the food has been quite solid.

The restaurant is now open seven days a week and serves the full menu all day. Tip: make sure to try their six house-made sauces. They used to have them in bottles you could bring to your table, but now they are in large dispensers near the soda fountain.

My first visit can be found here.

The Crack Shack
2266 Kettner Blvd San Diego CA