A former automotive garage on Broadway in Bangor will soon be the home of a new takeout restaurant specializing in gourmet burgers and milkshakes.
Shakes & Bakes Takeout, set to open later this month at 599 Broadway, will offer smash-style burgers with an array of both classic and nontraditional toppings, alongside fresh fries, hot dogs and other diner-style favorites.
Owner Rob Baker formerly owned Broadway Citgo, a gas station and garage at 599 Broadway.
He closed the Broadway garage a few years ago, moved his business to Brewer and renovated his Bangor building into two commercial spaces, one of which now houses Broadway Cannabis, a medical marijuana dispensary that opened last fall. The other space houses Shakes & Bakes.
Baker’s niece, Nicole Dow, will run Shakes & Bakes. An Old Town native, Dow most recently worked at one of her family’s other businesses, Dow’s General Store in Albion, where she started its popular breakfast and lunch counter, offering everything from cold salads and baked goods to daily specials like mac and cheese, pulled pork, chowders and chilis.
Dow said she loves to cook and learned a lot from the experience of running a lunch counter that she will bring to Shakes & Bakes.
“I’m really passionate about flavor, so we’ll have a lot of homemade sauces on a lot of the stuff we offer,” Dow said. “We’re going to do a lot of fun specials with fun toppings that you’ll have to trust me on. If I like it, you probably will too.”
In addition to burgers, Shakes & Bakes will offer hot dogs, cheese fries, sausages, steak bombs and fried chicken. For dessert, Dow plans to offer a soft serve ice cream counter, and specialize in fancy milkshakes with a variety of add-ins. The name of the restaurant is a reference to the milkshakes — and to owner Baker, who is affectionately known as Bakes.
The restaurant will be takeout only, though there are a few picnic tables outside if people want to eat right after they buy. Dow plans to open by the end of May.
Dow said she hopes to capture hungry students from Husson University and Bangor High School, both of which are located just down the street from her business, as well as the heavy commuter traffic during the evening rush, as people return to their homes off Outer Broadway and in towns like Glenburn and Kenduskeag.
“There are so many people constantly coming up and down this road that we think we are really going to appeal to folks looking to grab dinner on their way home,” Dow said.
She also hopes that customers of the dispensary next door might want to give her burgers a try.
“We have absolutely nothing to do with cannabis, but if folks are over there, they might want to have a burger afterwards,” Dow said.
