Both are classically American. Both are revered food institutions with passionate, devoted, even obsessive fans. Both recently landed smack on the Strip, street-side burger shops ready for battle. So which do you prefer—Shake Shack or White Castle?

White Castle (established 1921 in Wichita, Kansas) is considered the first fast-food franchise. It's hard to believe such a cultural phenomenon was started with a simple, small, five-cent hamburger served from a castle-shaped shop. After years of rumors and slider-induced excitement, White Castle finally arrived in Las Vegas in January at the humble Casino Royale, where it's open around the clock and routinely causes sidewalk-blocking lines of hungry people willing to wait up to a couple of hours for these tiny burgers.

White Castle Las Vegas is a small but clean space, and it's a fast-moving operation, crazy lines notwithstanding. Menu basics include Castle Combos, such as four sliders, fries and a drink ($7.99); bigger Castle Packs like 20 sliders and two orders of fries ($25.99); or the party-ready Crave Case (30 sliders, $34.99) or Crave Crate (100 sliders, $109.99). Yes, people do walk in here and order 100 sliders. Since it was my first time ever eating White Castle, I dropped about $17 to sample two original sliders, two cheese sliders, two chicken ring sliders and loaded fries. The fries ($3.99) splattered with cheese sauce, bacon bits and ranch dressing, were utterly disappointing, as were the rubbery chicken rings. But I have to admit: the sliders were delicious. The super-thin beef patty—saturated in chopped onions and steam-grilled with them—plus the squishy bun and briny blast of pickle equals the epitome of guilty pleasure eating. Add tangy processed American cheese and they're even better. I didn't expect to like these things at all, but crushing six or eight after a night of cocktail-crawling the Strip sounds like a lot of fun.

Moving south on the Strip, Shake Shack (established 2004 in Madison Square Park in Manhattan) opened in late December in front of New York-New York. (There is no casino access to Shake Shack; you have to be on the Strip to get to it.) Barely considered fast food and certainly the polar opposite of White Castle, Shackburgers are shrines, designed with peerless quality to be the best possible version of a classic burger. As such, you really can't compare White Castle and Shake Shack food. It's not fair. Each has its place and purpose. But our purpose here at Snacking on the Strip is to hunt down affordable, tasty grub available along Las Vegas Boulevard, and if that's what you're looking for, it really doesn't get any better than the single Shackburger ($5.19). Perfectly sized, beautifully cooked and lovingly assembled with cheese, lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce, it's quite wonderful.

Other treasures of this menu include the SmokeShack ($6.69), with bacon and chopped cherry peppers; the "veggie alternative" 'ShroomBurger ($6.99), breaded and deep-fried portobello mushroom caps filled with muenster and cheddar cheeses; and the addictive frozen custard shakes and concretes. The Shack-Cago Dog is a steal at $4, one of the best hot dogs in the city. I never ate Shake Shack until it arrived in Vegas, either, and while I've explored its consistently delicious offerings thoroughly, I tend toward the single-patty burgers. Doubling them up upsets the delicate meat-cheese-bun-stuff balance, in my experience.

Shake Shack easily tops White Castle in my book, but no matter your preference, we can all agree that Snacking on the Strip just got a lot more fun—as it should be.

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