Last weekend my friend, Cindy and I headed down to the heart of the Peach state for a little shopping, exploring and eating. All the things I love! We’ve been to Atlanta multiple times together and we make a great pair because we are all about trying new things and finding new spots!
Friday night we got into town late which was the perfect time to head over to Flip Burger Boutique to see what Richard Blais was whipping up. Do you know Richard Blais? He’s been on Top Chef two different seasons and he loves mixing things up and playing with molecular gastronomy. I’ve never really experienced any of that up close and personal so I was excited to see what it would be like.
Flip Burger is a cool concept – all kinds of funky burgers (beef, lamb, chickpeas.) Which there are a lot of different restaurants playing with this concept (Cowfish Sushi Burger here in CLT is a good example.) You can check out the Flip Burger Boutique menu here.
The décor was pretty funky. Mostly all white with splashes of color – the back wall of the restaurant has a large mural that is hard to make out exactly what’s in the picture but that’s fun – you can kind of play “where’s Waldo” while waiting for your table. It’s not a real large space – which makes of course for a loud environment. Are there any restaurants anymore that aren’t loud?? The bar is sleek and long with simple little stools lined up in front of it. Flat screen TV’s are in abundance behind the bar with big chunky ornate frames around them painted white. I really like this look – although watching a Dave Matthews concert of the TV with some kind of techno music playing over the sound system threw me off a little.
On the wall opposite the bar they have banquettes. Can you see that in the picture below? They created these by putting booths on top of each other. The literally stacked the booths to create a “nook” of sorts. Pretty cool idea and I would think a lot less expensive than having it custom built.
Here’s a shot of the “mural.” They incorporate this image in their website as well which I thought was a nice touch – keeping things cohesive. You can also check out the expo area. This was also a bar of sorts that you can sit at and eat. I really enjoy eating at the “window” of a kitchen – gives you a front seat to the action. And you can also see all the different dishes coming out of the kitchen.
We opted for a seat at the actual bar. We were also right beside where they make the milkshakes. And they have some funky milkshakes – for instance Foie Gras milkshake??? (That’s the kind of creation I was referring to with Blais.) They also have a Krispy Kreme milkshake but the one that was calling my name was Nutella and Toasted Marshmallow. She toasted the marshmallows on top of the shake with a torch. It looked REAL good! They used some liquid nitrogen to give the cool effect of smoke as it was being delivered to your table.
So enough about the décor let’s talk grub… I went with the special of the day – Country Fried Chicken Burger – curry pickles – pimento cheese – Duke’s mayo – pepper vinegar with a side of Zucchini Fries
The sandwich was good – not great. The chicken patty was a little strange. It was circular in shape which we all know chicken isn’t round. So they had created this patty of chicken which unfortunately reminded me of McDonalds. The flavors were good a combo though. I like the tang of the pickles and the ooey gooey of the warm pimento cheese. The bun was really good – nicely toasted. The zucchini fries were a BUST! I was so tempted to send them back because I truly hate paying ($3.50! ouch) for something I’m not going to eat. They just tasted like grease. Even the parmesan cheese didn’t help and I wasn’t really impressed with the gremolata mayo.
Cindy’s goal was to find a healthy option on this menu and it was a little harder than you would think. She decided to go with the “Faux-lafel” – fried chick pea patty, arugula, cucumber, red onion, pickled beets, red pepper & feta cheese spread. This was a nice combination of flavors (thanks Cindy for letting me try yours!) The seasoning of the patty definitely gave you that Greek feel. We were a little disappointed the patty was fried – kind of killed the whole healthy concept – but you are a burger joint – so I guess you can only expect so much. The Beet & Goat cheese salad was super yummy and fresh. Nothing overly unexpected but good.
So overall I would have to say I wasn’t flipin’ out over Flip Burger – so a little let down but glad we went and to check it out for sure! Have you been to Flip Burger? Did you get to try one of those shakes??
