It’s no wonder it took me many, many months to visit Flip Burger Boutique – I don’t eat burgers. But when a work friend suggested a lunch trip and showed me the milkshake menu, we headed right on out onto I-75 North to Howell Mill Road. Located in a hustly bustly part of Atlanta in west midtown, Flip is a loud scene (both visually and aurally). It almost seems like a constant party within the restaurant walls. It was crowded when we arrived and jumped at the chance to sit at the interactive chefs’ bar. We were on top of the action:
working the busy lunch hour
plates waiting for burgs
We decided to order different milkshakes for all the more tasting.
impossible to choose
Inevitably, we went with the most popular shakes – nutella + burnt marshmellow & krispy kreme:
follow the smoke signals
You can still see the smoke coming off the krispy kreme milkshake from the liquid nitrogen – so very cool.
The creative director, Richard Blais (of Top Chef fame) definitely thought this one up all by his lonesome.
The nutella shake had a mostly chocolate flavor with only a hint of nutella/hazelnut. And the lightly scorched marshmellows added a dipping element to an otherwise ‘sipping only’ pleasure. Oh how I enjoyed eating this with a spoon rather than a straw – no complaints here!
The krispy kreme took a couple of sips to get the full donut-y flavor. It was tasty, as most iced cream mixed with donuts would be.
After the double milkshake action, I attempted to go the healthy route with my entree (which may have been my biggest failure at Flip):
we don't look much like burgers
I nixed the bread for lettuce wraps and the mayo for nothing. On the left you see the tuna burger made with spicy yellow fin tuna, pickled ginger, vietnamese herb salad. On the right is a ‘po boyger’ which is a shrimp patty, shaved lettuce, tomato, fried lemon, tabasco.
I’m sorry to say the tuna burger was a disaster. It was completely overdone to the point of no return (which is weird because the waitress asked if I would be okay with a medium rare cook and I said “the rarer, the better”). Looking back, I should have sent it back and pointed out the mishap but I was on a lunch break and didn’t have the time for that. Plus, it was kinda fishy tasting – it went almost untouched 😦
The shrimp, on the other hand, was a plump, tender patty that fell apart with every bite (and I liked that – it made it messy). The tabasco was the shrimp’s best man in this wedding of flavors and fell hard for him. He lit up my mouth (read: heart).
My coworker was wise and went beefy. He ordered the philly and the rBQ:
atta boy!
and here’s the detailed review (thanks, Andrew!)
“The philly had french onions, green peppers, American cheese whiz and ketchup and the rBQ had pulled brisket, coleslaw, rBQ sauce and smoked mayo. In hindsight I think I should have eaten the philly first because the cheese whiz had congealed into a semi…-solid state by the time I got to it. The rBQ was great! I was impressed that they actually cooked the burgers med-rare. With the assembly line of burgers and their smaller size I was not optimistic that they would be the correct temperature. Flip had a trendy feel which made me feel a bit out of place. Kinda like the time I wandered into Hot Topic looking for some khaki pants. I WILL go back, even if it is only to try another one of their decadent milk shakes!”
Sides:
pillars of health
Hand cut french fries and vodka battered onion rings balanced out the rest of the meal. They were perfectly crisp, salty, and delicious.
I’m with Andrew- I am more interested in going back to Flip to taste out the rest of their interesting milkshake flavors, rather than the burgers. Or to sit at the chef’s bar and watch the hardworking guys use gadgets to create a tweaked version of classic American fare.
squirting mayo from a cannister
they love this technique
eggs and BBQ sauce in an immersion circulator
Flip Burger Boutique
1587 Howell Mill Road
Atlanta, GA 30318
OctoSquid 