Two years back I was in Atlanta and had a great dining experience at the original FLIP Burger Boutique so I’m back in town for a business and it’s time for a re-visit! Given my whereabouts, I head on over to the newer FLIP on N. Roswell. It’s located in a busy strip plaza on the corner and it’s sort of tucked behind a hair salon. Same, sleek and modern silver exterior with it’s signature red sign. Inside there’s a hostess stand, bar area and super modern, art-deco dining room. I’m dining solo tonight so I opt for the seat at the bar but peek inside the main area. Large plush, pillowed booths, inverted tables on the ceiling and a communal looking table area down the center. Reminds me a bit of the original but a bit less frilly and flashy, still quite nice.
I look over the short menu of burgers and decide to not decide. I go with the fried app sampler and slider sampler with a variety of FLIP favorites. The short beer menu is a mix of domestics and micro-brews and my can of Dale’s IPA is a great choice for the meat and grease about to come! About 15 minutes later I get both plates of food on long rectangular platters. And it all looks great! The fried sample is onion rings, sweet tater tots and fries with ketchup, aioli, honey mustard and blue cheese for dipping. The fries are great, skin-on and sort of thin and lightly salted. FLIP’s onion rings also rock, a thick crunchy greaseless coating with just the right blend of onion and crunch. And the the sweet potato tater tots? Good in a crack-like way once they cool down. Sweet nuggets of fried goodness with a light dusting of coffee and barbeque rub. All I know is that I couldn’t stop eating them! Paired with the fresh sauces, this place reminds me a bit of BurgR (Gordon Ramsay) in Las Vegas but FLIP was on the scene first so that comparison should be reversed.
My sliders looks pretty fantastic, shiny buns that have been griddled and browned on the inside for some texture. Each burger comes with it’s own fresh toppings and sauce. The fried chicken burger is more of a traditional Southern sandwich with pickles and spicy mayo, delish! Then the rBQ which comes with some pulled brisket, slaw and rBQ sauce, probably my favorite. And finally the Butcher’s Cut with caramelized onions, red wine jam and frisee, a solid choice. The app sampler should probably be shared with 2 – 3 people while the slider sampler is deliciousness for one larger eater, I barely finished. So of course I missed out on the famous milk shakes here but I figured I’d be hitting up Johnny’s Hideaway later on that evening and needed to save my calories.
Service at the bar and hostess desk was great, FLIP trains its people really well and runs the front of the house fantastically. And while the place wasn’t super-busy, I’m sure this new location of FLIP is pretty darn popular and lives up to the standards of the original. Delicious fried apps, creative and flavorful burgers along with amazing milk shakes that I have yet to try. I’ll ask one more time but pretty please, could we get one in the NC Triangle?! Sigh…
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