Eating Like a Top Chef in Atlanta

While I was in Atlanta last week I had the opportunity to hang out with my cousin Chris for a few hours, which was nice since I really only get to see my extended family members once a year at Christmas. Chris is a college professor now (fancy!) and had to teach the night I was in town but he picked me up from my hotel in downtown Atlanta after his class was done and showed me around his new neighborhood. Chris just bought a new condo in the Westside, a very cool neighborhood full of hip restaurants, design stores, art studios and old brick warehouses that have been transformed into industrial chic homes for all the above.

It is also home to Richard Blaise’s (from Top Chef Chicago) restaurant—Flip Burger. Chris likes Top Chef as much as I do (ps it just started taping the next season in DC!).  Last winter he went to Kevin (from the most recent season)’s restaurant in Atlanta and raved about how amazing the food was. So when he suggested we swing by Flip Burger so he could eat dinner, I was in.

Picture courtesy of the Flip Burger Facebook Page

As you might guess from the name, burgers are the focus and they have everything from the classic style beef burger to a $39 burger made with Kobe beef and topped with foie gras to a vast assortment of non-traditional burgers (turkey, crab, lamb, etc.) Unfortunately, I had eaten dinner several hours earlier so I did not get to sample the main event but I did try some zucchini fries (which were really really good and came with an equally good gremolata mayo for dipping) and had the Nutella-Burnt Marshmallow milkshake which was pretty fantastic. Chris had the po boyger which was described as “shrimp patty, old bay mayo, shaved lettuce, tomato, fried lemon, Tabasco.” It looked awesome and, according to Chris, tasted awesome too.


I was pretty pleased by my first (albeit limited) taste of a Top Chef restaurant. Apparently there is talk about opening another location in the DC area. Here’s hoping to be able to try more of it in the future!