flip burger boutique

so, i will just come out with it, for those of you who don't already know, i have a chef crush on richard blais.  clearly, it's completely innocent, but he has a rad style, an incredible mind for food concepts, lives in atlanta, and cooks innovative and great food...hard for a foodie not to love, right?  anyway, david and i have been dying to go to his restaurant, flip burger boutique, described as "fine dining between a bun," for many months now.  so, a few weeks ago, our little family of three set out for atlanta's west midtown neighborhood.  first, we visited the brand new anthropologie store (a fabulous space!) where i drooled over all the beautiful home goods (i am really wishing for these bowls:   ).  then, following jack's incessant plea to get "down," we found a cute west midtown neighborhood called underwood hills that was teeming with families and had a fabulous park with tennis courts, a basketball court, and two playgrounds!  the day was gorgeous, so we ran around playing with and chasing jack and burning off some stored up energy!

 

and finally to our last stop...flip burger!   since we went early, we got a coveted table on the patio with no wait!   jack enjoyed a super tasty grilled cheese (+ lots of tastes from our plates!) and david and i split the farm burger (organic, grass-fed beef with smoked mayo, heirloom tomatoes, local lettuce, grilled vidalia onion, and b&b pickles) and the faux-lafel sandwich (fried chick pea patty with arugula, cucumber, red onion, pickled beets, red pepper, and feta cheese spread) with a side of fries. 

mmm.  i have to admit that i was a bit surprised by the ordinariness of it all, ordinary in the "fine dining/great burger kind of way".  i guess i expected more extravagance from blais, but perhaps that would have just taken away from the great flavors.  we ended the meal with richard's famous liquid nitrogen milkshakes.  david had the pistachio and white truffle shake (the truffle taste permeated the entire cup...sooooo good!) and i enjoyed a krispy kreme shake (yes, you read that correctly!) that actually had bits of doughnut in it!  it was a perfect sunday-  beautiful weather, discovery of a new neighborhood, fun with my fun boys, and really delicious food!