FL!P Burger

I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a 100% Wagyu bred burger on a toasted brioche bun topped with a fried egg, Pepper Jack cheese. avocado, and Bibb lettuce today. In fact, I’ll happily pay nothing at all for that burger. I was going to say that you could text “Flip2” to #89800 and get a free burger, but I tried it last night at the Obliterati Party and it didn’t work, and now I owe this girl a Lox Bagel (kinda).

So that’s how I got the burger for free … the onion rings, however, were $7.00. I have to say they were a little hard – could have been slightly overcooked. I got them “Tandoori Style,” which means that they toss them in a little curry, and I added a side of garlic mayo to go with them, The flavor was there, and the small ones were awesome, but the big ones, just a bit too tough. I scraped the roof of my mouth on one of them – I usually like them crispy, but it might have just been something about the breading.

I know it’s not the full shot of the sentence that explains they’re all one price, but you can see the proof here. It makes it easier on everyone, and less confusing. Then there are the “flip-ins,” which range from avocado to canadian bacon to goat cheese to fried eggs to garlic mayo. So you can kinda tell by reading the menu, the toppings (I refuse to call them “flip-ins” without quotation marks around the term) aren’t of equivalent cost. So for both the burger and the toppings, either A) there are some loss leaders in here and corporate counts on it all evening out or B) they’re all priced the same as the most expensive item. I have a feeling it’s closer to B.

The burger ordering was pretty simple for me – get the best burger possible. If you can create any burger tastier-sounding than the one I just made from the list on the FL!P burger menu, I’ll buy that mother. The waitress exclaimed, “Damn, that sounds like a tasty burger!” Now I can’t really tell if she actually exclaimed it or not, but if you start a sentence with “Damn,” you’re heading in that direction. Of course, this could be in the FL!P Burger employee training manual:

Ordering:

1. Ask if they’re ready to order
2. Listen attentively to their order, writing it down as they are speaking it
3. Confirm the order is correct by reading it back to them; if no temperature has been specified, ask for a temperature preference
4. With a look of sincere astonishment, say “Damn, that sounds like a tasty burger!” Make sure you exclaim this statement, do not simply state it.
5. Ask if they would like any of our famous fries, or onion rings

Regardless, this time, I felt like she really meant it.

Ordered medium-rare, came out more medium well, but that wasn’t a big deal; it was still juicy as hell. I killed the tomato before putting it on the burger, and the pickle (of course it comes with a pickle) was crisp. The bacon was as Hickory smoked as they claimed it was, and I was pretty happy with the Brioche bun and the pepper jack. I want the rest of the burgers I eat to be served to me on toasted brioche buns; I can’t imagine anything better, Actually, I can – popover buns. Yeah – Let’s make this happen. Maybe the BLT Burger truck has this going on. Ever had popovers at BLT Prime? You haven’t lived.

One thing I love is when restaurants give you a gift when you leave. You can be sure that if you ever come to one of Hagan Blount’s restaurants you’re going to get something special as you leave, and you’re gonna get it with a goddamn smile, ’cause that’s what you deserve. FL!P Burger understands the psychological concept of the free gift and hits their valued guests with a chocolate covered mint candy. I love them for it.

Even though I didn’t pay for this burger, I have to say, I didn’t feel ripped off like I did at DBGB, and I got fries with that one. My burger would have run me $17.50 and I would have been pleased with that. I never say “I would go there again,” because there are so many places to go in Manhattan, why would you go someplace again unless you were showing someone else how good it was? Of course, that means it would have to be absolutely stupendous. For this reason, I feel like my “I would go there again” means a lot more than the regular schmoe’s “I would go there again.” I’ve had a craving for Baoguette for the longest time, but I’ve been to twenty other restaurants since and can’t see myself going back until I try the other Banh Mis in the baoguette area(s).

So, from Regular Schmoe’s perspective, I would go to Burger Joint over this place every day if they were across the street from each other, but Le Parker Meridien is five avenues away. If I was willing to travel that distance, I would just get on the six to Madison Square park, and I don’t think I need to spell it out any further. If you’re in the area, and you’re craving a burger, FL!P is a solid choice and worth the money.

FL!P Burger
1000 Third Avenue (Lower Level)
New York, NY 10022
(212) 705-2000