Greek Burger from Crystal Beer Parlor in Savannah

Yes another tasty burger and quite unlike any burger I have ever had. Crystal Beer Parlor is one of our favorite places to go for a good, yet quick, bite to eat in downtown Savannah. They have a wide range of burgers and today I decided to jump out on a limb with the Greek Lamb Burger.

The burger is ground lamb that is then grilled to perfection. It is then topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, Tzatziki Sauce, and I added on feta cheese for the extra dollar. It was like having a Gyro as a burger, but only better. As always I got the onion rings as my side. It is a must that you always get the onion rings when eating at Crystal Beer Parlor.

America's Top Dog in Chamblee

Came across this place while surfing the web Saturday morning. A description I read was that if you want a burger, you go to Flip and if you want a hot dog you go here. Worked for me. I wasn't really hungry for a hot dog, but for some reason it sounded good. After checking out the menu and discussing with my wife, it was settled.

Americas Top Dog is in the same shopping center as the Velvet Room. I've never been to the Velvet Room but I always thought it would have been a fancier, free standing facility, not in a strip mall with Big Lots. That's really neither here nor there, but if you know where the Velvet Room is, you know where America's Top Dog is. The main sign doesn't actually say "America's Top Dog", it says Dogs Fries Burgers, or some combination of those words. It's in red, white and blue though. The interior is equally patriotic and it fits. What's more American than hot dogs, burgers and fries?

We were greeted by what I presume was the owner running the show. He was behind the counter, probably working on something fantastic. His accent was heavy...New York maybe? Whatever it was, it helped with the whole experience - like being somewhere up north where people know their hotdogs.

The menu is full of crazy hotdog combinations. I ended up with the Georgia dog while my wife went with ol faithful, the Chicago dog. Even cooler than the funky menu is the topping bar. There are 40 items ranging from pineapple to fried shallots. If you don't get one of the pre-made dogs, you can get a plain one and then go to town at the topping bar. When we go back, that may be what I do. I have another dog in my sights though, so we'll see. Scroll on down for pictures and some deeper descriptions.

Georgia Dog and chili cheese fries. The chili cheese fries were messy and awesome. And the Georgia Dog was insane. It had chili, pimento cheese, chow chow and slaw on a red hot inside of a deli roll. All the different flavors balanced out really well, the hotdog itself had an awesome flavor and it was great having a real bun instead of some floppy white bread with this giant mass of ingredients.

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My wife's chicago dog and onion rings. I didn't try the chicago dog, but she said it was good. I'm still very amused by the neon green relish that's standard on those. The onion rings were good. Not as good as the rings we had at Flip last week, but still good. They were more of a dry batter I think.









Topping bar. The website says 35 toppings, but I heard the dude say 40, so maybe they added some stuff. I couldn't begin to list all these toppings.

Where the action happens. Also some more DIY dog combos.

Flip Burger Boutique in Buckhead

I got a jolt to head ITP for dinner this weekend. My wife and I are by no means afraid to head down 85S into the big city and usually make the trip for some kind of event or dinner every couple weeks. Not counting our biweekly visit to the Dekalb Farmer's Market. There are so many options when it comes to dining in Atlanta that it can be difficult to make a decision (case in point, we went to 3 different places on my birthday: Brick Store, Leon's Full Service and Young Augustine's), but the decision to go to Flip Burger Boutique's Buckhead location came pretty easily for some reason.

Flip Burger Boutique is one of a few handfuls of burger joints around town. It is owned by Top Chef runner up, and currently on Top Chef All Stars, Richard Blais and has a distinctly different look than the others and after going there, I think the 'boutique' part of the name describes it well. There are 3 locations total, Midtown, Buckhead and Birmingham, AL. Our choice, the Buckhead location, worked out well for us since we're from Gwinnett and generally despise the parking situation (or lack thereof) in Midtown.

When we walked in I felt like I was in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Everything was futuristic, from the booths (they are like mirror images if you look at the pic below, the top could also be the bottom) to the simple white tables and shiny chairs. There were touches of an older style mixed in - like the antique looking frames around the flat screen TVs. It appeared there would be quite a wait, but we were given a table fairly quickly; the hostess said she "liked 2's".

As far as the menu goes...wow. I definitely set a record for the number of times I changed my mind about what to order. I am a sucker for weird stuff (organs, glands, raw meat, etc) and exciting flavor mixtures so there was plenty for me to choose from. I finally settled on roasted bone marrow for an appetizer and picked the Churasco for my burger. My wife got the Local and we split a side of onion rings. For dessert she picked the Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow milkshake. (They have a Burger of Today. Today's (Dec 7) burger: szechuan chicken - tempura fried chicken, chili garlic glaze, puffed rice, stir fry vegetables, black garlic mayo. OMFG)

My gut's reaction: "Damn, that was a tasty burger adventure. I can't wait to go back."
Check out the pics below for some deeper descriptions and opinions.

Roasted Bone Marrow

The caveman inside of me has wanted to try properly done bone marrow for a long time. They served it inside of a big beef bone along with some BBQ -something- on top. I can't for the life of me remember what the hell it was on top because I was so enamored by the marrow. I do remember it was good. The marrow itself had a gelatinous/fatty texture to it and a flavor to match. This was great for me as I've been known to eat my wife's fat scraps from a good steak. Bites with some onion, marrow, BBQ whatever and the sauce were

The Churasco Burger

 Burger choice was the Churasco. Wood grilled, grass fed flank steak, chimichurri sauce, grilled sweetbread and some criolo salsa. The beef was awesome and cooked a perfect medium-rare. The sweetbreads (another first for me) were a fun addition. The flavors all around the burger were so bold it was tough for me to tell exactly what each one was, but they all worked together so perfectly that my first bite required a long quite chew. Which, for, me, is either a sign for "This is great" or "This is awful, I'm looking for a place to spit this shit out".

Close: Onion Rings - Far: The Local

 My wife ordered the Local. Maybe could have been seen as  a 'safe' choice, but also a 'this is definitely going to be good' choice. It was local grass fed beef, some local beef bacon, tomato, vidalia onion and house pickles. It came with Flip Sauce, but my wife ordered it on the side. Flip Sauce was described to us as the chef's take on Thousand Island. I thought that was selling it a bit short, but regardless of the description it tasted good and melded nicely with the other burger ingredients. I had more than my share of her burger so I can offer an official opinion that it was very good, but for the $14 price tag there are other burgers I would get instead.

Onion rings are a favorite of ours. Flip's Vodka Battered O-rings were great and O-face inducing. More along the lines of crunchy rings from the Varsity than sweet, doughy rings you find at some places. Served with honey mustard.

Nutella and Burnt Mashmallow Milkshake

 This was an easy choice for my wife, a Nutella fanatic. Nutella is ridiculously good and anyone that hasn't tried it needs to go have a jar of it for lunch. Unfortunately, this wasn't screaming Nutella as loud as we wanted. It had a chocoloatey malt taste to it and, as my wife said, could be more appropriately named a S'more shake. I'm not much for marshmallows, so my opinion is skewed, but my wife likes them and she finished every bit of it.

The bartenders take a blowtorch to the marshmallows on top, and then add liquid nitrogen. I'm not sure whether it affects the flavor of it at all or is just for show, but the show part of it is damn cool because it comes to your table with a cloud of frozen air or whatever around. Definitely a spectacle.

I don't know this woman, but she is probably from the future. 

Ted's Montana Grill

Stopped off for lunch on the drive back from New Orleans at Ted's Montana Grill in Tallahassee (no bank robber with a bomb to stop us today). We started off with the Salt-n-Pepper Onion Rings. These were a perfect way to start the meal, but it would have been great to have a few more than what they dish out for this table serving. For my Bison Burger...I got the Vermejo. This burger is named after Ted's 591,000 acre (yes that number is correct) ranch. It is topped with the usual suspects and some great friends in the form of Monterey Jack Cheese, Grilled Onions, and Grilled Mushrooms. We might have been a few days late in getting to Ted's, but it was worth the wait.