Peter Luger Steak House

Well, well, well... after 3+ years of living together, my 2 roommates - Howie & Danny - and I went out to eat. Amazingly enough, this had never happened prior to Friday night. We had shared many meals together in front of the TV and many more in restaurants where we were joined by our friends, but it was never just the 3 of us. With the 3 of us leaving our current digs at the end of the month, we needed to change this ASAP. Where do you go to celebrate 3 amazing years of living together? We decided to go big-time and went to the best steak house in all the land.. Peter Luger Steak House (The #1 Steak House in NYC for 26 straight years!)

We were looking forward to this meal since we made the reservation a month prior. After a pre-dinner cocktail at our apt and a short cab ride from the East Village to Williamsburgh, we found ourselves in the famed Steak House. It was crowded and had an old school vibe with wood surrounding you on all sides & a wait staff dressed in all white. We were seated upstairs and immediately greeted with an above-average bread basket filled with my favorite, pretzel rolls. Don't be a newb and fill up on the bread!! There's much, much better food to come!

We didn't even need a menu as the waiter took one look at the 3 of us and told us exactly what we were going to order. He was spot on! Tomato & Onion and 3 slices of bacon to start, steak for 3 as the entree with french fried potatoes & creamed spinach on the side. Boom! We got started with some cocktails and then the food just kept coming.

The key to the tomato & onion appetizer is the Peter Luger Steak Sauce that's served alongside it. The steak sauce is a blend between traditional steak sauce and cocktail sauce.

The key to the bacon appetizer - one slice per person - is that it's sliced super thick. Thinking of this as one slice of bacon is deceiving because it's more like 3 normal slices of bacon packed on top of each other. Obviously, the bacon is just oozing with flavor!

The entree is served family style and the steak comes on a sizzling hot plate. It was cooked perfectly (what else do you expect?) and had loads of butter-y flavor. From what I hear, the steak is marinated & cooked in butter and in addition to being great beef, this is what gives it a lot of it's flavor. You can dip it in the steak sauce or you can just have it straight up. Either way, there will be a big smile on your face. Throw in some creamed spinach and a funky french fried potato dish (that's similar to hash browns) and you have yourself one helluva meal.

You don't get voted the best Steak House for 26 years by leaving people disappointed. We were no different. And Howie made sure that we left nothing on any of our plates:

It might have taken us 3 years to sit down and share a meal, but in one evening, we reached the pinnacle of New York dining.

Flip Burger - Atlanta

Since learning about Flip Burger and trying it out for the first time almost a year ago, I’ve returned to Atlanta 3 times and made sure to stop by Flip Burger each time. Two of those times, I opened the restaurant up at 11 AM to make sure I could get a burger before an early afternoon flight.

When I learned that I was going back to Atlanta for work, I was ecstatic. More Flip Burger!

Three of the four times I’ve been to Flip I’ve gotten the Chorizo Burger:

It’s spicy pork sausage, romesco ketchup (a fancy way to say spicy ketchup), hash browns, fried egg, manchego cheese, & smoked mayo between two lightly toasted buns. Basically, it’s the most delicious burger you’ve ever had :-) But seriously, this is a burger packed with flavor and one of the finer ones I’ve ever chomped down on (and I’m a burger guy). With every bite, you discover something new. Whether it be the ketchup “sauce” that has the perfect amount of kick (not too hot for those who are heat-averse) or yolk dripping out of the egg & on to the patty (and those ARE the best bites), each bite is a new adventure and is more tasty than the next. It’s one of those burgers that you never want to end. So, rationally, you prolong the life of your burger by taking a lot of breaks to eat something else.

Like what? How about something fried? At Flip, my favorite fried veggies are the onion rings. I’ve also had the okre & French fries, but they don’t stack up to the rings. The onion rings are vodka battered and served with a beer honey mustard dipping sauce. I'd be lying if I said I could taste the vodka. I can't, though it doesn't matter. The rings are fried to perfection, salted just right, and the dipping sauce pairs oh-so-well with it. I'm a big fan of the sweet & salty combo so the honey in the sauce pushes this over the edge for me. In my mind, all other onion rings will be measured up against these. Unfortunately, most will fall short.

Now, we're 2/3 of the way there. We got the burger & the fried veggie. What's missing you ask? Just a nutella + burnt marshmallow milkshake!! Yes, you read that correctly.

And it tastes as good as it looks. I'm not a chocolate guy but this is a campfire s'more in a milkshake in your mouth! And who doesn't love that? They use liquid nitrogen to "roast" the mini marshmallows on the top of the shake and they taste like you just pulled them from a fire. I slurped this down to the last drop and highly recommend you wash down your burger & rings with this shake.

None of the portions are too big so you don't walk away feeling like you are in a food coma. Don't get me wrong, you are plenty full, but you're not "ugh, get me a couch, I can't move FULL!"

As you can see, I absolutely adore Flip Burger and will continue to come back here any time I'm in or around Atlanta. I suggest next time you are in the ATL and want a burger (or onion ring or milkshake) fix, you check it out and let me know if I steered you in the right direction. Enjoy!