Flat Top Burger Shop

Week 5
Match up 3
Flat Top Burger Shop VS TBD




Brian:

I preface this write-up with a fact: I'm a fat guy. Flat top Burger makes a f***in' good burger like that f***in' good milkshake John Travolta had in Pulp Fiction. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that it's run by two fat guys. These guys care about burgers. No intro feel-good stories about walking in to a cozy restaurant with a cute waitress this time. At Flat top, you walk up to a glass window in the side of an old gas station/garage. You order your burger like I used to order my cigarettes back in DFW when they were $2.15 a pack with tax. You go sit in a cold open-air room on a bench and they softly blast some grueling C&W music at you from some crappy computer speakers. You're not feelin so great. Then they bring you your burger in a sack. You unwrap the old-school paper wrapping. You situate your burger and sides. You take a bite of the burger. You then utter "Oh My God". Flat top cooks on a griddle (Yes!). They cook the onions up, then they smash your burger down on top of that and cook it til the onions fuse into the meat in a crunchy blackened film of amazingness. You get two patties with cheese on the standard burger. I added a buck for grass-fed. The meat was delicious. Perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked. I assume there was a bun and toppings and that they were stellar as well, because I was really bummed when I was finished. Hand-cut fries of a nice thickness. Onion rings are great. You can order a mix. That's another bonus so I don't have to do half and half with my buddy and have a race against time to make sure I get my fair share of rings and fries. Flat top is a great place. Low on atmosphere, high on burger wizardry. It is gonna be real interesting to see how they fare against the 1300 the Zone burger bracket champ: Mike's Pub. It's on!

Zach:


Third time to have this burger, and they keep getting better. The regular cheeseburger is double meat, double cheese (American). I asked for no lettuce as usual. This burger is incredibly juicy. It comes served in the thin white paper from days of old so that you can see where the paper is clear that is the grease leaking out. To me Flat Top has captured the way hamburgers once used to taste and the way they should taste. While the two patties and cheese and toppings makes for a juicy experience, the bun somehow holds everything together well. The toppings balance extremely well and add to the flavor. I noted that this burger works especially well when dipped in ketchup, but it also works without. I deducted a tiny half point or so for the tomatoes being just a bit too much here. The sides are extremely solid as well. I know there are better fries and rings out there in the world, but from past experience, these fries and rings are probably both in the top 20% of what I have had around. The fries could be a bit bigger (cut) and the rings as well could be bigger and more well formed although I noted that they were about twice as big from the first time I tried them when they were very small "onion pieces" more than rings. The flavor of both, especially the rings, is terrific. Atmosphere is perhaps Flat Top's weak spot. It's outdoors so if it's cold (or hot) it may not be pleasant. It was pretty cold while we were here which wasn't too big a deal once the burgers arrived but without the distraction of a delicious burger it was a bit chilly. Also they play country music on a small computer speaker (sounds ok) but personally we all found their tune selection a bit grueling. We all agreed we like some country music, but some of the stuff was not good. This is the kind of thing I imagine a restaurant would and could change if enough people said something, so perhaps I will send them some feedback on that. Service was decent if a tiny bit flaky but seems about par for the course here in the ATX. Just to wrap up - this is an awesome burger and one of my favorites in Austin. Prices are reasonable as well, easily on par with burgers of similar (and worse) quality.

Dre:

So this was my first trip to Flat Top and I gotta say I’m a fan now. First of all I dig the set-up. It’s an old gas station/mechanic garage that’s been converted to this bare-bones burger hut. Flat Top keeps it simple – burgers, fries and onion rings and that’s pretty much it besides the veggie burgers and chicken sandwiches cause it’s Austin. I appreciate this since they have the food they do make down to a science. The young lady at the order counter gets points for reading Game of Thrones and even more points for the Run DMC t-shirt. No comment on the tightness of said t-shirt. I ordered the standard cheeseburger which is a double-pattied half-pounder. Just a dollar to upgrade it to grass-fed? Sold. Bacon and jalapenos were both very reasonably priced – check and check. The seating was set up in the wide-open garage bays so it might get uncomfortable in extreme weather conditions but it wasn’t too bad the cold night we went. Just when I start to worry that they lost my order, my name is called and I was brought a paper sack full of deliciousness. The sack was the first signal that I was about to experience something special. Then it was the old-fashioned white paper wrapper. Finally I take that first bite and wow. This place makes burgers how I like my burgers. It’s in the name – cooked just right on a “flat-top grill” – a welcome change after all these charred burgers. The way they cook the onions into the burger is genius and the bacon was close to perfect like the meat. I wanted a little more punch from the jalapenos though. I could nitpick about it falling apart on me at the very end or the bread being a little bit thin for a double but the way that thing all came together was magical. Throw in a super tasty half fries and half rings order and Flat Top won me over. Plus it’s BYOB and I bet the shakes and lemonade are awesome too. The only real drawback was the music which I will easily tolerate for more of this good stuff.

Box Score: Flat Top Burger Shop V Mike's Pub

+++

Flat Top
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8	8
Meat	9	9.5	9
Toppings	9	8	8
Construction	8	9	8.5
Overall	9	9.25	9.25
Total Burger	65.00	66.25	65.00
Sides	8.5	8.5	8
Atmosphere	6.5	6.5	6
Value	8.5	8	8
Non Burger	19.25	19	18
Totals	84.25	85.25	83.00
Combined		84