December in New York
I’d be remiss if I didn’t post these pictures, detailing the overall holiday spirit:
Friends + Burgers Down South
Hey guys. Remember a year a ago, when I met up with my friend Jonathan and his girlfriend for Korean dumplings in Ktown? A lot of things have changed since then–I graduated… and they got married!
They’re currently living in Georgia, so it was the perfect opportunity to see them and give them a wedding present in person. And of course we had a culinary and caffeinated tour of the local area.
Jonathan took us to Flip Burger Boutique, a restaurant founded by Top Chef Season 8 contestant Richard Blais. This place is definitely an example of burger innovation done right (you’ll remember that Albert and I were really disappointed with Top Chef Season 7 contestant Angelo Sosa’s Social Eatz), and they even serve a kimchi burger special some days, which Grace assured me is very good.
The place is nestled off a decrepit street (exaggerating, only a little) across an auto body shop, creating a portal-like experience since the atmosphere inside the restaurant is classy and expensive. Flat screen monitors line the wall behind the bar, all of them trimmed with fancy moulding, and two girls of Real Houswives of Atlanta status sat at the table next to ours.
We ordered the local, butcher’s cut and blackened shrimp burgers with sides of sweet potato tots, fried pickles and vodka battered onion rings, all of which were devoured without a complaint. I think that says it all.
The local ($11), with spicy bbq sweet potato tots ($4)
Blackened shrimp ($10), with vodka battered onion rings ($3.5)
Butcher's cut ($8), with southern fried b&b pickles ($3.5)
Flip Burger is also known for its signature liquid-nitrogen milkshakes, which I definitely had to try. I got the burnt marshmallow + nutella milkshake, which was basically a frozen hot chocolate. Nice experience.
Flip Burger Boutique
1587 Howell Mill Rd NW
Atlanta, GA
Monday Loop: Bob Dylan
Hurricane
Fortunately Irene didn’t do too much damage in my area (we never lost power and no trees fell down), but the commute to Brooklyn is looking pretty dismal.
Airbnb Success
I used Airbnb to book a night in Richmond before heading down to Lawrenceville. I was really looking forward to experiencing some local flavor as opposed to spending a night in an expensive hotel–and we got a great deal ($60 for both of us plus breakfast!) on a 100-year-old renovated school house.
Richmond, VA
We stopped over in Richmond on Monday looking for some good food. Cary St. is supposed to have a restaurant myriad lining it, but it seemed like most of the places were closed–either for good or just on Mondays. A few people were on the streets, but that was probably because it was Move-In Day for students at VCU.
So we held ourselves over with some OK burritos from Cafe Ole, and topped them off with froyo at Sweet Frog, which was the only establishment (aside from Can Can, a bistro across the street) that had people flowing in and out of it. Sweet Frog is basically a DIY Red Mango, except the texture of the yogurt is much creamier and tastes just like slow-churned ice cream.
Wednesday Loop: Vetiver
Vetiver-Sister
Monday Loop: Midtown
Midtown-Get It Together
I have to admit that I like Cobra Starship’s catchy new song. But before Cobra Starship, there was Midtown. Music reminiscent of high school.
Cure Thrift Shop’s Carnival-Themed 3rd Birthday Party
Cure Thrift Shop had a really awesome carnival party on Thursday to celebrate its third birthday! The best thing about this store (in addition to the marked down pre-loved designer merch) is that the proceeds go towards diabetes research, which makes shopping there extra sweet.
And what more could a girl ask for than to be surrounded by thrifty items, Spot Dessert Bar goodies, endless Piola Pizza and skinny Voli vodka (to negate the pizza calories, of course)?
Probably just a great crew of people and good music. Which there was.
This woman picked up a pack of tumblr buttons and said to her gentleman friend, “Tumblr. That’s where my blog is.”
Christine Tsang of Tineey showed off her brand new thrifted romper and super cute moustache manicure.
