Flip Burger Boutique's Pate Melt

Pâté gets a bad rap. In the same class as potpourri and Grey Poupon, its associations with bourgeouis dinner parties are well-ingrained. Furthermore, it's not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing food. Perhaps you've shied away from those cold, grey blocks of meat and gelée. So, would you like some pâté with that?

The truth is that this misunderstood meat product is delicious when done right, and you might like some pâté with that if it was done à la hamburger. To put it plainly, Top Chef Richard Blais's Flip Burger Boutique (with locations in Georgia and Alabama) makes a pâté burger. While pâté often seems to wait listlessly in the wings, Flip Burger Boutique brings it center stage. Stripping the word of all those cluttersome French accents does wonders, too.

First off, Blais's Boutique blends high and low cuisine together by applying the art of molecular gastronomy to the burger joint (think burgers and fries served with foams and nitrogen milkshakes). His pâté burger ("the pate melt") is a perfect example of this high-low blend, transforming what was once a bougie hors d'oeuvre into the hippest food in town.

This unusual burger consists of a substantial hunk of pork and veal pâté (no smears or slabs here) topped with Swiss cheese, dijon mustard, a tart lingonberry jam, cornichons, frisée lettuce, pickled shallots and "melted onions." Essentially, it's a French pâté platter on a bun, and to that we say, "Right on."


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