I went on a very complex emotional roller coaster when I heard about the new restaurant, the flipside, coming to Nashville.
First and foremost, the restaurant doesn’t use any form of capitalization in its name, which really could throw off a lot of English majors like myself. (Clearly we make up a large portion of Nashville’s population and flipside’s prospective customer base).
Secondly, it decided to throw itself right into the thicket of 12th Avenue South. For those that don’t already know, this street hosts a slew of restaurants and late-night spots that are well-established and renowned in the Nashville community for being both absolutely delicious and entirely hipster.
Thirdly (is thirdly a word? This is something my English major did not teach me…), the menu features chicken with toppings.
That’s it.
Chicken with toppings? Like how boring could this restaurant possibly be? After all of the hard work put into building the brick-and-mortar restaurant, advertising, et cetera, this place set itself up for disaster. With so much competition surrounding it, there was no chance a restaurant that only serves chicken could be successful in Nashville’s rapidly emerging food scene.
But then the Spoon U team here at Vanderbilt decided to take a field trip to try out this so-called chicken with toppings “establishment” and I must say I was more than pleasantly surprised to find all of my worries eradicated.
Photo from www.theflipside12south.com
The restaurant looks like a retro diner, complete with jukebox-style music and artwork from the 60s. While it was unfortunately a school night and I was being a good girl, the wide selection of local and other craft beers on tap looked great. The fully-stocked backlit bar that reached to the ceiling served as wall decoration, as well as a casual reference that the drinks there are probably pretty damn good.
Photo from www.theflipside12south.com
Our very amicable waitress was punctual and was more than happy to help us with whatever we needed (even accommodating a peanut allergy with grace, a smile and a cool hipster beanie). We started off with macaroni and cheese and tator tot nachos, a step above pornographic, replete with jalapeños, avocado, queso, bacon and other goodies. I don’t really understand why people would eat regular nachos ever again.
AND THEN THE CHICKEN WITH TOPPINGS.
Photo from www.theflipside12south.com
Unassuming, yes. Lacking in flavor, absolutely not. I tried the Betsy—chicken pounded thin, breaded and topped with homemade buffalo sauce, blue cheese crumbles and celery. Many others opted for the Primo—grilled chicken pounded thin with pesto, tomato and mozzarella. The chicken was cooked perfectly—juicy and delicious. I will definitely be returning to the flipside in the near future.
Location: 2403 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37204
Hours of operation: Mon-Sun 11am to 2am