This new Fresno burger restaurant isn’t open yet, but already has thousands of followers
A new restaurant serving juicy smash burgers is gearing up to open in northwest Fresno – and it’s already got thousands of followers.
Flippin’ Dave’s Burgers and Fries is a locally-owned restaurant scheduled to open at Shaw and Blythe avenues at 11 a.m. Friday, June 24. It’s in the same shopping center as Costco, just a few doors down from Chipotle.
The restaurant has more than 10,000 followers on Instagram. And judging from their comments online, they are eagerly awaiting its opening.
The Instagram account has been building a following for months with luscious pictures of its burger patties – sometimes stacked three high – with melted cheese and its house-made sauce.
Owner David Mkhitaryan has done this before. He’s the Fresno-based restaurateur behind the Angry Chickz restaurants in town.
He started that business in Southern California before returning home to Fresno. The restaurants specializing in Nashville hot chicken now have 18 locations, including three in Fresno and others around the valley.
He’s applying that same format – a simple, limited menu – to burgers by opening Flippin’ Daves.
The restaurant will have four combinations on the menu: A hamburger, cheeseburger, double cheeseburger and grilled cheese.
He calls them smash burgers because the never-frozen Angus beef is smashed into the griddle with a metal tool.
“Get them as thin as possible, thin but juicy,” Mkhitaryan said. “There’s a key to making smash burgers. You want to get the crust around it crispy and get the middle juicy.”
You can also get french fries, either on their own, with melted cheese, or more toppings. The Flippin’ fries, for example, come with two slices of melted American cheese, grilled onions and two burger patties with a slice of cheese in the middle, with Dave’s sauce (its signature sauce made in house) on top of it all.
How does one even eat all that?
“Oh trust me, with a fork,” Mkhitaryan said. “I was actually eating that 20 minutes ago and it’s special.”
At its June 24 opening, the restaurant will give away free Flippin’ Dave’s merchandise to the first 100 customers.
Hours are still being worked out, but the restaurant most likely will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
“We’re just doing the best we can, just putting it out there, trying to build up as much following as we can,” he said. “Fresno deserves stuff like this.”
Details: Flippin’ Dave’s opens at 11 a.m. Friday, June 24 at 4434 W. Shaw Ave.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 1:00 PM.
