Flim Flam Restaurant

The Astrid Sandwich

What's not to love about a restaurant that serves a sandwich with your name? 

The Flim Flam, located in northeast Ann Arbor, Michigan, has an Astrid Sandwich on it's menu which is corned beef, turkey, salami, Swiss cheese, cole slaw, dressing, on rye or an onion roll.  The Flim Flam is also known for their great service, corned beef hash, and gigantic eclairs - these things are the size of gun boats. 

So for the sake of food reviews, we ordered all of the above plus chili cheese fries and a cup of soup. 

A side of corned beef hash

Corned beef hash - this was clearly home-cooked, the real deal, not from a can.  I don't think I've ever had "real" corned beef hash.  And I was disappointed...it was ground up potatoes and beef.  It really needed some salt and pepper or something to season it up, maybe some more onions.  Or maybe I've been tainted by canned corned beef and don't know what the real thing is supposed to taste like.  The hash has received rave reviews from lots of other reviewers so it's possible that I'm not the best person to judge this side dish.

Astrid Sandwich - the menu stated that it came served on either rye or an onion roll, so I requested grilled rye.  I took a few quick pictures and then dug in.  The bread was already cold, not freshly grilled but other than that, it was what you'd expect - a big meaty sandwich with dressing, coleslaw, and cheese on grilled bread.  A winner, even if it wasn't named after me!

A side of chili cheese fries

Chili cheese fries - like the corned beef hash, the chili would appear to be homemade with lots of red kidney beans.  The french fries are large slices of potatoes, not fried to crispy perfection but topped with a bit of chili and cheddar cheese, the whole thing comes together very nicely in a gooey mess.  It was listed on the "Side Dish" part of the menu but it would make a filling lunch on it's own.

The eclair

Eclair - clearly, another homemade item.  This thing is huge!  The eclairs and deserts are kept in a refrigerated case near the front door.  I"m not sure if the storage case was set too low or if these are made in advance and frozen.  Our eclair was very cold and partially frozen.  It still tasted great - flaky pastry, lots of cream filling, and thick chocolate ganache topping. 

The autopsy shot of the eclair - notice the thick layer of chocolate

The bill, including a coffee, cup of cream of potato soup came, and a tip came to $24.  Way too much good food for 2 people.  We left with smiles on our faces and 3 boxes of left-overs.  I'll be back.

The Flim Flam is located in Plymouth Mall at 1707 Plymouth, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105.

Astrid