It seems these days, fried chicken sandwiches are all the rage.

“There’s a lot of talk about the best chicken sandwiches out there these days. Come try ours and tell me it’s not the best one you’ve ever had.”

“It’s got to be crispy, juicy, breaded to order, fried to order. It’s pretty simple to do, but it’s difficult same time.”

And with just one bite, you’ll absolutely flip for Flip the Bird.

Located in Beverly, Massachusetts, Flip the Bird is a fast casual concept with a cult like following for their amazing fried chicken sandwiches.   And while the name may sound fresh, it’s actually quite innocent.

“Our mascot is named Flip.  You’ll see him on the neon sign.   His name is Flip and he is a bird.   That’s where Flip the Bird comes from.”

Anthony Marino and Torie Farnsworth are the couple behind the bird, cutting, dredging and frying each sandwich to order.

“We sell a bomb chicken sandwich.”

“Our chicken is buttermilk brined.  Then we put it in our dredge of flour.   Whenever a ticket comes in to order, we’ll bread it.  Shake a little off.  Fry it and we’ll send it out.”

“Our fried chicken sandwich  comes out hot, crunchy, juicy when you bite into it. The sauce is perfectly well balanced….The roll is super crunchy. We grill it with butter every single time to order. Between the chicken the bun and then the condiments and the toppings that we make from scratch.  It’s the perfect chicken sandwich.”

In fact, Anthony’s been perfecting this sandwich for years.

“This is a recipe that he’s been working on for a really long time.  And what he’s come up with is it’s going to make us famous. The colonel better watch out because Anthony’s coming for him.”

And the customers are coming for him too, with a line that usually starts the second they open.

“It’s fine dining done fast food.  We specifically do not have a phone line so that that line can move as fast as possible. We get ticket times out as fast as six minutes. Get you in and out of here.”

The menu at Flip the Bird is very straight forward, with a selection of toppings for every appetite.

There’s the OG- the first sandwich Anthony came up with.

“The OG is the original gangster and that kind of started it all.   It’s just a piece of buttermilk fried chicken with our homemade buttermilk ranch dressing. And we get fresh herbs in there and just half sour pickles.”

“You get a crunch. You get the tang and the dill from the ranch and the half sour pickles.You got to just come down and try it.”

If you’re into spicy, try the Nashville hot, topped with Bayou sauce, spicy relish and what they call shredduce.

“Shredduce.  Shredded lettuce.  We don’t have time in there to talk. We got to shorten things as much as we can.”

Or opt for the Angry Bird, a habenero spiced chicken topped with slaw, pickled peppers and spicy remoulade.

“It’s spicy.  It’s got a kick.  It packs a punch.  It will make you sweat it’ll make you kind of almost not regret ordering it because it’s delicious but it if you like heat that’s the one for you.”

If you prefer something more mild, opt for the PCH topped with avocado mash, bacon and apple fennel slaw.

Or the sink your teeth into the Early Bird.

“The Early Bird is our version of kinda like a breakfast sandwich has our honey butter on it and then on top of the piece of chicken we do a sunny side egg.The yolk is nice and runny so when you bite into that you get that wow factor.”

If you want to customize your sandwich, the Flip the Bird folks offer some fun options.

“Any sandwich that you can order on the menu, you can do some fun stuff with them.”

“The flip the bird is you can add a sunny side egg to any piece of chicken.”

“Mind your biscuits is our you can get any one of our sandwiches on a buttermilk biscuit instead of a potato roll. “

“The Hound which is a play on Game of Thrones…That is two pieces of chicken on top.”

“So extra is my personal favorite, where you can get it dramatically dripping with any type of dressing that we offer.”

And then there’s the Bad Naked.

“Bad naked is our grilled option.  You can order any one of the sandwiches that’s listed bad naked and get grilled.”

And while the staff is always accommodating, you may get some eye rolls when ordering.

“It’s a turn off. I mean, you’re at a fried chicken place for god sakes get a fried chicken sandwich.”

Other options besides the fried chicken sandwiches include baby ribs slathered in a housemade sauce.

Something called Angry Fries topped with shredded rib meat, dusted with a habenero rub and drenched in spicy bbq sauce.  And Torie’s own housemade buttermilk biscuits.

“I make the biscuits. We cut it all ahead of time and keep it in the fridge ready to go.   Dump it in the bowl.  Now I’m going to add buttermilk.  You never want to overwork your dough.  Just going to flop this down like this.  Fold it over.  Now I’m ready to roll.  And now we cut.  See all those layers.   So when this bakes it’s going to go. It goes pooooof.  It will blow right up. The butter actually activates these pockets after the butter starts to melt and that’s when you get your fluffly light dough on the inside.”

And if a biscuit it too big for your appetite, try a mini.

They’re very munchable. You can eat him in the car, They’re mini so you don’t feel bad eating six of them.

And you won’t feel bad when you’re leaving Flip the Bird because from start to finish, the experience is mother cluckin’ great.

“I think people should come here to definitely try our fried chicken sandwiches. But also just to see what else we can offer and see our our incredible staff everyday making everything from scratch to order.  It’s something to see.  It’s an atmosphere. It’s a culture that we’re creating here. People come just to hang out with our staff because they’re so fun. And they they love our customers.