THE OFFP Reviews:
Belgian Fries, New York City
One of Our 10 Best Picks
for USA Today
(and Why We Picked 'Em)
| td>
While New York City is filled with restaurants of almost every kind, many of which serve French Fries of one kind or another and of varying quality, there has never been what Europeans call a "Fritteshop" or "Chip Shop" or something similar. Or so we thought.
We were looking through some local rag here in the city when we noticed a blurb about a new Belgian Fries shop that was supposed to be the hottest new place in the East Village. Coincidentally, representatives of select ware, inc. were literally around the corner in the St. Mark's Ale House. Always ready to investigate French Fry claims and set the record straight, we put down our appetizer (Schneider Weisse) and left to check out the place. To our amazement, the Fries (certainly more Belgian than French) met and exceeded all our expectations. |
Could they impress us before we'd had a couple beers?
Travel Receipt |
On Wednesday we looked in the French Fry Research Fund and found $1.14. Undaunted, we managed to scrounge up a few dollars (begged and borrowed, mainly) to make the pilgrimage back to this not-very-well-kept secret and waited to catch none other than the BossLady herself (who wasn't there when we arrived). We started taking a few surveillance photos: | 
Travel Receipt |
Raya takes order |
Raya pulls from the shock fry |
Aner drains a serving |
In came BossLady herself, Suzanne Levinson, proprieter of Belgian Fries. We cornered her and started the questioning immediately, sticking to her like salt on Fries.
| OFFP: | How old were you when you first ate French Fries? |
"You really want me to answer these questions?"
|
| SL: | (Stalls) Umm... I was a kid. Every kid eats McDonald's fries. | |
| OFFP: | When and where did you first eat European French Fries? | |
| SL: | I was studying in Italy when I was 22 and we went to Amsterdam | |
| OFFP: | And what condiment did you have? | |
| SL: | "Mayo, of course, which is like our Fritessaus. | |
| OFFP: | Are you Belgian? | |
| SL: | "No." | |
| OFFP: | Can you speak Flemish? | |
| SL: | No. | |
| OFFP: | Walloon? | |
| SL: | No. | |
| OFFP: | Are you French? | |
| SL: | No. | |
| OFFP: | Where are you from, then? | |
| SL: | The Bronx. | |
| OFFP: | So why a Belgian Friteshop? | |
| SL: | Well we really don't need more boardwalk fries (laughs and interjects, "Don't print that! My Friends in Baltimore will kill me!").
A Belgian Fritteur can't be found in the US and Belgium is a gastronomical center; The Friteshops are a national fixture. |
|
| OFFP: | But why in New York City? | |
| SL: | The US is addicted to French Fries -- about 6 million punds a year. And the specialty shop worked with coffee and pretzels, so why not French Fries? | |
| OFFP: | Do you still eat French Fries? | |
| SL: | Every day. | |
| OFFP: | What do you eat when you don't eat French Fries? | |
| SL: | Umm... beer? | |
| OFFP: | Are you tired of French Fries? | |
| SL: | Not yet! |
This shop gained almost instant popularity and in the last week of January was written up in every New York City publication, including the New York Times, Village Voice, Daily News, Newsday, Time Out (NY) and more. All in the same week -- proof that The Media feeds off itself and operates without comprehenion of the word "originality." Good thing we're not a part of The Media... yet.b>
When asked about these articles, Suzanne didn't have much to say, so we went for the throat:
| OFFP: | "What was the best review you got?" |
"Some lucky Yukon Golds await their destiny..." |
| SL: | (pauses) I'm not sure. | |
| OFFP: | The Worst? | |
| SL: | All the reviews were good... Well, the (NY) Daily News said that people should "get the condiments on the side." | |
| OFFP: | Which review seemed to bring in the most customers? | |
| SL: | The New York Times. | |
| OFFP: | What was the dumbest question (besides ours) that you had to answer? | |
| SL: | None, that I can think of. But one photographer from a newspaper I WILL NOT name kept insisting that we put ketchup on the cone of Fries. I kept explaining, "No, it should be the Fritessaus," but this person just couldn't grasp the concept. |
- During our discussion, Suzanne let slip that she knew about the Official French Fries Pages. It seems she'd not only seen and enjoyed them (who wouldn't?), but actually used them for a report:
- "I had to present a 60-page Business Plan to the Bank, and I got some of the information from the Official French Fries Pages."
- Would she be willing to cut us in on the deal, then?
- "I don't think so."
C'est la pomme-de-terre.
Wanna know how Suzanne makes her Fries? So did we!
Just go to the How She Does It page.
We also ran these Belgian Fries through the Select Ware Laboratories rigorous testing procedures.
Suzanne imports the Fritessaus (a mustardy mayo straight from the northern European lowlands), some of the tools -- the strainers, the shakers -- as well as the paper cones which are specially designed to keep your hands from getting greasy. Big thumbs up to that!
Would she import the little wooden, 3-tined French Fry forks too, or would she stick with the American 2-tined forks? "Importing those would be going too far." Maybe so, but without going "too far," these pages would never exist, Suzanne might never have been able to research the business proposal, and she could just be some girl from the Bronx hanging out, longing for the taste of good French Fries like the rest of us.
 |
The Official French Fries Pages hereby gives two thumbs up to Belgian Fries 123 2nd Ave. (between 7 & 8 Sts.) New York City, NY 10003 212-674-1234 |
 |
Show me some more Reviews
