POMMES FRITES
7/10/2016
• 128 Macdougal Street
• New York, NY 18812
• (212) 674-1234 •
Once upon a time, there was a quint little East Village french (Belgian) fries place called Pommes Frites. Then the building it called home blew up. Pommes Frites, understandably, had to close. Thankfully for many of us who enjoy deep fried potato sticks and hearty sauces, the hiatus only lasted a year and now we find it in the West Village, on Macdougal street, smack at the crossroads of NYU drunkard territory and stoner hippydom. I think they found gold.
The new location is small, with literally only three tables and a ledge at the wall for which one may stand to nosh. Still, this space is double the size of the old one. Decked out with a Tudor wall on one side and a stone wall decorated by stained glass and torches on the other, you can almost imagine that you're eating in a narrow European alley. All that's needed to take you back to the good old days is someone pushing a plague cart.
As I mentioned, Pommes Frites serves fries, and they serve them in three sizes: regular (which is large), large (which is larger) , and double (which is largerer). If you just want ketchup or whatever, then all you pay for is your huge cone of potato sticks. The thing is, there are over thirty sauces to choose from, and you can soak your fries in malt vinegar anywhere. The whole point is to try something new. So I tried five.
On my first trip I tried the Irish Curry sauce and the Sweet Mango Chutney. The Irish curry sauce was rich and spicy (but not hot) and smooth. Meanwhile the mango chutney was light and fruity. Come my second trip, I tried three of my round one runners up. The weakest of the three was the Bordeaux Wine, Fig, and Sage Mayo. While the name certainly gives it an air of opulence, there wasn't a whole lot of there there. It was good, but extremely mild, bordering on dull. The War Sauce (made from mayo, peanut satay sauce, and diced onion) was interesting, but a little less mayo and a little more peanut would have been preferred. The Wild Mushroom Mayo, was the best. It was rich and filled with flavor. If you're like my brother and dislike anything mushroom or mushroom related, then I'd skip this. But if you're me, then I highly recommend it.
Ordering a bite for yourself, expect to shell out about $5 for a regular sized cone of fries. The sauces are either an extra $1.50 for one, or $3.25 for a sampling of three. You should expect to leave with your belt one notch wider.
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