You will when you see the way local restaurants are serving them these days
By HEATHER BOUZAN | November 29, 2006
Soft and mushy, brown and crispy, spiced and curly, slightly sweet and drowned in mayonnaise — we’ve all got our favorite kind of French fries. Whether you only go upscale or you think a Burger King drive-through will suffice, you’ll surely be impressed by the range of fry varieties available in Boston — and showcased on these pages. In fact, you might never settle for regular old thin-cuts with ketchup again.
 |
Tater tots at Cambridge Common
1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.547.1228
$4.95/basket
Suzanne Schalow, general manager
What’s so special about your tater tots? They’re a dream from your childhood.
Why’d you put them on your menu? They’re comforting, and that’s kind of what we’re doing: really, really good comfort foods. More than anything else, they’re just very cool. They’re very retro-cool. And we all missed them tremendously from our childhoods as we began talking about fries one day — and we wanted them back. And we actually found them. It was quite a process. You wouldn’t believe some of the things that — food-wise, when you’re doing food buying — you have such a hard time trying to get. ‘What do you mean, you don’t have tater tots?’ Well, we have them now. We’ve put them back on the radar a little bit.
How are they prepared? They’re just deep-fried. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. That’s the key.
Do they complement anything on your menu especially well, or are they best on their own? Either way. I think people go for the baskets, go for the big share-it-as-an-appetizer, but oftentimes people get them with burgers, which is, I think, really cool as well. The sliders? You know the little mini burgers that we have? That’s my favorite way to see them, because I love the sliders so much, which are also sort of retro. I think a plate of four little mini hamburgers and tater tots, it brings out the kid in me. I smile when I see one go by, and I think, “Oh, now thatis where it is.” |
Sweet-potato fries at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage
1246 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.354.6559
$3.49/small; $4.99/large
Karen O’Shea, manager
What’s so special about your sweet-potato fries? They’re hand-cut. We make them everyday. We cook them to order, so they’re fresh, fresh, fresh.
Why’d you put them on your menu? I’ve been here for 15 years, so I think we’ve had them on for about 20 years. Mr. B. was way ahead of the curve on that. He thought that they offered something that other restaurants don’t have. They’re a little healthier, too.
Do they complement anything on your menu especially well, or are they best served on their own? They come with some of our burgers, but you can also get them with something else. Typically, we get them as an appetizer.
Which burgers are they best with? They come with the Manny Ramirez, which is blue cheese and hot sauce, and the John McCain, actually. That’s pretty popular. That’s a pizza burger with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. How are they prepared? We cut them in the morning, and then we cook them to order. They’re pretty simple. In the deep-fryer.
Related:
Drunk munchies, The Village Kitchen, Whole Foods on the cheap?, More 
- Drunk munchies
I have a drinking problem.
- The Village Kitchen
The vibe at this tiny Huron Village café may be laid-back, but there’s nothing unceremonious about the food.
- Whole Foods on the cheap?
I recently had nightmares of losing my twenty spot the moment I enter the store.
- Uburger
From a distance, it’s hard to tell if Uburger — the new hamburger joint in Kenmore Square — is even open yet.
- Wrap it up
As the economy slides into recession it is time we started to think more seriously about the sandwich.
- Fat Belly’s Pub
Where does it say that a steak in a sports bar has to chew like a slab of pigskin?
- Temple Downtown
When plans were made to convert the abandoned shell of the Masonic Temple into the upscale Renaissance Hotel, what chance was there that a restaurant in the basement would be, well, adorably funky?
- Zaps
Certain convenience foods carry negative associations from my youth. I can't look at most toaster-oven snacks since my college days, when my buddy Joe subsisted on "pizzas" crafted from English muffins, Prego, and Velveeta.
- Nick's on Broadway
When we drove up to the relocated Nick’s last week, nostalgia hit hard.
- Cask ’n Flagon
Planted in the shadow of the Green Monster, the Cask ’n Flagon has long been the spot where you can fill up on cheap beer and testosterone before heading into Fenway Park.
- Italian Corner
Italian Corner offers gourmet grinders every day, but from 5:30 to 8:30 on Saturday nights — and Friday nights, come August — proprietor Osvaldo Pirrò comes out of retirement as a master chef (Golden Fork Award and all) — to provide dinner.
- Less
Topics:
Features
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Cheese, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Cheese, Foods, Fruits and Vegetables, Ethnic Cuisines, Meat, Italian Food and Cooking, Barbecuing and Grilling, AL East Division, Less
