While spending the day in NYC last weekend my girlfriend and I unexpectedly stumbled upon a Belgian fries place called Pommes Frites after leaving Toy Tokyo which is right next store. Neither of us had ever heard of the place and decided to give it a shot. Apparently it’s been featured on The Food Network as well during one of their shows, it’s been getting more attention recently so perhaps you might have heard of it.
 I saw the sign outside that read Belgian Fries but did not know what to expect. A European style fries place right here in NYC? Could it be any good? I guess I had to find out for myself. Mind you, I am no stranger to these types of fries of the dipping sauce that goes along with them, I lived in The Netherlands for 4 years of my life, during that time I have had a lot of experience with this type of food. (that's a random picture I found online, don't know who those ladies are in it)
Walking in you’ll find yourself in a tiny little place, a counter to your left and not much room to your right. In the back of the place you’ll find a few tables to sit at and another higher counter with stools for further seating. The tables and the counters have holes you put your fries into, which come in a large paper cone. At the ordering counter you’ll see a menu with a plethora of sauces to choose from. Everything from Ketchup to special combination sauces of mayo and hot sauce. How’s one to choose? I guess I’ll just need to come back and try something different next time.
I decided to stick with the basics. Frites and frite sauce, just like I used to get all the time in Holland. It might seem out of the ordinary for most Americans but over in that part of Europe it’s the standard, just like ketchup is here. It’s a sort of flavored mayonnaise, might sound strange but it’s really good. By the looks of the thing they got the sauce out of they were using authentic European sauce, not some knock off American brand,. I wonder if they even make that sort of thing. Anyway, we got our fries and proceeded to take a seat at the counter, right next to the water cooler for easy drinking access.
Ms. Girlfriend has never had this sort of thing before so I did not know what she would think of them. Lucky for me she is not a food snob and tried them quite willingly, not scrunching up her nose or being scared off at having mayo on her fries. Did she like them? Yes sirs! She enjoyed them quite a bit. Same with me. Eating them brought back memories and flavors in my mouth that I have not had in a decade. They tasted just like I remember them to taste.
This place was an excellent find. 5 cheeses for it being the first place in ten years to let me have this food that I would eat as a younger lad.
Posted by LordJezo
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Wow, I bet you never expected a title like that. Just look how original I am, I bet no one ever thought to use that phrase in reference to something besides the show. Man, I am so cool.
So there we were, two men with a mission. Was it a secret mission handed down to us from higher powers? Was it a mission that would change the fate of the world? Was it something that would be passed down in legend from generation to generation? Almost. Jason had bought a new (used) car and our mission was to drive it down (actually, it's up) a windy mountain road, a tradition carried out by people I know for years now. Whenever someone gets a new car (or motorcycle in my case) we drive it up this mountain road as an offering to God in hopes of Him bringing us good luck.
"What the hell is this guy talking about?"
Figured you would ask that so let me tell you a tale. Many years ago when I bought my first car I was given a loaner for a few days while the dealership was fixing up the one I actually wanted. Having free time and no where in particular to go a friend and I took my car for a leisurely drive around the surrounding towns. It was then we came across the legendary road that would start off a tradition that would stand the test of time. Driving up the mountain we were carefree and filled with joy. Here we were, driving around without our parents for the first time and we could go anywhere we wanted. Unfortunately that joy did not last long. We got to the end of the road and the car broke down. The sad thing would not start. Nothing was responding. Not knowing what else to do we pushed it across the street into a field and opened up the hood, which is the universal male sign up "Help me, I suck at cars". Out of nowhere a car came over the horizon and pulled up next to us.
"Hey there. We are two mechanics going to work and saw your hood up, you guys need help?"
"Um, yeah, it wont start. We are stuck"
"Oh, no problem! We'll fix it up for you"
And they did. The two Mechanics from Heaven (as they were called after this incident) got into the car, poked at a few hidden metal touch points, and viola, the car started again.
"There you go, you guys are all set. Just follow us and we'll lead you back to town."
We followed them and we did indeed get back to town but we never found out where these superb men went. There is a high angled one lane bridge to get back into town and at that bridge was where we lost these angels. They went over the bridge, we waited our turn, and when we crossed we expected to see them right in front of us, but they were gone. Perhaps they went back to where they came from, their mission had been completed and they had no further purpose on Earth that day, at least not in the form they took to help us. The Mechanics from Heaven were gone and we never got a chance to find out more about them.
Okay, that's that. Back to present time. Our boy Jason had bought a used Civic and we had to take it on the road to get it blessed. We did and we headed back home to celebrate. How did we celebrate? With beer of course, the perfect companion to driving.
Monty Python's Holy Grail. This isn't just some knock off product either, this stuff is the real deal and there is even a little notation to prove it.
How about that, eh? It's like we are part of the movie. Pretty fitting beer to drink too, it says right on the label that it's holy so I suppose that goes right along with the car blessing we did a little while earlier. So how about we try some.
 It has a nice standard beer color. Not too dark and not too light like the generic Budweisers and Coors. It had a very familiar smell to it that I could not quite place when I first smelled it. I knew I had experienced the sent before but I wasn't sure where. Jason nailed it during the taste test.. "It tasted just like Yuengling". Man, that sure did kill the mystery of the beer. It's not that Yuengling is a bad beer, it's just that it's terribly common and you can find it in any store around here for dirt cheap. Under 5 bucks a 6 pack some places. Actually, do you people have this beer around you? Please leave a comment about that, I am quite curious. It's futile though, isn't it, no one will comment besides the regular 2 or 3 who do all the time. Man, that makes me sad. So sad, in fact, that I think I will just go cry a little bit now and drink some Yuengling alone as I weep softly in my dark bedroom.
2.5 cheese. It wasn't bad, it was nice to drink on a warm humid day outside while discussing the finer things in life (women), but it wasn't too special. Instead of spending the 4 bucks a bottle on this stuff I could have spent just about the same amount for a whole lot more Yuengling.
 
Posted by LordJezo
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