Like politics, fries stir up deep feelings in Asheville, a kind of passion usually reserved for Duke Energy and Pat McCrory. Below are a few Ashevilleans’ takes on local fries:
- Libby de Caetani, who grew up in Iowa, tags the frites at Bouchon: “Major yum. Crispy, salty, potato-y avec les herbes de Provence.”
- Lorraine Krause — originally from Pittsburgh, so she knows fries, at least those squished on sandwiches — likes the truffle fries at Fig.
- “Table’s fries are the best anywhere,” says Asheville resident Jude Berger, originally from Cincinnati. (Don’t even ask her about Cincy’s famed chili fries.) “Just potatoes, good frying grease and salt. They need nothing except for me to eat them and go, ‘Yum, yum.’”
- Sally Cochran, a former Virginian, likes Bouchon’s pomme frites. “Thin and lavender-laced served in a silver cone — a fry taken to a different level,” says Cochran, whose childhood fries cost 15 cents at the first American fast-food restaurant, Burger Chef, now defunct.
- Chef Steven Goff of King James Pub is stumped for his favorite: “I don’t get out much — and if I did, I wouldn’t eat fries because I eat them at work, at least one from every batch.”
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