French...fries ?

I am not a fried-food kind of person, really.

I am also not really into French people or things or food or anything really.

And yet, here I am, defying both of these statements.



Today I went to one of my (and everyone else at Macalester's) favorite hangouts, Coffee News Cafe, on Grand Avenue. With a patchy staff, unabashedly liberal clientele, proximity, and awesome food, Coffee News has reason to be what it is to Macalester students. But incredible (though deceptive?) cake display aside, their real masterpiece comes as a side: garlic french fries: homemade golden delicious, delicate fries, sprinkled with minced garlic and served next to your favorite sandwich (sliced turkey panini - pears! honey mascarpone! bacon!).

If you're like me, you probably think the "french" before the "fry" is just a stupid American invention. But you and I are wrong! French actually refers to the way the little buggers are prepared:

french, to
1. To cut a vegetable or meat lengthwise into very thin strips. Beans and potatoes are two vegetables that are commonly "frenched."
2. To cut the meat away from the end of a rib or chop, so that part of the bone is exposed.

Cool, right?
Interesting, though, because there are so many different shapes of French fries these days: shoestring, curly, thick-cut, waffle...
Not to mention the different flavors available. [Including Trader Joe's chipotle ranch - not recommended, my friends.]



Ignoring the ongoing debate of which fast food fries are superior, I put forth the idea that perhaps the best fries come not from a red or blue plasticized corporation, but from the earthy yellow, too on-beat to be off-beat Coffee News in little St. Paul, Minnesota.


-Lillie