Restaurant Wed May 21 2008

Small Fry Delivers Big Fries

My husband and I visited friends in Indianapolis last weekend and, frankly, we didn't expect to find anything of culinary note. I grew up in Indiana. Sweet corn season aside, it's not exactly an epicurean epicenter.

But we stumbled upon a little gem that I'm going to share with the throngs of people headed south for the Indy 500 this weekend: snag an outdoor table at the Brugge Brasserie and order the fries.

Brugge leaves diners very little choice but to order the fries: all of the snazzy copper tables have four golf-ball sized holes drilled in the middle, made specifically to prop up cones filled with golden, naked fries just begging to be dipped in one of 11 original dipping sauces: fresh herb pesto, aioli, poplar syrup and French dijon, sea salt and sherry vinegar, roasted garlic aioli, sweet chili, homemade ketchup, hot curry, horseradish, blue cheese and fresh mayonnaise.

Purists will be happy, too. The spuds themselves are perfectly fried and dusted with just the right amount of cracked pepper and salt. And the house ketchup isn't fussy; it's close enough to Heinz in flavor and texture to taste and feel like "real" ketchup, minus the technicolor red glow.

We ordered the "L'Enorme" size to split among the four of us. At $11.95, there's a bit of a cost savings versus ordering the small, or single-serve, cone for $3.95 per person. Plus, we got all 11 dipping sauces, whereas single orders come with a choice of two. The drawback is that it took us about an hour to tunnel our way to the bottom of what was essentially a dunce cap flipped upside down and filled with crispy, steaming hot fries. By that time, the fries at the bottom were rather soggy, and our guts busted, so we surrendered about a fistful of fries to the kitchen.

My recommendation is to spring for the extra buck a person and get your own cone. It's less likely to go to waste, and you won't have to fight anyone for the "best" fries.

My fellow noshers washed down their spuds with Brugge's microbrewed beers. I chose a Sauvignon Blanc and thought its crisp, citrusy flavor was the perfect foil to all the fried goodness.

- Mandy Burrell