Josh isn’t with us today, on our first-ever Foreign Feature, because he thought that running a marathon was more important than driving 300 miles to eat a hamburger. But don’t worry, not eating hamburgers is its own punishment, and today we were blessed. We made our way north to Boise where one can find the Boise Fry Company, a six-location local chain which, being in Idaho, means there is one location for every 25 people.
It’s no secret that Idaho is famous for its potatoes. In fact, to an outsider, they may be the only thing that it is known for, but Idaho actually has more than just potatoes. It also has a waterfall.
However, you can’t make frog sticks out of a waterfall. And if a whole state is going to be famous for potatoes, then we are going to eat their fries. Boise Fry Company really leans into the fry specialty—in fact, part of the gimmick is that the fries are the main course and the burgers are the side. Right away, you get to choose from six different types of potato or brussels sprouts for fries. They also offer five different cuts (but not all five are always available every day). That’s thirty different types of fry before the option to add truffle salt. There is specialty fry called “The Bourgeois,” which is a russet fry cooked in duck fat with Italian truffle salt. More on that later.
Equally expansive is the BFC choice of dipping sauces. Garlic aioli, chipotle, both classic and blueberry ketchup, and sweet mustard are among the options for dressing the fries, and if we’re being honest, regular old ketchup is still the best (or fry sauce, if that’s your fancy—don’t worry, Idahoans are no stranger to our regional dip). Some of the more savory condiments went well with the earthier fry options, but the sweet ones offered little to any value aside from an adventurous trial. We tasted a variety of the fries and found that true, spud-blooded potato enthusiasts may be the only ones to truly appreciate something as off-center as purple curly fries with truffle salt.
Indeed, the strongest fries were the most “classic” and that was the bowl that emptied fastest. Homestyle or regular russet and gold are close to what you get at any other burger joint, and now we know why. They’re the best. It was fun, for all of us, to try shoestring sweet potato fries in blueberry ketchup, but ultimately they were not the kind of side you can enjoy time and again over a lifetime. Having the many colorful options turned our group dining appointment into an engaging, fun-filled tasting session. What BFC does well is emphasize that French fries are a potato product, and in most iterations, the flavor was clear and well blended with the sunflower seed oil and salt they use to deliver to us our beloved dirt apples. The unorthodox fries, as amusing as they were, can’t form the backbone of a fast food menu; however, the traditional-style fries were on par with any you’d find in their class. If I lived in Boise, I would probably get them on every visit and mess around with a red or yam fry on a rare occasion. Oh, and the gourmet fry, the Bourgeois, fried in duck fat? Very dark flavor, hard-hitting and bitter. There are people with a taste for that sort of thing. If thinking it was too strong and obscure makes me a plebeian, then point me to my village where I will work the land a simpleton the rest of my days. Perhaps I will even cultivate a potato that you and the other illuminati can fry in duck fat and cover with mushroom dust or whatever.
Oh shit! The burgers! You know what, they were good. Better than the fries, even. They undersell them by emphasizing the fries so much. These burgers were simple but the patty was thick, hearty, and oh so juicy. Fresh veggies and a fluffy bun wrapped it all up real nicely. No sog, all savor. I wouldn’t even mind if they rebranded as the Boise Burger Company: Featuring Like a Million Different Kinds of Weird Fry, because despite their obsession with fries, the “side” burger was the best part of the meal, much like Norman Reedus in the zombie show that went on way too long, or the fast kid in X-Men being the only cool part in a movie that I otherwise forgot completely. And that’s a good thing! Fries are a side for a reason! They are the perfect salty supplement to one of the most exquisite and complete foods that man has ever devised: the ground chuck sandwich. I digress. BFC. Pretty good fries, really good burgers.
Comments