Sweet Potato Fries at Fredhots and Fries in Chicago
Contrary to popular belief, not all weird game meat tastes like chicken. Sometime it tastes like cow. Exhibit A: the reindeer sausage at Chicago’s wacky suburban sausage emporium Fredhots and Fries.
A couple of years ago, owner Fred Markoff introduced an Alaskan reindeer sausage topped with grilled onion and mustard, Maxwell polish-style (a polish sausage in lieu of the reindeer makes it a classic Maxwell). As with most extreme food related ideas, say Kobayashi throwing down 40 pounds of encased animal parts at the Nathan’s Famous dog contest, burning folks' tastebuds off with the hottest wings ever, or deep-frying Twinkies, the media stumbled over themselves to cover the moment. There was a whole spate of twisted fathers scarring their small children by lauding the fact that they just ate Rudolph.
But, as is usually the case (save the deep-fried Twinkie) the whole brouhaha was much ado about nothing. While the dog was good (I finally got around to trying the thing last week), it was relatively beefy and nondescript, and at $8.50 you’re wallet would be better off with a classic Windy City salad dog.
There are lots of other good things at Fredhots, but I think someone really should have covered the sweet potato fries: carrot-orange, crispy, thick stalks of yammy goodness dusted with sweet maple syrup and cinnamon spice. All other comers for me in Chicago have generally been overfried, limp, underseasoned, too crispy, and two thin. Weighing in at about half steak-cut thickness, with a crispy outside and pillowy inside, I've found a winner. Even the maple and cinnamon spice, which had the potential to be gritty and artificial tasted mellow, rich, and a blended part of the fry. And, more importantly, they decidedly tasted like neither cow, nor chicken.
Fredhots and Fries
1707 Chestnut Avenue, Glenview IL 60025 (map)
847-657-9200
fredhots.com
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8 Comments:
This place is definitely on my "to-go-to" list. I work very close to it and still have never been! I'm kind of afraid of the random meat, I'm not going to lie.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 11:10AM on 01/08/09
oooh those sweet potato fries sound and look so good.
juliebugsmama at 11:27AM on 01/08/09
I'm on my way in the next day or two. Yum!
iahawk89 at 11:53AM on 01/08/09
wow these look absolutely incredible! YUMMM
GrabTrees at 1:19PM on 01/08/09
Those look amazing!
I have had some amazing Sweet Potato Fries in SF @ Pacific Catch....they served it with this creamy wasabi sauce...amazing!
tambybear at 3:18PM on 01/08/09
Sweet potato piefries.. yum.. thats pretty good.. although i love the regular fries better
MrChow at 3:22PM on 01/08/09
Heh, I remember happily humming "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" when served Reindeer sausage in Alaska a few years ago.
chanterelle at 9:41PM on 01/08/09
The regular fries here are fantastic. Unfortunately, Glenview's quite a hike for us....but I'm glad to see it getting a mention! It really deserves to thrive; maybe then it'll move to larger quarters (it's TINY now). Oh, and they do foie gras sausage, too, which is fantastic.
missalthumper at 9:56AM on 01/11/09