"Best French Fries" Food Truck: Belgian-Style Chips

Nicole Danna October 1, 2012 9:04AM

Lake Worth resident Debbie Harris didn't name her food truck Best French Fries for nothing. She's pretty sure the fries served from her food truck -- which hit Palm Beach County streets late September -- are some of the best around.

Why? Harris isn't serving your typical fries. She's making "chips," the European counterpart to our Americanized fast-food version.

Harris' obsession with finding the perfect fries began a few years ago during a trip overseas to visit her British-born husband's family and friends.

"We were all over [Europe], and had so much good food, but we just fell in love with the fries," Harris told Clean Plate Charlie during a recent interview.

Specifically, Beligan frites -- unofficially the small country's favorite food, served from more than 4,000 stands or carts known as chipperies, frietkots, or frituuren found almost almost everywhere you could think to put a fryer.

Turns out the Belgians really love their fries -- so much so they even have a museum dedicated to the chip and a National Association of Chipmakers, a 1,500-member professional team of chip-friers. With so many chips to sample, Harris started thinking "how popular these European frites -- which are served in paper cones with as many as 30 different dipping sauces -- could be here in the U.S."

So what makes European chips different from American fries?

According to Harris, a double-fry process that ensures the chip is "really crispy and crunchy on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside." The Belgians have a special two-step system for cooking bintjes potato (a slightly floury variety of potato), beginning with soaking thick, hand-cut slices of potato in water for several hours, then drying. Next, a quick dip in a hot fryer before removing to drain and cool. Only when an order is placed are they given a second dip in super-hot oil (typically a vegetable oil or beef fat for added flavor) before being served in a paper cone with a choice of specialty dipping sauces.

To replicate the process stateside, Harris decided to go the way of the truck, outfitting a used model with three fryers and a convection oven. She starts by hand-cutting Yukon Gold potatoes -- as well as sweet potato and yucca -- into thick strips. After a quick dip in corn oil, the fries are drained and cooled.

Place an order and Harris gives your frites a second fry, then serves them in her own custom-made, cone-shaped container designed to hold any four of her more than 20 housemade dipping sauces. They can also be ordered twice-baked, and all orders come with your choice of two dipping sauces, as well as the option to "mix" for those who want a taste of all three fries. The cost: about $4-$6 depending on how many added 50-cent sauces you request.

We couldn't help but notice Best French Fries "dessert" cone, served funnel-cake style with plenty of powdered sugar alongside a gooey marshmallow sauce and chocolate syrup. But are they the best? You'll have to take your own taste-test and find out!

To find Best French Fries next serving station, be sure to check the food truck's Facebook page, or follow their Twitter feed.

Follow @ CleanPlateBPB

I support

Local

Community

Journalism

Support the independent voice of South Florida and help keep the future of New Times free.

Support Us

KEEP NEW TIMES BROWARD-PALM BEACH FREE... Since we started New Times Broward-Palm Beach, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of South Florida, and we'd like to keep it that way. With local media under siege, it's more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" program, allowing us to keep offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food and culture with no paywalls.

Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1.

Nicole Danna is a Palm Beach County-based reporter who began covering the South Florida food scene for New Times in 2011. She also loves drinking beer and writing about the area's growing craft beer community.

Contact: Nicole Danna

Follow:

Twitter: @SoFloNicole

Instagram: @soflo_nicole