Pommes Frites

This article is about the New York City restaurant. For the food item, see french fries.
Pommes Frites
Restaurant information
Established January 1997
Current owner(s) Susan Levison, Omer Shorshi
Food type French fries
City New York City
State New York
Country United States
Website http://www.pommesfritesnyc.com/

Pommes Frites was a New York City restaurant which specialized in Belgian-style french fries. The restaurant was located in the East Village at 123 2nd Avenue (near 7th Street).[1]

The restaurant famously sold only one food item: french fries, served in paper cones, with a variety of sauces to choose from.[2] Fries were prepared in the Belgian style, deep fried twice at two different temperatures.[3]

The shop was opened by Susan Levison, a Bronx native, in January 1997 after returning from a backpacking trip through the low countries.[4] (At the time of its destruction, she co-owned the restaurant with Omer Shorshi.)[4] Nine months after it opened, New York Magazine reported that there were lines outside the restaurant every day.[5] At one time, the restaurant had expanded to three locations, but by 2013 only the original location remained.[3]

On March 26, 2015, the restaurant was destroyed when the building which housed it collapsed, following a natural gas explosion.[4] No Pommes Frites customers or employees were seriously injured, although an employee and a customer of another nearby restaurant were killed.[6] The owners said that they hoped to reopen.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Sietsema, Robert (1999). Secret New York. ECW Press. p. 89. ISBN 9781550223743.
  2. ↑ Kaminsky, Peter (24 February 1997). "Hot Potatoes". New York Magazine. pp. 131,179. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sietsema, Robert (27 December 2013). "Guerre des Frites: Pommes Frites v. Newcomer La Frite". New York Eater. Vox Media. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Maslin Nir, Sarah (27 March 2015). "Owners of Restaurants Destroyed in East Village Explosion Mourn Their Losses". New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Big Dippers". New York Magazine. 27 October 1997. pp. 60–61. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Yee, Vivian, and Otterman, Sharon (29 March 2015). "Two Bodies Recovered at East Village Explosion Site". New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  7. ↑ O'Neill, Natalie (27 March 2015). "Fans mourn Pommes Frites after NYC building explosion". New York Post. Retrieved 28 March 2015.