The Pop Shop Cheesy Poetry Contest

From The Pop Shop in Collingswood, New Jersey:

Cheesy Poetry Contest - Enter today!

April is National Grilled Cheese month and The Pop Shop - with over 30 grilled cheese variations on its menu - is the place to celebrate! Along with being National Grilled Cheese Month, April is also National Poetry Month. The Pop Shop loves both, so we're hosting our fourth annual Pop Shop Poetry Contest.

We're looking for great poems, limericks or haikus about something Pop Shop related. The winning bards - one child and one adult - will each receive a free T-shirt and a gift certificate for a free lunch.

To enter, e-mail The Pop Shop or snail mail your entry to:

The Pop Shop Contest
729 Haddon Avenue
Collingswood, NJ 08108

The deadline is April 26, 2010. Winners will be named on May 4 in a ceremony at The Pop Shop.

Click here to see poems from last year's contest.

And don't forget that Pop Shop fries go great with Pop Shop grilled cheese!

French Fry Diary 18: The Pop Shop

Owned and run by friends of the family Stink Fisher and his wife Connie, The Pop Shop is the gem and highlight of the upper class Collingswood NJ neighborhood.

The Fishers set out to re-create a classic 1950s malt shop and succeeded many times over with this wonderful meeting place and restaurant. The Pop Shop is a destination for my family and friends on many occasions including weekend breakfasts when guests are in town and sometimes on regular Monday night trivia competitions that are always a blast.

Breakfast served all day and the ice cream and dessert menu, as well as the fantastic selection of grilled cheese sandwiches are the prizes of the food fare presented at the Pop Shop, as are the activities and events all week long, but for our purposes we’ll be concentrating on the favorite fried food.

French fries at the Pop Shop are something to behold. From their menu: Our fries are awesome! We make them ourselves - every single one. Home-made spicy ketchup available upon request or you can have Heinz, if you’re a purist.

So even the ketchup is special. The Pop Shop Fries are always natural cuts, made fresh and cooked to order. Always served hot and delicious, and in more than generous portions, if you get them plain, they will be the best part of your meal for the French fry aficionado, but that’s not all. There are several different variations at the Pop Shop.

You can get them with Old Bay seasoning, brown gravy, cheddar, mozzarella, Jack, tomato sauce, jalopeno peppers and onions, chili of the day, bacon, Cajun spices and also with a remoulade sauce. Each particular combination has its own name and hometown flavor. I told you these just aren’t any fries.

The Pop Shop Fries are highly recommended, as is the entire restaurant. Check them out here.


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Poetry and Cheese

On topic because The Pop Shop in Collingswood, NJ has terrific fries, that are suitable for both cheese and poetry...

The Pop Shop Cheesy Poetry Contest

Enter today!

April is National Grilled Cheese month and The Pop Shop, with over 30 grilled cheese variations on its menu, is the place to celebrate! Along with being National Grilled Cheese Month, April is also National Poetry Month. The Pop Shop loves both, so we're hosting our fourth annual Pop Shop Poetry Contest.

We're looking for great poems, limericks or haikus about something Pop Shop related. The winning bards - one child and one adult - will each receive a free T-shirt and a gift certificate for a free lunch.

To enter, e-mail thepopshopcafe@aol.com or mail your entry to:

The Pop Shop Contest
729 Haddon Avenue
Collingswood, NJ 08108

The deadline is April 22, 2009. Winners will be named on April 28 in a ceremony at The Pop Shop.

See below for poems from previous years' contests:

http://www.thepopshopusa.com/specialevents/2008poetrycontest.html
http://www.thepopshopusa.com/specialevents/2007poetrycontest.html
http://www.thepopshopusa.com/specialevents/2006poetrycontest.html

French Fry Diary 733: The Fries of the Camden Comic Con

Now I've talked before about how French fries and comic cons don't go together, the idea of collectible paper and grease mixing, even though they entail two things I love - comics and fries - are simply not compatible.

Now at this year's Camden Comic Con things were a bit different.  This year outside the con there was an awesome assemblage of food trucks, and it should be noted that as a podcaster at a table, it's not as easy to mix the two elements as it is for a attendee walking around with a bag full of comics.  We were free to sample the wares of the food trucks and record our reactions for both French Fry Diary and The GAR! Podcast. 

Outside the Convention there were three food trucks serving the needs of the event - My Four Sons, Wahlburgers, and family friends The Pop Shop in their new food truck, The Pop Shop aGoGo!, I love that name.  My co-host Ray Cornwall and I had planned ahead of time to have lunch 'on air' in a special FFD segment to try each of their fries. 

Wahlburgers was a major disappointment.  First because I was looking forward to trying their stuff, as they had already escaped me once, opening in Philadelphia a mere week after we had moved to Florida.  And now at the con, their food truck came only prepared to deliver tater tots, and not fries.  When one of the other two food truck choices has some of the best fries in the South Jersey area - Pop Fries - we skipped Wahlburgers completely, their loss. 

While I chatted comics with my friend Robert Repici, Ray went to lunch, and The Bride got my lunch from The Pop Shop aGoGo.  For herself, she got the buffalo chicken fries, and for me a burger and those great Pop Fries.  Now here's the difference between Wahlburgers and The Pop Shop - burgers weren't on the menu, but family friend Stink Fisher, who was running the truck, made me one special anyway.  That's why The Pop Shop rocks.  Thanks, Stink, you rule!

Friends Jeff Milliman and Jessy Lukens, who sat in with the recording, also happily partook from The Pop Shop aGoGo.  Ray on the other hand, got his lunch from the My Four Sons, including kimchi fries.  I did not try them.  I'm not sure if it was how they looked, whether I was already full from The Pop Shop, or if it was the conversation we'd had earlier about what the word kimchi really means - but I just wasn't brave enough. 

Looking at the My Four Sons menu however, I wish I had known about, and ordered their Tornado Potato, always wanted to try one of those.  Maybe next time, and maybe next time Wahlburgers will bring their fry game. 

For those not familiar, The GAR! Podcast is the Glenn Walker and Ray Cornwall weekly podcast where they talk unrehearsed about whatever happens to come to mind. It's an audio-zine for your mind, a nerd exploration of a nerd world, coming to you from the suburbs of New Jersey and the sunny lakes of Florida via Skype.

GAR!163: Lunch at the Camden Comic Con, the episode in question was recorded live at this year's Camden Comic Con and also features discussion with the mythical David Lisa, Janel Miller, Robert, Jeff, Jessy, The Bride, Ray, and myself talking comics, libraries, malls, and yes, the favorite fried food.

You can listen here. Enjoy!

French Fry Diary 350: The Pop Shop 2012

I love the Pop Shop in Collingswood NJ, but that's probably evident to regular readers and eaters here at French Fry Diary. I love the Pop Shop for their fries, their great food and service, and not just because The Bride used to babysit the owner - yeah, I went there. We go there all the time with family and friends, and that's what it's all about - just a terrific restaurant for family and friends, and food.

I haven't written about them for a while and felt it was time to remind folks, and inform new folks how really cool a place the Pop Shop Cafe & Creamery is.

Our latest visit was with The Bride, her folks and two friends from out of town. We had intended breakfast on a late Sunday morning but, as usual, the place was packed. I think at one point there were as many folks waiting as there were sitting, but it moved rather quickly. Business is good, but business is always good because the food and service are so terrific. We had a bit of a wait - Sunday mornings are always busy - but eventually we were seated, and it was so worth it. As always.

It was close to noon though after the wait. Now I had a choice to make as breakfast is always served at the Pop Shop. I could get the deviously decadent Cinnamon Bun French Toast or my usual Deluxe Burger Platter. While the former is wonderful, I decided to be good and get the burger.

The Pop Shop burgers are always terrific and the Deluxe Platter comes with the Pop Fries, great natural cuts that are perfectly crispy and hot. They come in a variety of styles (Maryland, Gravy, Whiz, Mozzarella Pizza, Louisiana, Spicy, Chili Cheese and Collingswood - mostly toppings on their already amazing fries), but I'm a purist, I like the regular fries. I hadn't had them in a bit so they were extra good.

The Bride got breakfast, and those are her home fries with cheese in the pic. Mmmm... cheese... One of our friends, Deb, on the other hand, put sour cream on hers. To each their own, I suppose.

Another great meal was had with family and friends. I have to give you one warning though, folks, Collingswood now has 24/7 parking meters. Sad to have to interrupt your meal to feed the meter, and it's a hefty price, but for the Pop Shop it is sooo worth it.

French Fry Diary 675: The Pop Shop, Medford NJ

Divorce is a terrible thing, truly it's a tragedy, but sometimes, just sometimes, something good can come out of it. For the foodies of South Jersey, divorce in the family of one of my favorite restaurants - The Pop Shop - has resulted in two Pop Shops. This was my first visit to the new one in Medford. The building used to be an old bank, but the Pop Shop has really revamped it, but there's still a giant safe in the middle of the restaurant. Kinda cool, kinda kitschy, I like it.

The Bride and a friend visiting from out of town, Lisa, decided to go there for dinner on a recent weeknight. I was excited, as it had been almost four years since I had dinner or lunch there. Usually when we go to the Pop Shop, the agenda is breakfast, not that I mind breakfast (it's really great there, and served all day), but I prefer their lunch/dinner.

I like the new venue in Medford, an older two-story building that seems very open and welcoming. There's even an elevator and ramp for handicapped folks. I also liked the new Pop Shop shirts the employees were wearing that said either "fries with that shake?" or "got 08055?" Guess which one I liked best?

As I hadn't had it in a while, and it's what I wanted, I got the burger and fries. I was surprised by the small differences when my order arrived. I'm not sure if they're because of the time lapsed since last I visited or the different venue, but it was different. First off, the burger was big, juicy, and perfect, but not on a sesame seed bun as expected. No worries, it still rocked, and thankfully it made up for the fries.

More changes came with the fries. Rather than natural cut regular cuts, these Pop Fries were natural cut shoestrings. Ordinarily I would say that's a level up, as natural cut shoestrings are a rarity and hold a crisp very well, but that was not the case here at all. These fries were a little underdone and soggy, not good. Our friend Lisa had ordered the Parmesan Garlic Fries, simple and quite tasty, but they were done and crispy, nearly perfect. Based on the fries I saw on nearby tables, mine were sadly the exception - the other fries looked awesome.

For dessert (as always, with so much food, it's rare we order dessert at the Pop Shop) The Bride and I went decadent and split a Shakin' Bacon - a breakfast milkshake in a Mason jar with vanilla ice cream, pancake syrup, and crispy bacon. Pretty tasty, but it was a little weird having bits of bacon come up through the straw - still very good.

The power mysteriously flickered off and on a few times, but all in all it was a fun night out with friends. I look forward to visiting again to verify my faith in the Pop Fries. Highly recommended.

Free Fries for Election Day

Even though I have moved a thousand miles away, I still miss, and love, The Pop Shop. One of the places I will be sure to visit when I come back to New Jersey will be The Pop Shop.

For Election Day, for all you folks in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, The Pop Shop is doing something special. Show them your "I Voted" sticker on Election Day, and you'll get a free Deluxe Pop Fries with any purchase of $6.00 or more. Awesome!

So get out there and vote, then stop by The Pop Shop for some of the best fries in the area!

French Fry Diary #387: Pop Shop Pancake Fries

The family and I visited the Pop Shop for breakfast this past weekend and I was surprised to find one new item on the menu in particular - Pancake Fries!

They are described in the menu like this: "Our fresh made Bettys, cut into strips, deep fried, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and served with cinnamon cream cheese for dipping."

The Pancake Fries are wonderfully presented in a paper cone and fry holder, with the aforementioned cream cheese in one side dipping cup holder, and pancake syrup in the other.

Not only did they give the illusion of looking just like the Pop Shop's great Pop Fries, they were delicious. A crunchy pancake delight, just another of the so many reasons to go to the Pop Shop for breakfast!

French Fry Diary 155: The Pop Shop, Breakfast

I have talked about the Pop Shop before and how it's one of my favorite restaurants in the area. Of course, until very recently I was not a big fan of their breakfast, preferring instead their lunch and dinner fare, which feature those fantastic Pop Fries of theirs.

One very decadent but highly addictive new menu item has brought me around to their breakfast offerings - the Cinnamon Bun French Toast. Oh yeah, baby, just imagine it. Trust me, it the best thing you will ever taste for breakfast that doesn't include the favorite fried food. This is a breakfast item to die for. I can't recommend this enough. It's a masterpiece.

Now of course, while you're at the Pop Shop for breakfast, you might as well have some of their home fries as well. These shredded potatoes are lightly fried with salt and pepper and sometimes in need of a bit more seasoning, but keep in mind they can be cooked to order and you can season them yourself. I always like my shreddeds a bit well done and they will do it if you ask. They go great with bacon, and bacon at the Pop Shop is always perfect.

The bacon, the home fries, and the Cinnamon Bun French Toast are a killer combination and always a terrific breakfast. Check it out.

French Fry Diary 58: Phillies Phever Grilled Cheese

Here in South Jersey we are in the midst of Phillies fever with the Philadelphia Phillies scheduled to play the first game of the World Series against the New York Yankees tonight. In celebration of our team making it, local fry favorite the Pop Shop in Collingswood has a new sandwich that will make any Phils fan drool.

The Phillies Phever Grilled Cheese is, according to the Pop Shop, "a four decker grilled cheese (because we're going to take the series in 4 games) on a split Philly soft pretzels (fresh from South Philly) with alternating layers of hand-carved Philly-style beef, Cheese Whiz (it's so Philly!), and crispy onions rings (symbolizing the World Series Rings our Phils will receive) and topped with hot horseradish sauce (commemorating our smokin' hot team). It's accompanied by Phillie Phries!"

Mmmm... Pop Shop fries...

The Pop Shop is busy this week for the Phils. Not only do they have a special "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" sundae (ice cream being the other thing they do best besides fries and grilled cheese) but they will also have the games playing all through the Series so you can eat while you cheer on the Phillies.

And as an added bonus, if you come by 9:45 to 11 Thursday morning, Fox 29 will be on hand filming live. Don’t forget to wear your Phillies red. They’ll also be giving out samples of the soon-to-be-famous Phillies Phever Grilled Cheese. And don’t forget the fries!

French Fry Diary 621: Phily Diner

I recently talked about afterparties over at Biff Bam Pop!, ones that go horribly horribly wrong. This entry here is about one much less sinister, or depending on your health outlook, maybe just as bad. We are talking about French fries, after all.

The South Jersey Writers' Group has their official meeting once a month and afterward some of the members get together for an afterparty of sorts at a nearby bar or restaurant, more for pleasure than business, just to talk shop casually, or not. It's just fun, and we also wanted to celebrate a little, friend and Biff Bam Pop! colleague Marie Gilbert had just released her book, Roof Oasis. We had exhausted our welcome and our tolerance of the nearby Applebee's, and Rexy's Bar stopped serving food after a certain time, so we had been looking for somewhere new, and someone suggested the Phily Diner.

The Phily Diner is a cross between a loud sports bar and a typical Jersey diner, and no matter where you look, it's as if neon exploded in there. Sports bar and neon aside, there are still a few of those creepy life-size chef statues around the place to prove it's still a tacky Jersey diner. And remember those fresh off the mimeograph papers we had waaay back in grade school? We even had a couple menus like that. 

The place was surprisingly crowded and loud for a Thursday night. But that being said, we had also retreated from Applebee's because it too was too noisy. One can only surmise that Thursday is party night in Bellmawr and Runnemede. Perhaps because of the crowd and the noise, the service was painfully slow. And when I say slow, I mean sloooooow.

Everyone wanted to help me write the review so potato products were gotten by almost all. Amy Holiday wanted to compare the Phily's Chesapeake fries to the Pop Shop's Louisiana fries. I didn't think there'd be any comparison, as the Pop Shop is the best. They were heavily seasoned waffle fries with white cheddar cheese on the side. A little greasy but very good hot and Amy said they were better with the cheese.

Janice Wilson got the potato skins, very tasty looking half-potatoes well cooked with generous bacon and orange cheddar cheese. They looked really good, but how could they not be, because bacon. Mieke Zamora-Mackay got the chip burger, a burger with, you got it, potato chips on it. She liked it, and it had some chili, sour cream, green onions, and of course potato chips on it. Authors Jennifer M. Eaton, Krista Magrowski, and Jim Knipp might have also gotten potato-ey goodness too, but they were down the other end of the table.

I just got the fries, and as everyone else's food arrived I began to see that everything was waffle fries. I was kinda disappointed as I was looking forward to the steak fries I had seen on the website, but was resigned to the cross-cross potato variety. Imagine my surprise when a plate full of regular cuts arrived in front of me. These were deep fried frozen fries with a wonderful crisp skin and hot soft inside. The chocolate shake I also got was thick and good.

While the food was very good, and the company was excellent, the customer service was not, and the wait was horrendous. It might be better at a different time, but for now, not a good time and we probably won't be returning. Don't forget to pick up Marie's book Roof Oasis and the new SJWG anthology Reading Glasses.

French Fry Diary 216: Pop Century Breakfast 2011

The Bride is a very sweet and a very sneaky lady. This installment of Somebody Else's Fries is one that I have featured before on at least two occasions, here and here. These are the breakfast potatoes from Pop Century in Walt Disney World, but this entry is not so much about the fries this time, as it is about how she got to the fries.

My mother-in-law, one of the coolest and sweetest ladies I know outside of The Bride, has her seventieth birthday this year, today in fact, and my wife wanted to make it something special. She spent months planning an elaborate surprise birthday party with family and friends, the theme of which was the dreams my mother-in-law has always had - one of those dreams was to travel the world.

The Bride thought up the scheme of sneaking down to Disney World, going to the World Showcase in EPCOT and getting a special passport stamped and signed in every country for her mom - so that she could say she had 'seen the world.' Mom loved it, and as an added bonus, The Bride also got some breakfast potatoes from Everything Pop.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

P.S. It should be added that the surprise party itself was held at French Fry Diary favorite the Pop Shop, and included those amazing Pop Fries. Special thanks to the folks at the Pop Shop for making the day extra special.

National Grilled Cheese Day

Today is officially National Grilled Cheese Day, so why don't you make yourself a grilled cheese, or go out and have someone else make one for you?

Of course, if you want the best grilled cheese around, you'll have to go to the Pop Shop in Collingswood, New Jersey. Not only do they have dozens of variations on the grilled cheese, they went spatula to spatula with Bobby Flay over grilled cheese.

And as long as you're at the Pop Shop, don't forget to get some of their great Pop Fries! Happy Grilled Cheese Day!

National Grilled Cheese Day at the Pop Shop

January 20th, at least according to some folks, is National Grilled Cheese Day, and to celebrate, one of French Fry Diary's favorite restaurants, The Pop Shop, in Collingswood NJ, has one of the best offers around.

For every grilled cheese sandwich purchase you make, you get a FREE order of fabulous Pop Fries, so make sure you stop by for what is always a great treat!

And as far as what the real date of National Grilled Cheese Day is... well, the school of thought varies. But I think we can all agree on one thing - is it ever not time for a grilled cheese? Especially when they come with such great fries. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 456: Little Louie's BBQ

A family member took a bad fall, so they was rushed to Cooper Hospital in Camden. I went up Haddon Avenue past the Pop Shop, as this was the most direct route to the hospital, I past a restaurant I had never seen before. Once the emergency was over, and everything had settled down, I had more time to investigate this new find. So something good did come of it.

Little Louie's BBQ is up the road a bit from the Pop Shop, just outside the bustling heart of Collingswood. It had its own parking lot so no outlandish parking fees, plus number one, and I had heard the ribs were very good. That put it high on the list for the mother-in-law, my favorite rib connoisseur. So The Bride, her mom, and I made plans for dinner at Little Louie's.

We went in on a Saturday night, didn't need reservations, and I was quite surprised to see that it wasn't crowded. Folks from out of the South Jersey area might not know, but Collingswood is a hot bed of trendy popular restaurants. If it's a restaurant in Collingswood on a Saturday night - it should be packed. And honestly after our meal, I have to say again - it should have been packed. Hope this review can get the word out.

The place has a stark but warm atmosphere, with old western movie posters on the walls, and a great view of Haddon Avenue. Like at Famous Dave's, they had a roll of paper towels at the table as opposed to napkins. Also at the table they had mild and hot barbeque sauces. In my opinion they needed one in between those two extremes.

I got the foot long hot dog, on a toasted long roll. The dog was just the way I like them, very crunchy, very juicy and very good. It was big, not just long, but thick. Well done as if done on a grill, as was the roll, it was a big meal. As sides I got fries (of course) and baked beans, although I got coleslaw instead. No harm, no foul, I guess.

The fries were awesome. These are hand cut, as in individually hand cut, natural cut fries. These were unevenly cut, some thick, some thin, like you would make at home if slicing them up yourself. They were soft and hot on the inside, and crisp on the outside - serious, nearly perfect fries. I couldn't get enough. They come in a larger portion, which will be what I order next time we come here.

All in all this was a wonderful dinner with The Bride and her mom. Terrific big servings on everything, although I could have definitely had more fries. Like I said, these were fantastic fries. Highly recommended.

French Fry Diary 151: Gene's Food

Yesterday I was at the Collingswood Book Festival, a local literary event with small town flair that has some amazing writers and functions. The town makes a day of it, closing off the main drag and doing a whole deal, great stuff. What does this have to do with the favorite fried food you might ask, well, I'll tell you. At one end of the main street, were the food carts. Hot dogs, pretzels, funnel cakes, and yeah, you guessed it, French fries.

The chalkboard next to the window declared this particular cart to be "Gene's Food" and also offered funnel cakes, chicken fingers and fresh squeezed lemonade, all in a variety of sizes. So as I listened to the cool sounds of She Hates Me, I got the medium fry and a can of Pepsi, all for a measly five bucks even, tax included, one would assume.

The paper containers that designated small, medium and large were all pretty close in size, so I would estimate you get the same amount of fries in any size. The fries were natural cuts, and very hot. They were also more than a little bit greasy. This was probably due to the fact they just dropped them for the second fry, the shock fry, when I ordered them. That shock crisp is nice, and actually manages to cancel out the greasiness somewhat.

These fries are good in a crunch, when you are craving and there's nothing else around, but the fact is I was still in Collingswood, just yards from the Pop Shop and a handful of other really cool restaurants. With that thought in mind I actually felt kind of foolish, but there you go. Next time, Pop Shop for sure.

French Fry Diary 100: Hot Potato Café

I found out about the Hot Potato Café in perhaps one of the more notorious and uncool ways to find out about a restaurant – on Chef Gordon Ransey’s "Kitchen Nightmares" TV series on Fox. The show frequently uncovers at most horrifying and at least disturbing conditions in restaurants before Ramsey helps to turn the place around in his own unique way. Luckily, the Hot Potato Café was only suffering from business woes, and not anything sanitary.

The episode itself wasn’t that bad as Gordon dealt with the three sisters who are owners and the chef niece. It was a decidedly popular episode, having taken place some months before and covered widely in the local press. It was so popular that for days after it aired, the restaurant’s website was unavailable. It’s notable to mention that many folks will hit a restaurant’s website the night it appears on "Kitchen Nightmares" to see if it’s still open. Trust me, the Hot Potato Café is.

Another plus about the Café is that it’s local to the Philadelphia area. That and the name itself, made it a prime destination for French Fry Diary. As a matter of fact, on the episode they appeared in, Ramsey even employed a ‘potato expert,’ Richard Marsh, head chef of Cherry Hill’s Andreotti’s Viennese Café, to help them with their potatoes. Hmmm, something tells me I’ll be going there soon as well.

We decided to make our visit to the Hot Potato Café something special so The Bride and I made reservations for Valentine’s Day night and braved the scary snow-piled streets of Philly to get there. We were between blizzards so this was not as easy as you might think. Still, all in all I think it was well worth it.

Once seated, we were greeted with complimentary Parmesan fries in a metal cup. These were natural cuts with flakes of Parmesan just sprinkled lightly – quite hot and quite tasty. The fries that are packed inside the cup under the top layer are extra special as they are even hotter and the cheese is melted just right. Complimentary fries? Wow, what a wonderful phrase. That is certainly a winning start to any meal as far as I’m concerned.

The drinks came in Mason jar jugs. Nice touch, and you can see mine, full of Coke, next to the complimentary fries. Refills on the drinks were quick and friendly. Our waitress, Erin, was very nice, cooperative and informed - and she made our evening a joy. The décor was interesting and fun. One nice bit was that the restrooms were marked ‘Spuds’ and ‘Sweet Potatoes.’

Our appetizers were the Hot Potato Chips. These were some of the best homemade (or restaurant-made for that matter) that I have ever had. They were the perfect thickness between a scalloped potato slice and an actual potato chip. The cheese however – a tasty Parmesan cheddar sauce – has a sogging effect on the chips, so not cool (that it made them soggy, not the sauce - that was great). These were also topped with scallions and bacon, but nowhere near enough bacon.

While enjoying the appetizers and the complimentaries, we had time to look around a bit more. While some of the décor that Gordon Ramsey had put in was still there, the menu was different – different from his menu, but also different from their original menu. No worries though, the current menu was just great. I ordered a burger, a choice not available on Ramsey’s revamp, and I’m glad it’s here. The placemats were fun, filled with various potato facts and oddities. I knew about a third of them already, vast storehouse of useless knowledge that I am – especially when it comes to the favorite fried food. Yeah, I know, I’m pitiful.

The Fishtown Fries came as both a side order with my burger and in a basket as well. I couldn’t taste the promised Old Bay seasoning at first, but they were very good – once again natural cuts, kinda reminiscent of the Pop Shop. They came with sides of ketchup and cheese. The burger was handformed and also very good. The basket, also much like the Pop Shop, was a large portion – so large we took them home afterward. That was where we found the Old Bay seasoning – not evenly distributed but hot and yummy, and it was a good hot.

Our Valentines night at the Hot Potato Café was a wonderful experience, and we would definitely go back. Again and again. One hundred percent recommended.