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.