French Fry Diary 712: North Bowl

Last month after the Writers Coffeehouse sponsored by the Philadelphia Liars Club (and if you're a writer in the area, and haven't been to this monthly event, shame on you) friend and fellow writer Amy Holiday invited The Bride and me, and the other writers from the SJWG who attended, out to dinner. Because of my predilection for potato-ey things, she picked a place known for its tater tots - North Bowl.

Yes, it's a bowling alley, but it's a cool retro bowling alley, and they have house made gourmet tater tots. It doesn't get better than that. Located in the gentrified Northern Liberties/Fishtown section of Philadelphia, it might be a little difficult to find, and parking is at a premium, but it was worth the trip. The décor is cool retro, you might not realize at first you're in a bowling alley, and of course, there's the tater tots.

To cover our bases for the review, we all ordered different types of these housemade gourmet tater tots. I kicked it old school with the original; while others got the garlic tots with garlic, herbs, and shaved Parmesan; and the crabby tots with old bay and cheese sauce. The tots appeared to be just standard tots, frozen and possibly deep fried, but they didn't taste that way - they were pretty good.

The Bride, and The Dark Crystal in from San Francisco (we miss you, girl!), went off the tater trail and got the cheeseburger mac and cheese, declaring it quite tasty as well. We were all too full to try the funnel cake fries for dessert, maybe next time. If nothing else, it's yet another reason to come back to the area.

The afternoon was a good time with friends, fried foods, and good conversation. I am really going to miss these folks.