Boise Fry Company

Yummy, yummy to the tummy.  The location may be small but the taste definitely isn't.  We went there about 5:30 pm on a Friday.  It wasn't crowded but it wasn't empty either.

When you look at the menu the first thing you see is the choice of potatoes available for the day and what state those potatoes come from.  Even though we live in Idaho we do realize that other states actually grow potatoes.

We decided that we wanted to try two of them.  We went with the Red Lady (ID) and the Gold Yukon (ID). Chic Two was leary of the Purple potatoes.  Next we had the choice of how we wanted them cut.  Regular, curly, homestyle, or shoestring were our choices.

We decided that with two orders of fries we would split a burger.  Chic two chose the Bison bacon cheeseburger. It came with lettuce, tomato, a red onion gastrique*, and garlic aioli.  *The gastrique seemed to be sweet pickled red onion (and a word that doesn't exist according to Dictionary.com).

They split the burger for us and served our fries with each half.  Next we had choices of salts and sauces for or fries.  I lightly salted my Red Ladies and grabbed fry sauce and roasted garlic sauce.  Chic two grabbed ketchup and spicy fry sauce.  I don't remember which salt she chose for her Gold Yukons, but it was good.

We sat down to eat and the first bite of the burger was questionable.  I wasn't expecting the sweet tang from the gastrique.  It's like biting into a pickle expecting a kosher dill and getting a bread and butter pickle.  Both are great but your taste buds are geared to one and eagerly anticipating either the sharp bite of dill or the sweat pleasure of a bread and butter pickle.  So while good it wasn't what my mouth was expecting.  Subsequent bites were amazing since my mouth now knew what to expect.

The fries were fresh, hot, real potatoes.  Yummy.  They reminded me of when my dad would pull out the deep fryer when we were kids.  We had to peel the potatoes, then slice them into fries, since my brother and dad could put away a lot of potatoes it seemed like I was peeling and chopping forever.  But the taste of potatoes fresh from the deep fryer always made it worth the work.

Now I know that I will just swing by Boise Fry Company and grab some fries to go.  All the pleasure and none of the work.

The roasted garlic sauce was good but I didn't like it on the fries. The fry sauce was so good that Chic two stole it from me and I had to go back and grab some more.

We got a "doggie bag" for our fries.  Chick two didn't want to leave them and we were both pleasantly full.  I believe she finished eating them on the drive home.

They do offer both beer and wine here but I am not a big fan of beer and don't drink wine with burgers.


Our bill for this visit.

Bison bacon cheese split.       8.49
Red lady regular                    2.39
Gold yukon curly.                  2.39
Pint pepsi.                             1.79. Free refills

Water

Total                                 $15.96 (includes Idaho's 6% sales tax)

Boise Fry Company's Main page

Fair warning their prices are subject to change.  They get their potatoes fresh and have to adjust their prices based on market prices.  

I, at least, will definitely be going back to Boise Fry Company in the future.  Might even take my dad when he comes to town next month.

Cleanliness ****
Burgers ****
Fries *****

Service ****

Here's to hoping that all your unforgettable eatables are scrumptious!

CHIC ONE

smashburger Mishap (Millwaukee)

As Bossy Chic ;-) (Chic One) was saying this was honestly ranking up there with some of the worst food I've ever eaten, peas being number one. I honestly had high hopes for smashburger. All I had heard were good things about it, and on arrival it had a pleasing atmosphere with friendly wait staff. This however is where my satisfaction ended.

I know many chefs would probably disagree with me, but I found their menu much to small. For a restaurant that is supposed to specialize in burgers I found they didn't have much selection when it came to -well- their specialty. I was expecting them to be something more in the way of subway or a pizza parlor with the idea that there would be a lot more variety and specialty burgers. This was not the case.

After Ordering we sat down to wait for our food the wait was neither long nor quick it was a little somewhere in between. The arrival of the food was nothing spectacular. I eagerly awaited my first bite, even the sadly lacking display of fries weren't going to stop my anticipation. As I took my first bite however, I desperately wanted to spit it back out and attack the fries. Sadly this was another disappointment. They were frozen fries that cost two freaking dollars! I was in shock there wasn't even any potato inside of it. This is Idaho and I firmly believe that frozen fries are not allowed in restaurants especially for two dollars. McDonalds has better fries (if you knew me you would know how much I dislike their fries) and you get more for less. I was throughly disappointed with my purchase and unfortunately when the not so helpful wait staff was told all friendliness was gone with a false promise to tell the cook.

Sadly I feel that I wasted my money there. I also feel that for the price they were charging for the food I could have had a much better (and cheaper) experience else where. I believe that you should skip smashburger and instead save your money and go to McDonalds. To end this I only have one question for you. Are you still willing to take a chance on smashburger?

The wonderfully amazing chic AKA chic zwei :-)

Food is art meant to tantalize the taste buds.

smashburger

Chic Two and I decided to grab a bite while we were out today.  One of our younger friends (Hey Nick!) recommended Smashburger to me a while ago so I thought we could give it a try.  The location that we tried is the old West of Philly, Franklin St location near Best Buy.  Right off when I walked in I was impressed with the decor.  Everything was clean and staff greeted us right away.

Your choices are fairly limited but since it is a burger joint this is to be expected.

• Hamburgers (1/3 or 1/2 lb sizes)
• Classic
• All American
• Idaho
• BBQ Bacon & Cheese
• Mushroom Swiss
• Chicken
• Classic
• Hotdogs 
• Chicago
• Chili Cheese
• Classic
• Salads
• Classic smashcobb
• smashwedge
• Ranch Chicken Club
• Sides
• smashfries
• French Fries
• Side Salad
• Haystack Onions
• Veggie Frites
• Beefy Chili

For a total of $12.04 (including Idaho's 6% sales tax) we ordered:

• 2 Classic 1/3 lb Smashburgers 
• 1 side of fries
• 1 soda (1.79)
• 1 ice water. 

We poured our own drinks from the fountain.  Since they served Coke products I had already decided on ice water. Our food came out quickly and the waitress was nice.  The presentation was good. The lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickle looked fresh.  The amount of fries was a decent amount for the two of us to split.  The waitress offered us fry sauce which we accepted.

I was looking forward to the first bite of my burger.  It was decent not great but good. However as I got further into the burger it was like someone had dumped a huge amount of salt on it.  The fries ended up being comparable to McDonalds (frozen, hollow sticks that are fried, no flavor) while the sauce was like nothing I ever want to taste again.

One of the staff stopped by and asked about the food I mentioned that it was horribly salty and she said she would inform the cooks.  Later she stopped and asked what I thought of the fries.  All I could say was that they are fries.  She was so nice and I felt kind of like Thumper "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all."

Since I am still downing water to get rid of the salt (seasoning) taste from my mouth (three hours later) I probably wont be going back there.  However IF I do.  I would order no seasoning on the burger and I would definitely pass on the fries.  This is IDAHO (potato capitol).  How can you serve bad fries here?

Another note.  The prices on the online menu did not match the prices in the restaurant.  Some were lower while others were higher.

Cleanliness *****
Burgers **
Fries :o(
Service ***?

 Here's to hoping that all your unforgettable eatables are scrumptious!

CHIC ONE

Food, Food, Glorious Food

We have decided that  to review some restaurants.  Starting with some right here in Boise Idaho  We chose burger and fry places for our first set of reviews.  For this group the requirements are that you must be able to sit down inside the restaurant.  I'm sure that there are a couple more that should be added to the list so feel free to post them in the comments section.  At this time these are listed in no particular order.

• Smash Burger on Franklin Road
• Boise Fry Company on Broadway (formerly Idaho Fry Company)
• Five Guys Burgers and Fries on Milwaukee St.
• Big Judd's on Protest Road.
• Donnie Mac's Roadside Cuisine on Grove St

One restaurant each week. We will basically be comparing the same items at each restaurant. Burgers, Fries, service, and cleanliness. 

We have included three local companies and two chains that are fairly new to the area.