Saturday, February 21, 2009

Comfort Food

My students would often pick up Cheese Fries or Chili Cheese Fries at the place across the street from the school. These gooey-soon-to-solidify tins of fries and Velveeta weighed about three pounds and looked like it would disintegrate stomach lining in about 90 seconds. The photo of the Salchipapas at La Cuarta (at 4th Avenue and 28th Street) featured in Fork in the Road from the Village Voice looks a lot more attractive. Before reading the article, I thought the hot dogs were roasted red peppers. That's what I get for being a vegetarian.

Robert Sietsema's description of the dish calls it a "Strange Snack of the World." Are mini-hot dogs, fries, and a hard-boiled egg really that strange? I suppose it's the combination that is odd, but even then, it's not too strange. Here's a sampling of Sietsema's commentary:

And therein lies some of salchipapas' specialness -- the flavors swap off between the two foodstuffs, as the frank fat renders, seeps into the deep fat, and is thereby transmitted to the very core of the admittedly inferior-on-their-own french fries.

He also uses the word "proteinaceously" - which is the first time I've seen it as an adverb. Check out the article at the link above.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link - although the restaurant is between 26th and 27th.