Pommes Frites

Pommes Frites
Pommes Frites
	Original (2nd Ave) store
Restaurant information
Established	January 1997
Owner(s)	Susan Levison, Omer Shorshi
Food type	French fries
City	New York City
State	New York
Country	United States
Website	http://www.pommesfritesnyc.com/

Pommes Frites is a New York City restaurant which specializes in Belgian-style fries. The restaurant was located in the East Village at 123 2nd Avenue (near 7th Street),^[1] but relocated to 128 MacDougal Street after the original building was destroyed in a 2015 natural gas explosion.^[2]

The restaurant sells only one food item: fries, served in paper cones, with a variety of sauces to choose from.^[3] Fries are prepared in the Belgian style, deep fried twice at two different temperatures.^[4] Additionally, a variety of European beers, soft drinks, and fruit smoothies are offered as beverages.

History

The shop was opened by Susan Levison, a Bronx native, in January 1997 after returning from a backpacking trip through the low countries.^[2] (At the time of its destruction, she co-owned the restaurant with Omer Shorshi.)^[2] Nine months after it opened, New York Magazine reported that there were lines outside the restaurant every day.^[5] At one time, the restaurant had expanded to two locations, as well a copycat restaurant under the same name with a different owner, but by 2013 only the original location remained.^[4]

Gas explosion

On March 26, 2015, the restaurant was destroyed when the building which housed it collapsed, following a natural gas explosion.^[2] No Pommes Frites customers or employees were seriously injured, although an employee and a customer of another nearby restaurant were killed.^[6] Pommes Frites reopened on May 23, 2016.^[7]

References

^ Sietsema, Robert (1999). Secret New York. ECW Press. p. 89. ISBN 9781550223743.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Maslin Nir, Sarah (27 March 2015). "Owners of Restaurants Destroyed in East Village Explosion Mourn Their Losses". New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
^ Kaminsky, Peter (24 February 1997). "Hot Potatoes". New York Magazine. pp. 131, 179. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
^ ^a ^b Sietsema, Robert (27 December 2013). "Guerre des Frites: Pommes Frites v. Newcomer La Frite". New York Eater. Vox Media. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
^ "Big Dippers". New York Magazine. 27 October 1997. pp. 60–61. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
^ Yee, Vivian & Otterman, Sharon (29 March 2015). "Two Bodies Recovered at East Village Explosion Site". New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
^ Maslin Nir, Sarah (22 May 2016). "Pommes Frites Restaurant Opening 14 Months After Fatal Blast". New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-02.