Eat Frites!

About a year has gone by since Boston's first true Belgian Frites shop, Saus, has been in business. This means that it has taken me just as much time to finally get myself over to its niche in the Faneuil Hall area...embarassing...I know. But hey - better late than never:)

I must admit up front that if it wasn't for the combined forces of some other keen food bloggers, most notably Jacki and Meesh of justaddcheese.

Our group was intended to be a little bigger, but January tends to be a month of awful colds and so it ended up just be the three of us...no worries, we definitely had a handle on the situation!

Saus takes up a small store front on the stretch of Union street facing Government Center. Amidst many historical pubs, it is a simple but thoroughly clever concept...their menu focuses on classic Belgian street food like Frites (what we would normally call 'french fries', which in fact have nothing to do with the French...contrary to popular belief!) and waffles. 

 We started off with a poutine. As a Canadian, I have very rigid expectations. This poutine had all the right components; the cheese curd, the salty/peppery gravy, nice and crispy fries....unfortunately, our poutine came practically drowning in gravy, and so, despite their valiant effort, the fries had to succumb to their soggy fate.

 

We also ordered a batch of their regular fries and it was just as well, because we needed reinforcements for the poutine..but more importantly, we needed a plain batch with which to try some of their dipping sauces...an important part of their claim to fame!

We tried their 'Ole Chipotle', a homemade mayo spiced with jalapenos, (this one was my favorite), their Bacon-Parm (I could have done with more bacon...just a personal preference:), the Bost-onion (creamy onion mayo - also very good!) and their Andalouse.

 Saus has recently expanded to 'Frikandel', which refers to a minced- meat or 'burger' sausage, very popular as a snack on-the-go in Belgian. We tried their 'Speciaal' - curry ketchup, mayo and chopped onions. This is your Belgian standard. It was quite good, the burger sausage was really impressive as it was slightly crisp on the outside and crumbly and tasty on the inside - a very pleasant surprise!

 However the real winner for me was their Spicy Frikandel - Ole chipotle sauce and house-pickled jalapenos to which I added regular house-made pickles. I LOVED the crunch from the pickles and the kick from the jalapenos.  The creamy Ole Chipotle sauce was also a great compliment as it allowed everything to meld together in delicious harmony!

Although we were sufficiently stuffed, we could not leave without trying one of their 'Liege' Waffles, baked with pearls of sugar inside. The recipe itself was created by Shira Melen, the pastry sous-chef from Sofra Bakery.  Fresh off of the iron, this baby was crisp on the outside (I am sensing a trend here!) and moist and light on the inside. Every now and then you would get a crunch of sugar that would really send your taste buds in a whirl.

Following their saus-y theme, you can select from different sauces, we went for their homemade nutella and salted caramel - both of which were quite delicious.

For a cold winter day, frites and waffles are the perfect comfort food. Just having these few well executed items would be a home run, however better is yet to come! Starting this Monday, they will add a whole slew of sandwiches, salads and snacks to their menu...looks like I need to plan another trip...hopefully it won't be a year from now!