Pommes Frites: The Perfect French Fry

French fries: So simple to eat, yet so difficult to make.

I can name few places that deliver fries exactly how I like them -- golden and crispy. And by far the best of these places is Pommes Frites, in Greenwich Village.

Pommes Frites is a hole-in-the-wall on Second Avenue that's easy to spot by its continually long lines. The shop sells and specializes in one thing only -- Belgian fries, fried twice.

The fries are hearty enough to be an entire meal, and a few weekends ago, they were. A small order was plenty large enough to fill me up for supper, with a few leftover. Paul prefers the poutine -- french fries covered in cheese and gravy.

Small order, with frites sauce

You also can choose from 26 sauces, ranging from rosemary garlic mayo to peanut satay. I always choose the "frites sauce," which Pommes Frites describes as a traditional European mayonnaise. Paul thinks it's just regular mayo, and after I saw the giant jars of Hellmann's in the back, I'm afraid he might be right.

The seating is small and cramped -- two tables, and maybe four bar stools along a narrow shelf. After snagging a couple of stools the last time we were there, I smelled like french fries for the rest of the night. It's a testament to how good these fries taste that I wouldn't dream of complaining about the scent.