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Phantom Gourmet: Fries With Sauce & More At Saus

BOSTON - Who doesn't like biting into a hot crispy French fry? To make those fries even better, there is nothing better than lots and lots of Saus. Located along the Freedom Trail in Boston, Saus is a small counter service spot specializing in French fries.

"Everybody loves French fries, and when you eat French fries it makes you happier. So it's like why don't we just give people what they want to eat?" owner Chin Kuo said.

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Chin, Tanya Walker, and Renee Eliah opened the shop eight years ago, and they have been making fresh fries ever since using hand-picked, aged potatoes.

"An old potato actually makes a better French fry," Tanya explained. "Every single morning someone comes in and cuts 500, 600 pounds of potatoes and then they're blanched… and then we fry them fresh to order."

Saus, Phantom Gourmet
Fresh French fries at Saus (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

From there, it's all about the sauce.

"We have 15 homemade sauces," Tanya said.

"We engineered it so that there's something for everybody," Chin added.

There is housemade ketchup, truffle ketchup, curry ketchup, smoky Chipotle, spicy sambal, roasted garlic mayo, hot beer mustard, hot Saus, avo-goddess sauce, sweet chili, barbecue sauce, herb ranch, a cheddar beer sauce, a bacon parmesan sauce, and of course – secret Saus.

Saus, Phantom Gourmet
Saus features 15 sauces for dipping fries. (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

Just how much sauce you will need depends upon your personal preference.

"My fry to sauce ratio is heavy handed on the sauce," Tanya admitted. "No judgment here."

But you will most certainly be judged if you order the Beast Mode Poutine.

"If you can eat all of that, you're a beast," Tanya declared.

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Beast Mode Poutine at Saus (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

The pile-up of potato is topped with every single item available in the poutine section of the Saus menu.

"You get the pork belly. You get pork carnitas. You get bacon bits, because, you know, you need bacon - three different ways. Kimchi, crispy shallots, a scoop of Sambal, and then we put our secret sauce drizzled all on top," Tanya listed. "It's awesome."

Other awesomeness comes under the sandwich section of the Saus menu. There is the Beer Brined Crispy Chicken Breast topped with scallion slaw, dill pickles and housemade mayo, and the Asian inspired Kimchi Fried Chicken.

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Kimchi Fried Chicken Sandwich at Saus (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

"The Kimchi Fried Chicken is a battered chicken thigh and it gets this crazy amount of crunch on the outside from the batter," Tanya said. "Then the kimchi is our house-aged kimchi - a little bit of spice and it's red. It makes like a really pretty sandwich as well as a super tasty sandwich."

Meatlovers will want to try the Pork Carnitas sandwich piled up with onion, pickled chilies and a roasted garlic mayo, or try Saus' stab at southern style barbecue, known as The BBQ One.

"We take a giant slab of pork belly and we slow cook it super slow… Then we slice it. So you're looking at a sliced thick slab of bacon on your sandwich, but very unctuous. Then we just pile it with scallion slaw and barbecue sauce," Tanya described.

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The BBQ One at Saus (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

"You definitely get the richness from the pork, really nice dry rub on it, and that kind of sweet smokiness from the barbecue sauce," Chin added.

After all of that savory, you may want a sweet. Besides French fries, the folks at Saus also specialize in beautiful Belgian waffles.

"Our waffles are a small dessert waffle. They are loaded with pearl sugar. It creates these little pockets of sugar crunch inside the waffles, and then when it hits the iron it caramelizes and you get this crunchy, sugary ridiculousness all around the waffle," Tanya explained.

Saus, Phantom Gourmet
Dessert waffles at Saus (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

You can smother your waffle in sauce as well, including chocolate, peanut butter, salted caramel, strawberry jam, and Chin's personal favorite: coconut custard.

For these owners, while running a restaurant may not be easy, making America's favorite snack food in a fun casual environment makes work pretty fun.

"I do love doing what we're doing," Tanya said. "We've created like a true, very indulgent menu and so everyone comes in here with the expectation they're going to have a great time and they're just going to eat whatever - no guilty feelings involved."

You can find Saus at 33 Union Street in Boston, and online at sausboston.com.

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