In Search of Disco Fries
The Three-Ingredient Drunk Food Is a Regional Delicacy That Hides in Plain Sight.
Some regional foods are so ingrained in a local culinary culture that you barely notice their presence until someone with a big megaphone starts making some noise about them. This has happened in recent years with such once-below-the-radar dishes like Italian Beef (thanks “The Bear”) and thin-crust, tavern-style pizza. More recently, it has started to happen with the humble Disco Fries.
Disco Fries, for the uninitiated, are French fries covered in gravy and mozzarella cheese. That’s it. I have long been used to seeing Disco Fries on diner menus. But lately, I’ve been seeing them pop up in other places. I first noticed Disco Fries on a menu at a “fancy” restaurant at The Corner Store, the SoHo hot spot favored by Taylor Swift. They had Steak Frites, as almost all new Gotham restaurants do these days. But the frites could be had “classic or disco.”
After that, I started seeing them everywhere: at Sweet Afton, a hip cocktail bar in Astoria, Queens, where there are topped with gravy, scallions and cheese curds, with bacon optional; at a Theater District restaurant called Dolly Varden, whose interpretation took the form of a dish of tater tots covered in sausage gravy and a sunny-side-up egg; and at Thai Diner, which has Thai Disco Fries, made with curry, red onion, red onion and coconut cream.
When restaurants start riffing on a classic dish, you know that a trend is afoot.