K’s Kitchen: Schussing in search of French fries

By Kathryn Reed

We all have food issues. You know, trigger foods. Foods to make us happy. Cravings. Compulsions. Something where one isn’t enough.

French fries. They are my problem. I think an order can qualify as a meal. When I’ve been alone in a drive-through I have ordered two helpings of fries – for myself.

People who ski with me know my lunch on the slopes is usually a beer and fries. Lecture me all you want about how unhealthy this is. It will fall on deaf ears. I’m not saying this is good nutrition. I’m just saying I really like my fries when I ski.

This season I have skied at five resorts and had fries at all but Squaw. That was only because it was early season and the on-mountain restaurant that serves French fries was not open.

Those skiing with me this season were subjected to rating the fries. (I was sharing those days.) This is so unscientific and not all the tasters were at each resort. And like all food, it is fairly subjective.

Nonetheless, the favorite of others and mine are the sweet potato fries at Sierra-at-Tahoe. They are a must have at the top of Grandview. And they are only $2.95 for a decent portion.

“They taste healthy,” Sue said.

I’ll vouch for that sentiment, but not how factual her belief is.

(Get the $2.95 onion petals, too, to ensure you hit your grease quotient for the month.)

Sierra's Mountain of Fries

The Mountain of Fries ($5.95) at the Sierra Pub and Deli are an excellent value. I’m not a big fan of crinkled fries, but Sue is OK with them. These fries suffice and are worth ordering, but they aren’t the “oh my gosh I want seconds” like Sierra’s sweet potato fries are.

The least favorite were the overcooked spuds at the California Lodge at Heavenly Mountain Resort. Save your $4 for something else.

“They are nasty. They are cooked in old fried grease,” Brenda said. “Being an ex-fast food worker I can tell when grease is old.”

At Northstar-at-Tahoe the chili fries really did seem like a sufficient meal. At $7.75 they are super filling. The chili comes with meat or vegetarian. They are messy. A fork is definitely needed.

With something like this, it’s really more about the chili than the fries. The veggie chili was great. The portion was so generous I couldn’t find a plain fry to sample.

The other French fry experience this season was at Whistler. The sweet potato fries were $4.95 and regular ones were $3.95. And the Canadian and U.S. dollars are one-to-one, so no deal this year.

At the on-mountain lodge they interchanged the words sweet potato and yam. But the vegetables aren’t the same even though people in the States and Canada think they are. So, I don’t really know which I had when I was in Canada.

The sweet potato was the best of these two, but it wasn’t anything compared to the ones Sierra serves. But Whistler did have the best dipping sauce. A spicy dip came with the sweet/yam taters.