Blinded by Sweet Potato Fries

We had an absolutely picture perfect day for the Tour de Wing on Saturday and enough attendees to field two teams so we were able to hit each spot on the tour at different times in the afternoon.

Here’s the exciting part. There were a lot of great wings, and lots of things to love. That also means there wasn’t one definitive winner that could be gleaned from a cursory review of the results. Thankfully, I’m moderately competent in quantitative analysis, and will be plugging those numbers into a spreadsheet in order to reveal the full story of the day.

That’s going to take some time. So, please bear with me.

Sunday I had the null set of time to review the Tour de Wing scoresheets. I drove the Fussies to Providence and back for a family event. All told it was about six hours of driving for a six hour visit, and worth every minute.

We pulled into Providence around noon, hungry from the ride, and found Harry’s Bar & Burger around the corner from the event. Sliders and fries sounded good to everyone, so we went for it. And I was completely gobsmacked by a delicious combination I didn’t see coming.

I am compelled to admit that I have menu blind spots.

Here’s a perfect example. When sweet potato fries are on the menu, I tune them out. I no longer have any interest in these moderately more healthful versions of deep fried potatoes. It’s not that I don’t enjoy sweet potatoes, I do. It’s just that the trend in restaurants for sweet potato fries is to pair sweet on top of sweet.

In New York’s Capital Region, it wouldn’t be unusual to see them paired with a raspberry sauce. I’ve seen sweet potato fries with a maple drizzle, and candied bacon. And it’s not that these sweet on sweet pairings are bad, they just are not for me.

So when Mrs. Fussy ordered a side of sweet potato fries at Harry’s I didn’t even notice the menu said it came with something called Kryptonite Aioli. For the sake of science, when these deep fried orange sticks were set upon the table with this bright green sauce, I was compelled to try it.

Shazam!

Well, that shook me out of my complacency right away. Just like ketchup is the sweet and acid to balance the salt and fat of a traditional fry, this was the antidote to balance the sweetness of sweet potato fries.

The internet tells me “Kryptonite Aioli” is made from lemon, lime juice with zest, parsley, spinach, canola oil, egg yolks, jalapeños, salt, and pepper.

Let’s just hope that DC Comics doesn’t become aware of this special sauce, because they have a record for protecting their intellectual property. Still, the combination would be just as good with any other name. In the end, before leaving, I took one little sip out of the sauce cup. Nobody looked at me funny. It’s very possible they are used to this kind of reaction.

More than anything else, this experience was a reminder to stay vigilant when reading new menus. You’ll never know what you’ll find. Be careful of blind spots. I almost missed out on something incredibly delicious.