Granville Moore's: Best fries in the city?

Granville Moore’s is not your normal DC restaurant. It’s dark. It’s grungy. It’s in a shady part of town. And unlike so many places in Washington, the food is great and you won’t pay a lot for it. I like Granville Moore’s for three main reasons – they have great mussels, maybe the best fries in town, and an unbelievable selection of Belgian beers.

There are of course other benefits as well, like a menu that changes seasonally, a number of bison meat dishes (a relative rarity in town), a good bourbon list and more. The restaurant is dark with a long wooden bar downstairs and another upstairs, making for a great neighborhood spot – if you live near H st. NE. But the real attraction is their Belgian beer list which is incredibly expansive, their five types of mussels, and their double-fried fries.

Just some of the Belgian beer options at Granville Moore's

In fairness, not everything is perfect at Granville. They don't take reservations so you're almost guaranteed to have a wait and on a recent trip their bison tartare dish was less than delicious. As for the heart of their business, nothing but praise here. 

 
All of the moules are good, but I have my preferences, namely the moules marinere and moules fromage bleu. The marinere is classic but the broth is really tasty and the mussels are both enormous and delicious. The fromage bleu, their signature dish, is also delicious with applewood smoked bacon, blue cheese, shallots, spinach, lemon juice and chardonnay. I'm usually hesitant to have bacon with seafood because it often overwhelms the seafood, but not here. Want to see how it's done? Check out the youtube below of Chef Teddy Folkman making the moules fromage bleu on an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay."

But as good as the mussels are, they really aren’t the best thing on the menu – it’s the frites. A LOT of restaurants make fries, it's not exactly a novel food. It's tough to make great fries, but it's especially difficult to make fries that really distinguish themselves from every other fry. There just aren't that many ingredients or variations of preparing them to truly distinguish the taste. Granville Moore's does it. If you go, order the grande size. Yes, the petite has a ton of fries and seems like it will be enough, but it won’t be. Trust me. The potatoes are double fried so they are cooked through and crispy enough but still aren’t burnt. They are nicely sized, not too long or thick. And they're seasoned with herbs and a good amount of sea salt so you can taste the seasoning but aren’t overwhelmed and in need of constant water. It's true fry perfection.

Accompanying the fries are nine different sauces (above), all of which are homemade and actually live up to their hype. Personal favorites are the Dijonaisse, Curry Mayo, and Chipotle Mayo. The truffle aioli sauce was a little bland and disappointing but all in all they are mostly very good so it’s simply personal preference.

It might be a hassle to get to and to get into, but Granville Moore’s is definitely worth the trip... just follow the fries.