French Fry Heaven

Talking fries with Scott Nelowet

1. Tell us about French Fry Heaven.

French Fry Heaven is a fry-only location that serves classic and sweet potato fries with 50+toppings. Our toppings range from the gravy and cheese of our Poutines to the sweet flavor of funnel cake on our Festival sweet potato fries.

2. When did you launch French Fry Heaven?

We had our first store in 2010 and started franchising in 2013.

3. What makes French Fry Heaven different from other places that sell french fries?

It starts with our singular focus on fries and our huge range of innovative toppings. From there it’s about how we make our fries that sets us apart.

French Fry Heaven started at a vegan festival, so while we maximize the flavor, we also pay attention to making our treats as healthy as we can. We use no trans fat oils, just 100% pure, cold pressed peanut oil. With the exception of our Poutine, everything is gluten free. Our menu is 95% vegetarian - items like our bacon bits are made with soy and our Cheezy Burger tastes like a cheese burger but is made entirely without meat.

Our fries are cooked Belgian style so they are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. They’re served fresh and hot and they aren’t greasy.


St. Smooth - Sweet Potato Fries with caramel. Photo courtesy French Fry Heaven.

4. What exactly is a Belgian-style fry and how are they made?

To start with, they're fresh cut, not frozen, and a little thicker than normal fries. Then they're fried twice at slightly different temperatures to make them crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Serving the fries in a cone for easy carrying around is also a hallmark of the Belgian sytle. In Belgium it's also very common to have lots of innovative toppings - more than just ketchup, salt and vinegar that we're used to in the States. That makes for a lot more variety and deliciousness. We add our own twist by offering your choice of fries made with either classic potatoes (Angels) or sweet potatoes (Saints). Finally, our specially designed fryers are enclosed, resulting in a fry that uses 40% less oil than regular fryers.

5. What are Archangel fries and how are they different from the Angels?

Angels represent the classic side of our fries with toppings such as malt vinegar, ranch dressing, and ketchup. They’re the standards that people love. With the Archangels we’re stretching people a little and taking them in a slightly different direction with a more substantial, specialty offering. For each of the Archangels we start by rolling the fries in a spice and then we add a sauce. Our French Quarter Archangels, for example, are rolled in a spicy Cajun seasoning then covered with a creamy remoulade sauce.

6. Which are the most popular Archangels?

The popularity of the Archangels breaks down largely by age group. The two most popular with teenagers are the Cheezy Burger and the Baked Tater. The Cheezy Burger tastes like a cheeseburger but is made completely without meat, so it’s totally vegetarian. The Baked Tater tastes just like a loaded baked potato with sour cream and bacon bits. We use soy based bacon bits to keep the Baked Tater vegetarian as well.

Adults really like the Garlic-Parmesan fries, which are loaded with parmesan cheese and garlic. They’re especially good when they’re served with black truffle salt.