FRYGUYS to Reopen in the East Village With Debut Items

As a belated Valentine for spud lovers, the East Village's popular potato powered FryGuys will re-open after a month-long renovation on Feb. 15, as a reimagined version it its former self. The retooled FryGuys will open with a new expanded menu, including the debut of sandwiches, prepared in a new enlarged kitchen to better equipped to handle the scratch operation by a new chef and a new, more stylishly sophisticated look, which features a new plush velvet banquette that will increase seating to from 14 to 20-plus. The re-opening will also see the first service of beer with a rotating roster of local brews on draft and in bottles or cans. This new and improved FryGuys will serve as the template for future New York City and beyond locations.

New options for FryGuys' signature "loaded fries," which make a meal out of a generous servings of hand cut, twice cooked French fries or curly fries, as well as tater tots, with intriguing savory topping combinations include: Kimchee Fries, queso, bulgogi, kewpie mayo; Buffalo Chicken, fried chicken, Buffalo sauce, blue cheese, Mac & Cheese, 4-cheese sauce - mozzarella, provolone, cheddar and Velveeta; and Nacho, melted cheese, guacamole, pico, sour cream. Some of the nine loaded fries options are now are available in a new "bucket of fries" size that feeds (at least!) three, along with the generous regular portion, which has always accommodated sharing.

The new sandwich offerings are: The Fry Guy, slow roasted pork, smokey BBQ sauce, coleslaw; Mac n Pork, the Fry Guy with the addition of mac n' cheese; and Buffalo Chicken, fried chicken, Buffalo sauce, blue cheese, shredded lettuce.

All the new offerings, including sides such as Mac n Cheese with 5! cheese sauce, were created by FryGuys' new chef, Dennis Hatzinger, a veteran of such well-regarded casual establishments as New York City's Point Break and Schaefer Oyster Bar. He also tweaked all the recipes for FryGuys' pre-existing items and added Poutine, cheese curds, maple gravy as a natural extension of the eatery's fries and tots repertoire.

That repertoire consists of three kinds of fresh fries - original, curly and spicy - and crispy tots that can serve as dipping vehicles for the nine house made sauces, such as Habanero Banana Ketchup, Truffle or Frylife (half mayo-half smokey bbq).

FryGuys reopening also signals the premiere of an expanded milk shake program with the likes of: Cookies n' Crème, cookies n' crème ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce; BamBam, fruit pebbles, vanilla ice cream, berry drizzle; and Cap'n Crunch, vanilla ice cream, Cap'n Crunch cereal, whipped cream and peanut butter drizzle.

The original FryGuys opened in October 2017, the love-child of partners in life and business s McKenzie Foster and Marco Lanuto. Its success far exceeded expectations with lines often down the block, a fact that somewhat amazes Foster and Lanuto given neither had any previous restaurant experience. They consider their first 15 months in business a journeymen's education and the reimagining of FryGuys, readying it for future expansion, represents their degree. In addition to tapping into Hatzinger's experience to refine and expand the menu, they reconfigured the space to enable banquette seating, dressed a wall in mirror ball tiles to complement the disco balls adorning the ceiling and added rich burnished gold and soft lavender accents. The playful ode to 70s and 80s icons that is a wall of jigsaw puzzled black-framed photographs remains.

FryGuys, 150 East 2nd Street, New York, NY 10009 will be open daily from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday, from 3 to 2.a.m. Tuesday thru Thursday, until 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information, please visit: http://fryguysnyc.com/.

Photo Credit: Kimchee Fries courtesy of FryGuys

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