The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
French fry eatery brings Irish ‘chips’ of owner’s childhood to Conn.
Irish-born Emmet Moore grew up helping his parents make hand-cut fries, or “chips,” for their food truck and fish and chip shop. When he moved to the United States and married his wife, he craved the fries he loved from home, loaded with garlic and cheese or chicken with curry sauce.
Although Americans love French fries, he couldn’t find those tastes of home in Connecticut.
“There was definitely a huge opportunity there,” he said. “I thought I could probably selfishly set it up because I wanted to eat them again every day.”
Four years after opening the first Jefferson Fry Co. in Cromwell, Moore and business partner Travis Dillon recently debuted a fourth location of the fast-casual restaurant specializing in loaded fries. The Vernon storefront, which opened in April in the town’s Tri-City Plaza, joins another at the Shops at Farmington Valley in Canton and a satellite stall at Hartford’s Parkville Market food hall.
A fifth location is coming to Storrs near the UConn campus in late June.
The food
Jefferson Fry Co.’s fries, hand-cut on site at each location, are cooked in beef tallow. The menu of loaded fry options follows an international theme, with flavors from around the globe.
There’s a Canadian-style poutine with gravy and cheese curds; taco fries with spicy beef, diced tomato, onion, jalapeños and cheddar; and Greek fries with gyro meat, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, feta cheese and a tzatziki-style sauce.
Moore’s beloved garlic and cheese fries and chicken curry fries with mushroom and onion are there, along with barbecue, truffle parm, pesto, steak and cheese, and buffalo chicken options. Guests will often start out trying a simple presentation, like bacon cheese, Dillon said, and they’ll return to sample more gourmand recipes like the house favorite “fusion fries” — an Asian-influenced specialty with grilled shredded chicken, hoisin and sriracha
sauces, crushed peanuts and cilantro.
Jefferson’s menu also features burgers, available as singles with toppings like bacon, cheese and sauteed mushrooms and onions, or as a “JFC” double with the works: bacon, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato, fries and house JFC sauce.
Sandwiches are made with crispy fried chicken, pulled pork or portobello mushrooms, and beef “dirty dogs” are topped with some of their French fry counterparts’ ingredients, like curry sauce, beef chili and taco meat.
Eat in or take out?
Jefferson Fry Co.’s restaurants in Cromwell, Canton and Vernon all have indoor seating for about 42 to 64 guests, depending on the location. Takeout and delivery are available, but Moore says he prefers people to enjoy the food on site, he said. “The fries are best piping hot.”