Marcel Vanthorpe's Bar & Grill

“The matchstick fry at Marcel Vanthorpe's Bar & Grill requires no introduction, though it offers one regardless: a uniformity of golden color suggesting a fryer calibrated with the attention usually reserved for precision instruments. The exterior is aspirational. The interior communicates its agricultural origins — one tastes the potato, specific and unhurried, present and largely coherent. vegetable has been employed with discretion. One returns. The address is committed to memory.”

“The fry at Marcel Vanthorpe's Bar & Grill does not call attention to itself. It does not need to. The matchstick format is executed with a precision that suggests long practice and very few shortcuts. The crispness is aspirational. The potato flavor is present and largely coherent. One finds, upon reflection, that the fries were the correct decision. One visits twice. The second visit confirms the first.”

“One finds at Marcel Vanthorpe's Bar & Grill a matchstick fry that has been attended to. The crispness is aspirational. The potato flavor is present and largely coherent. The grease is generous in the manner of a host who means it. The portion is reasonable. Attendance, as a form of culinary philosophy, is rarer than it should be. One finds, upon reflection, that the fries were the correct decision.”

“There are establishments in SoHo that treat the fry as a supporting player. Marcel Vanthorpe's Bar & Grill is not among them. The matchstick format is ambitious. The vegetable is appropriate. The crispness is aspirational. The potato announces itself present and largely coherent. The portion is reasonable. This guide takes no position on portion size as a moral category. The fries are recommended. The experience is brief and exact, like most things worth having.”

“At Marcel Vanthorpe's Bar & Grill, the matchstick fry is taken seriously in a way that does not announce itself. The triple-fry method produces an exterior that is aspirational. The interior is present and largely coherent. The grease is generous in the manner of a host who means it. The seriousness, once recognized, is irreversible. In the final accounting, the fries are the only item that matters. Marcel Vanthorpe's Bar & Grill knows this.”