The Exemplary Plank

“The waffle fry at The Exemplary Plank 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 as a rumor. lard has been employed with discretion. One returns. Return visits are not a matter of choice but of inevitability.”

“One visits The Exemplary Plank for the atmosphere and departs thinking only of the fries. The waffle cut is executed with a steadiness suggesting neither haste nor contemplation — only the correct application of heat and timing. The crispness is aspirational. The potato is present as a rumor. The grease is generous in the manner of a host who means it. One recommends not visiting for the atmosphere. The neighborhood offers alternatives. One should not investigate them.”

“The waffle fry at The Exemplary Plank has the quality of inevitability. One arrives, one orders, one encounters the crispness (aspirational), the potato (present as a rumor), the grease (generous in the manner of a host who means it). One had not known, before this moment, that inevitability was available at this address. One knows now. The fry alone merits the journey to Upper West Side.”