Artopolis Bakery & Cafe

www.artopolischicago.com
306 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60661
(312) 559-9000

Hi, hi, hi, sorry; we're still here. Adam and I took some time off to celebrate the holidays and eat a few vegetables, but rest assured, we remain committed to eating the rest of these burgers, even though we're approaching some of the least-anticipated meals we've ever been faced with.

With that in mind, please excuse us for easing into 2008 with a fries place, Time Out's #2: Artopolis in Greektown. Unlike most of the well-known establishments in the neighborhood, Artoplis walks a weird line between cafeteria and sit-down restaurant. There's a guy behind the sneezeguard who'll welcome you as you approach him, but he'll tell you to sit down at a table, and a waitress will appear and hand you a menu. I have a feeling that all of this depends on when you show up; we came for a pre-dinner snack around 6:00 PM.

An order of "frites" costs $2.95. Here's what you get:

Feta and Dijon on the side.

Exciting, huh? It's times like these when I really regret foolheartedly deciding to eat the entire list.

Anyway, these fries are fine. They're exactly like McDonald's fries, and appropriately salted. The feta seemed fresh, but while it crumbled like feta, it didn't really taste much like feta, or much of anything else, for that matter. To my surprise, the Dijon had more of a kick than I'm used to, and I enjoyed it.

What, though, are you exactly supposed to do to combine these ingredients? Time Out ran this picture:

which is in no way helpful. I tried this:

before figuring out a strategy of dipping fries in mustard and then dragging them through the feta, which wasn't unpleasant, but, really, what's there to say?