An all-dressed dog and fries in Alfred
If you’re driving east on Hwy. 17 from Clarence-Rockland and heading to Hawkesbury, the town of Alfred is roughly the halfway point of your journey. It’s also marks the perfect point to grab a classic Lesters hotdog and some excellent French fries at La Kenebec D’Alfred.
The small takeaway chip stand doesn’t have much more than the sidewalk buffering it from the road. Its name, painted in big red letters on the small building, caught my attention when I once drove past as a place that I just had to check out.
In the potato world, the kennebec is an older, rarer spud species that was bred in Maine in 1941: the story goes that it’s apparently very good for making French fries, and La Kenebec D’Alfred has been operating for nearly that long.
The walk-in chip stand with two large windows bookending a red door has been operating pretty much continuously since 1957. It perhaps reminds me of the snack bars and burger joints I’m familiar with in the small town of Grand Bend, on Lake Huron.
An adjoining covered patio with attached tables and chairs, like those in a fast-food court, are available for a couple of dozen customers in good weather. It’s a quaint venue with a certain simple charm.
As for the fries, the township claims that they are Canada’s (or at least eastern Ontario’s) French fry “capital” – a claim with which, I’m sure, Florenceville, NB, would take certain issue.
He liked it so much, he bought the company
La Kenebec owner Dany Péladeau, in his four years operating the restaurant, is well aware of the potato history and the laws of supply lines when it comes to sourcing ingredients.
“In 1957, they originally used to use that kind of potato for doing their fries,” he says. “But right now, it is almost impossible. They are too hard to find in big enough quantities for what we need, so I had no choice but to change.”
For more on this story, visit Andre Paquette Editions.
