Full Article:
The potato has moved from the side of the plate to its center. Potatopia, a restaurant that exalts the humble potato, adds a fresh, new option to Manhattan’s dining scene. This potato-centric concept launched in 2011 when founder Allen Dikker opened the restaurant’s first outpost in Edison, New Jersey, offers a customizable menu featuring nine different potato styles, premium toppings and house-made sauces.
An avid home cook, Dikker began creating sauces for his friends and family that proved to be so popular he began looking for ways to use them. He discovered that the potato was the perfect ‘vehicle’ for those sauces and the Potatopia seed was sown. Today, the concept is a fast-casual restaurant with a difference: Dikker offers only the highest quality fresh ingredients, locally-sourced whenever possible. Potatopia’s premium proteins are sourced from Pat LaFrieda and are all-natural, free of hormones, antibiotics and MSG and prepared using a convection oven cooking method. In addition, only fat-free, high-oleic soybean oil which contains no saturated or trans fats is used in preparations calling for oil.
The Potatopia menu features 4 different potato varietals – Kennebec, Russet, Red Bliss and Jumbo Yam - in ten different styles – smashed, skin, baked regular, baked sweet, curly, shoestring, sweet potato crinkle, potato au gratin, and mashed pie, Potatopia’s take on a Shepherd’s Pie, with toppings nestled beneath mashed potatoes and baked to create a crispy crust. The chosen potato style may be topped with fresh vegetables such as mushrooms, red onion, broccoli and corn, and proteins including grass-fed steak, free-range chicken, shrimp, wood-smoked bacon and a sausage blend created exclusively for Potatopia. Cheese selections include Asiago, Cheddar, Parmesan, Pepperjack, and Swiss, and this list will be supplemented with special monthly offerings such as a Reserve Gruyere and Smoked Gouda. All combinations may be enhanced by Dikker’s 14 proprietary house-made sauces in flavors that range from Garlic Aioli to Chipotle Ketchup, Truffle, Chili Pepper, Roasted Pepper, Ranch, Parmo, Chipotle Mayo, Savory Bacon and Curry.
Menu options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night snacks include signature meals with tongue-in-cheek names that take the “starch” out of the potato, such as, “I Think Therefore I Yam,” sweet potato crinkle fries, house salt and pepper, Asiago and Parmesan cheeses, parsley, red onion, garlic and house made garlic aioli, the “Curly Sue,” curly fries, house salt and pepper, Pepperjack and Parmesan cheeses, jalapeno, garlic, scallion, chipotle ketchup and garlic aioli, and “Frequent Friers,” shoestring fries, house salt and pepper, Parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic and parmo aioli. The West Village outpost of Potatopia also features menu items that are unique to the location including the breakfast special “Lower East Sider,” shoestring fries, scallion, house salt, lox, cilantro with sour cream. A custom-made beverage tap system dispenses organic sodas, and a variety of tea and juice options are also available.
Riscala Agnese Design Group (RAD) created the visual identity of Potatopia, conveying utility with an edge. Principally designed using steel, wood and concrete, the space is softened by light pendants and herb planters created from burlap-lined recycled tires, and the whole is framed with plywood adorned with a signature ziz-zag pattern. Counter seating and steel framed modular butcher block units offer seating for 12.
ABOUT POTATOPIA:
Launched in the Menlo Park Mall by Allen Dikker in 2011, Potatopia offers a wide range of fresh potato options topped with high quality all-natural ingredients for a perfectly balanced meal. Diners can either create their own customized dishes, choosing from a menu of natural cut potato styles, delicious proteins and vegetable toppings, flavorful extras and signature sauces, or may simply select one of Potatopia’s popular combinations. Potatopia West Village (378 Sixth Avenue, New York NY) serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and anything in-between,Sunday 10AM-10PM, Monday – Wednesday 7AM-12AM, Thursday – Saturday 7AM – 4AM. For more information, please visit Potatopia online at www.potatopia.com or call 212.260.4100
January 8, 2023
