French fry specialist ready to take Harold’s spot

By Justin Gallagher

Street Potatoz, a new restaurant offering jazzed-up french fries and sandwiches, has filled the vacancy in the Village Commons, 901 Lucinda Ave.

The restaurant will replace Harold’s Chicken, the most recent business to leave the plaza.

Beyond sandwiches, they will offer eight to 10 different dips and a variety of toppings for their fries, such as gyro meat, chili cheese and pulled pork.

John Biank, one of three owners of the restaurant, said he hopes to open the doors Oct. 29. Huskie Bucks will be accepted.

Although businesses have come and gone in the plaza, Lane Latto, another owner, is confident the business will survive.

The products have been test-marketed for the past two years and beyond that, they have a mobility that, he said, will help them during the months students go home.

People can expect to see Street Potatoz booths at area festivals and sporting events, Latto said.

The owners have been working on the site for five weeks, doing extensive remodeling and redecorating. Work on the electrical and plumbing systems also was needed to bring the restaurant up to code, Latto said.

For entertainment, the restaurant will have satellite radio and streaming, live Internet video that can be seen on their Web site at www.streetpotatoz.com.

Although Street Potatoz is not a chain yet, the owners intend to make it into one.

Sixth Ward Alderman Dave Baker said a chain restaurant with an established business strategy and market would be more likely to succeed at the strip plaza.

The campus is not the closed environment that planners originally expected, he said.

Despite students’ abilities to travel farther more easily, Latto is confident that his product will bring people into the restaurant, he said.

For more information and a look at the menu, go to www.streetpotatoz.com.