Bad news for Fishtown folks looking to soak up late nights with mounds of loaded fries: Shoo Fry has closed its Girard Avenue location. Monday, Nov. 27, was the last day of service after just over seven months in business.
The Rittenhouse outpost of the fast casual, which specializes in variations on poutine, is still open and doing well, per co-owner Matt Baiada.
“It just wasn’t the right spot for us,” Baiada told Billy Penn of the Fishtown shop, declining to be more specific about details. He added that he and partner Rachel Baiada are on the hunt for a new location.
The husband-and-wife team started their french fry bar business with a six-month pop-up in the King of Prussia Mall. It was a success, so much so that they signed a deal with Franchise Freeway to make it a multi-location concept. That deal is still in effect, Baiada said, but before any branches are offered to outside operators, “the focus right now is getting a few more locations open ourselves.”
In addition to fries topped with all types of combinations — from classic gravy and curds to PB&J — Shoo Fry offers sliders and shakes (both dairy and nondairy).
As for the space at 200 E. Girard Ave., which is close to the busy bar nexus at the avenue’s intersection with Frankford and previously was home to EGG (East Girard Gastropub), the Baiadas are currently searching for someone to sublease it.
Though they’re apparently already in talks with a few operators, we have a suggestion that might please the area’s growing millennial population. A new hipster Applebee’s, anyone?
