I once worked a summer cleaning clubs at an Edmonton golf course. The pay was poor, the work monotonous.

About the only perk was being able to order, from the clubhouse kitchen, an overflowing dinner plate of steaming fries and gravy, for the princely sum of, I think, 50 cents. Best fries I ever ate and a complete meal, even for a hungry 17-year-old.

Which is by way of explaining why I’m including an order of fries at Calgary’s Holy Grill as a complete lunch in this Calgary under-$10 lunch series. First, an order of hand-cut fries is only $4.95, a buck extra with a house-made garlic, chili and sour cream dip.

Second, you get a generous mound of fries, enough to satisfy a moderate noontime appetite. Third, these are damn good, hot, salty, made-to-order fries, worthy of your full attention, not some accompaniment.

Yes, there are a few other, healthier under-$10 items—including a bacon, avocado, fried-egg crisp and a half, roasted beet salad (both $9.35)—on Holy Grill’s menu. Just missing the mark are an impressive blackened chicken burger ($10.70) and a solid list of paninis (all $11).

But when fries are this good, it’s sometimes worth moving them from a side-of-the-plate afterthought to starring attraction.

Note: The only place in all my road-trip food travels where fries were the featured attraction was Boise Fry Company, in the potato capital of Idaho. There you can order five types of potatoes in five cuts, including shoestring and curly.

Holy Grill
827 10 Avenue SW and three other Calgary locations
Opens weekdays at 7:30 am and weekends at 10 am
403-261-9759