All of those experiences, plus a job at a software company, have combined to lead Tanya to her current career. She is co-founder of Saus, Boston’s only Belgian street food café. (Note: Saus is pronounced the Beligan way – it rhymes with house instead of sounding like sauce.)
Tanya bonded with her co-workers from Boston University, Chin Kuo and Renee Eliah, over a love of frites, Belgian fries, when they were all interns at the software company that hired them after graduation. Tanya’s favorite part of her day was deciding where to go for lunch. The three friends had a passion for sharing good food.
Each of the three had tried pomme frites separately, but were unable to find them in Boston. After visiting a friterie in New York, Chin, Renee and Tanya thought about what they would do differently with a place of their own. Abstract dreams were propelled into a more serious consideration when the three friends were laid off, which provided an opportunity to create Saus.
Saus, which opened in early March, serves frites, poutine and Belgian Liege waffles with delicious varieties of house-made dipping sauces. With combinations such as garlicy mayo, bacon and parmesan, curry ketchup, and roasted red pepper and Greek yogurt, Saus morphs French fry pairing into an experience well beyond ketchup. At an inexpensive price of 75 cents each, most customers order a few sauces to try with their frites. The sauces have fun names, such as “Green Monster” and “Vampire Slayer,” the most garlicky choice.
In order to create Saus’s homemade sauces, Chin went through what Tanya calls a “mayo bootcamp” with chef Corey Johnson of Flour Bakery . Not all of the sauces use a house made mayo base, but try one with mayonnaise and you will realize that Chin’s creations are worlds better than the mayonnaise you grew up eating.
There are four different sauces for the pearl sugar waffles: Lemon Cream, Salted Caramel, Berry Berry, and Homemade Nutella, to choose from. The shop also serves poutine-frites covered in gravy and cheese curds. The Canadian dish is difficult to find elsewhere in Boston in its true form.
Tanya’s advice for other entrepreneurs is simple: “Don’t be scared, but don’t be stupid. Do your research.” Tanya, Renee and Chin did a ton of research before diving into the restaurant business-Tanya says that the three even sat in cafes around Boston and counted the number of people coming in and out. Though opening a restaurant in a recession is usually warned against, they found out that quick service eatery profits actually grew in a recession. Though Saus is quick service, don’t dismiss it as fast food-their frites take 3 days to prepare and everything is made in house.
Tanya admits she had her fears such as customers not understanding that Saus is “just a snack food shop, not a restaurant” and sometimes these are affirmed when passerbys wander in looking for sandwiches. However, the first taste of success came on Saus’s first Saturday when the shop was packed shoulder to shoulder at 1 am (in a neighborhood full of bars, late night cravings for fried food is a given) and the employees had to resort to mass frying instead of the usual individual order. “We high fived behind the counter,” Tanya said.
Tanya says that Saus strives to have two distinct markets. The first is a daytime crowd who the Saus team wants to become familiar with and wants the customers to feel at home. The second is the nighttime “mayhem” crowd of bar stragglers looking for a midnight snack.
Now that a Northeasern alumna is a part of a growing foodie destination in Boston, will the Huskies get a shout out on the menu, and what would a Northeastern sauce even taste like? Tanya says an NU sauce would be remnant of Chicken Lou’s spicy fries or the TKO sandwich. Hopefully we’ll see our name on the menu one day, but for now are proud that the Husky network is connected to Saus.
Saus is located at ?33 Union St. ?Boston MA, 02108 (near the Haymarket and Government Center MBTA stops). www.eatfrites.com. 617-248-8835.