Books with frites, this Saturday (29th) at Destinations Booksellers and Bank Street Brewhouse.

Randy "Destinations" Smith lays out the occasion and the deal in the following passage from his daily blog, NewAlbanyBooks. Books, frites and beer are three things that inform my life, so check it out.

wordpress.com/2011/01/25/books-that-changed-our-lives-plus-how-books-and-pommes-frites-go-together/">Books That Changed Our Lives (plus: How Books and Pommes Frites Go Together)

Join us Saturday, Jan. 29, at 4 p.m. as we welcome Gary Yeagle and Marlene Mitchell, local authors who have collaborated on a new book series, The Smoky Mountain Murders. Their new novel, Seasons of Death, is published by our friend Dave Mattingly at Blackwyrm Publishing, and it’s already drawing great interest within our patron base. So many of us feel as if we know the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (I practically grew up there) that the idea of a murder mystery set there seems perfectly natural.

In partnership with another NewAlbanyFirst pioneer, we’ll be offering a pick-your-own discount on the day of the event. If you dine at Bank Street Brewhouse on Saturday before the author event, bring your receipt to the signing and we’ll give you $2 off the $15.95 price of the book. If you prefer, come to the event and then join the authors for libations and/or dinner at Bank Street Brewhouse, 415 Bank St., New Albany. Chef Josh has promised a discount on that establishment’s amazing pommes frites, frenched potatoes double-fried in the Flemish style, accompanied by some of the most mouth-watering dipping sauces you’ve ever imagined. BSB is a non-smoking restaurant/brasserie, and the whole gang there is looking forward to hosting the authors and their friends starting around 5:30 p.m.

Of course, the region’s finest craft beers, local wines, and independently produced spirits are available, also. If you follow the @NewAlbanyBooks Twitter feed, you can find out that day’s specials on Saturday, too.

Chef Josh on frites in Velocity.

Bank Street Brewhouse's Josh Lehman is featured along with other Louisville frites makers.

Fries with flair: Pommes frites are sizzling in Louisville; Pommes frites are sizzling in Louisville, by Erin Keane (Velocity; Jan. 18, 2011)

Lehman's frites ... undergo a multistage process that begins with the whole potato itself, selected, rinsed and hand-cut to a squared-off ¾-inch with the wall-mounted fry cutter in the kitchen — no bags of frozen crinkle-cuts in his kitchen. Then he rinses the raw fries to get rid of some of the starch, which results in a more even golden color. Then they're deep-fried in oil heated to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, blotted with paper towels to remove excess grease, and fried again at 375 degrees to achieve the perfect crisp. The frites are then finished with fleur de sel, a French sea salt.

Free frites Saturday was savory.

When Chef Josh announces the results, we'll let you know.

It's a Free Frites Fete from 2 - 4 p.m. this Saturday afternoon at Bank Street Brewhouse.

This Saturday (December 11), Chef Josh Lehman is soliciting your opinion with free samples of frites and sauces.

From 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the Bank Street Brewhouse kitchen crew will offer guests free samples of frites in the form of an assortment: Different cuts of potatoes, different types of potatoes (russets, sweet, yukon gold) and different sauces for accompaniment, including the seven sauces currently on the menu, along with ten new ones (green curry, rosemary aioli, blue cheese, dill lime aioli, horseradish, hot chili, mango ketchup, peanut sauce and more).

Patrons are asked to vote for their favorite cuts, types and sauces.

But there's even more.

There will be frites fried in duck fat (which makes everything taste better), and also a special beer for the event.

Anyone care to guess where I'll be on Saturday?