One faithful night a few weeks back some friends and I stumbled out of The Kinsale and into this little place called Saus, a quaint hole-in-the-wall type eatery tucked into cobblestoned Union Street, near Faneuil Hall. The place dedicates itself to Belgian late-night drunk food – pommes frites and poutine, frikandel and Liege waffles. The name of the store echoes the section of the menu which is most extensive, that of the dipping sauces. These are creative and quirky in nomenclature. There’s the Vampire Slayer (made with roasted garlic and garlic oil), the Pindasaus (with peanut butter, soy sauce, sate sauce and chili paste), the Green Monster (jalapenos, habaneros and cilantro), and many more. The chalkboard menu also boasts a number of creative little snacks, such as croquettes and chicken sate, as well as some signature sandwiches.

The ultimate place to indulge in some late night whiskey-soaker-uppers, it’s open til 2am on Friday and Saturday nights.

And they serve beer! Good, imported Belgian beer!

These are the regular fries, hand-cut and crispy. Golden brown. Not too starchy. Everything fries should be. And a generous amount of them too, considering a “small” costs only $4.25. We chose three different sauces to dip them into. Curry Ketchup was ketchup-based with a very delicate, mild hint of the spicy to send it into a funky edge. The Truffle Ketchup was pretty horrible (my friend chose this one…), but probably just because I abhor truffle oil. The Green Monster was very nice, spicy from two different breeds of peppers but kept refreshing and light by the cilantro.

Liege waffles made with Pearl sugar. On the right – homemade Nutella (semi-sweet chocolate and hazelnuts). On the left – homemade lemon curd and cream. Looks good, eh?

But this thing stole the show, the Double Cheddar Frikandel. Frikandel is a deep-fried minced meat hot-dog, kind of like a hamburger in tube form, served over a toasted hot-dog bun. It was invented in Belgium around 1954 by some doofus named Gerrit de Vries of Dordrecht and since then has become a popular street food snack in Belgium as well as in Holland and Germany. The classic (frikandel speciaal) is topped with curry ketchup, mayonnaise and chopped raw red onion and Saus indeed has this one on their menu as #1. The one we had, however, was served with two different layers of cheese; it was topped with a cheddar-Duvel sauce and some extra cheddar over the top. It’s a pretty ugly monster, but one I wake up feeling shameful for craving on not a few nights. The burger meat gets a crunchy exterior from the deep-fry and any excess grease (not much, surprisingly) is soaked up by the bun. The cheddar-Duvel sauce is salty and satisfying, with a slight bitterness from the Duvel which makes for a good contrast in flavor and a zing to cut the overwhelming creaminess of the sauce. The extra cheddar shredded over the top is not very necessary, as it gets lots in the sauce, but it adds an extra sharp cheddar flavor to said sauce. Dried parsley (or some other herb) is sarcastically thrown over the top to add a ridiculous suggestion of healthy green.

Yummy, hearty, late night snack on a cold winter night in Boston.