I yam what I yam

Call them sweet potatoes, or call them yams, those orange tubers are ubiquitous these days. I love them in a Southern pie, but lately I’ve been noticing sweet potato fries on a few menus. I had some thin and lightly salted at the oddly named French Po-Boys One (6498 Broadway—is there a Two?). They were much better than the standard french fries sold there.

Then I happened upon sweet potato fries again at 33rd Street Bistro (3301 Folsom Boulevard), served long and tall with peach ketchup, truffled aioli and blue-cheese dip.

The Mini Burger Truck (track them down at www.miniburgertruck.com) has awesome, pillowy sweet tater tots with its juicy sliders, and they’ve always been nicely salted.

A more unusual approach to yams is to put them in a sandwich. I used to love a yam and cheese with hot pepper jelly that I got in San Francisco. Here, you can find a sweet potato panini on the menu at Sugar Plum Vegan (2315 K Street).