Best Onion Rings

around Sactown it would have to be a place called Avaitors tucked in Executive Airport (which was THe airport in Sac until the mid sixties)...The rings are sweet, fresh , somewhat tempura like  and are really something to behold..have them with the great patty melt and you will be a happy pilot.This place also has great breakfasts and check out the truly Roadfood worthy decor on this link   http://www.erench.com/RESTAUR/CALIF/SCRM/BRKCLUB/AVIA/index.htm  

Onion Rings that stand out as being memorable since I first "discovered" this tasty side back in the 1960's:
 
Huot's Seafood Restaurant, Saco, ME
The Villanova Inn, New Castle, PA
The Plainview Diner, Plainview, NY (L.I.)
Hard Times Cafe, Alexandria, VA
(the original) Sonny Bryan's, Dallas, TX
Sonny P's Burgers, McKinney, TX
 
If I had to pick the all-time best it would be the stacked beer-battered rings at Huot's.  Of course, everything tastes better with lobstah!
 
(I used to love Tony Roma's onion loaf but my last two meals at their Scottsdale, AZ and Georgetown, Grand Cayman locations were so dreadful I stopped patronizing that chain.  Too bad; I enjoyed many good meals there in Orlando and San Juan, PR).
 

Chamberlains Roast Beef in Booth's Corner's Farm Market in Boothwyn, PA.

Metro Jim,
   Some years back I had my first ever Onion 'Loaf' at a Tony Roma's in SoCal. It took a while for me to gain a yearning for those little pieces of onion.
  We found the larger rings to be more to our liking. Farmer Boy's, the SoCal mini-chain, offers an order of 6 or 7 rings...but they are Massive Inch-and-a-half thick slices of very large sweet onions. Battered and fried. I have seen some folks actually use a knife and fork to eat them. O R's are one side dish that I approve the use of Ketchup as a dip.

I used to love the onion loaf at the first Damon's. But when Damon's became a chain something bad happened to those loaves.

May I suggest the onion rings at the Grant Bar in Millvale, Pa?
Really, just outside Pittsburgh City Limits-they are outstanding,
and I believe they use the same coating with their signature Butterfly shrimp.
                                Falco
 

Does anybody ever make their own?  I have tried it a few times lately using McCormick all purpose batter where you mix it in to two parts.  One wet and one dry.  I mix some spices in the batter such as chili powder. garlic powder and even onion powder
 
I fry them at 375F, slice the onions sideways very thick dip them in the dry and then the wet and coat them and let it rip.  I use a dipping sauce of thousand island which I make and cholula.
 
I use the same mix for small slices of chicken breast, chicken thighs and other things.
 
Pretty good.
 
Paul E. smjith
Knoxville, TN 

Paul,
 
We used to make a big batch of onion rings each spring when Vidalia's were released.  Now it seems that Vidalia's (usually a South American clone) are available all year long, so it is not such a big deal.
 
We never used a batter mix.  I've got a beer batter recipe that is good, but more recently have been doing a double dip with buttermilk as part of the recipe.
 
Jim

The Varsity in and the Beacon in Spartanburg are close if not the best.  The long gone Red Barn Bar Be Que on the west side of Jacksonville Fl used to rank high, they cut a large onion   above and below its equator broke the slices apart and dipped it into buttermilk and flour and fried em and served em steaming hot.  Long gone now.   

Honestly haven't had a good one in a while. Last time I had good ones that appeared to be homemade was at Kay Bros BBQ in Gainesville, FL. Noticed that Sonny's BBQ has apparently quit serving them. After reading this thread and getting a real "hankering" for some I was disappointed to see Sonny's stopped serving them when I had lunch there the other day. Also noticed my favorite wing place doesn't appear to serve them either.

The Pear Tree Restaurant in Bevier, Missouri has outstanding onion rings. Big, thick, and oh so tasty !!

Ted's Hot Dogs in Tempe AZ make a thin slice, light coated ring that goes well with their Dogs.

I'm kind of partial to the ones that I serve.......Beer battered, nice and crispy.

chefbuba


I'm kind of partial to the ones that I serve.......Beer battered, nice and crispy.

Them Thar's good lookin' Wrangs!