Dearfolk,
My favorite sides at The Normaltown Cafe' are the daily casseroles: green bean, spinach, squash... and sometimes even something else, when the cook gets a fit of whimsy.
When on the road, I usually stay safe and order something they aren't apt to put sugar into, since I'm hypoglycaemic. Fried okra and onion rings are two stand-bys, if everything else looks iffy.
With barbecue, I see no sense in fries - they could be served anywhere. I take whatever regional thing(s) is/are offered.
Face it, I'm not a big "fries" person anyhow; there is very little guarantee of freshly-cut fried potatoes in most places, so I usually go with something else. The same is true, in the South, anyway, of "home fries" at breakfast... those usually come out of a carton and end up tasting like grilled leather.
I do remember one place I ventured into in Iowa where burgers came with fries or not at all: order the platter or get nothing, owner's orders. The fries were, I was made to understand, excellent: freshly-cut from local potatoes and fried unapologetically in 100% pure Iowa lard ("The only correct way to cook them," the owner assserted.). I went for a tenderloin instead, which did not come with the obligatory fries.
I'll be interested to see what develops here. Thanks, Tiki!
Classically Rendered, Ort. Carlton in Acropolis-Free Athens, Georgia.