who makes the best french fries

One of my fondest summer memories has to do with French Fries. Every year my family would go to Old Orchard Beach, ME and every year we'd end up eating lunch while on the beach. Jimmy's right on the beach had the best crinkle fries ever! They were cooked just right...just crispy enough on the outside and soft of the inside...maybe they weren't the best by most french fry standards and I'm sure it had something to do with being at the beach and with my family, but those, in my mind are still the best I can think of!

Coney Island Fries are good when Salted

The best "fries" I have ever eaten are from Pommes Frites in East Village of New York City.

They imported all their equipment from Belgium. They fry theirs twice.. once to cook, then once before you order to crisp them up.

They make all of their sauces and have about 30 kinds of sauce. You can see their website here:

http://www.pommesfrites.ws

They have no room to sit except for maybe 2 tables a chair or two and one outside, so plan on standing.

Looking at the menu I've had the following sauces:

Roasted Garlic, Rosemary Garlic, Smoked Eggplant - All of them were excellent. Rosemary being the strongest of the three flavors. Eggplant very smoky.

Sundried Tomato - This is probably a personal preference, but both my Girlfriend and I didn't like it. I don't like sundried tomatoes in the first place.

Parmesan Peppercorn - I love pepper and this doesn't disappoint. Strong pepper and cheese.

Irish Curry - Awesome.. just awesome. Not overly spicy, but very flavorful. Hard to describe, since the only thing I can get around here is a curry from an indian restaurant or thai. It's like neither of those.

Peanut Satay - I liked this. My Girlfriend said it wasn't flavorful enough. We were too busy eating our other favorite flavors to go back to this one.

I like French Fries...good ones can be salted, vinegared, dipped in a bunch of different sauces and gravies and  even battered and refried.

Picking the absolute best would be difficult. I will admit to not caring for the real 'little' or thin-cut fries like the ones at In-n-Out Burger out West. The 'shoestring' type seem to go limp and cold very quickly when served.  On the other hand the huge 'Wedges' don't do much for me either, unless they are part of a sit-down dinner. Traditional FF's are more my preference. Of the fast-food types Rally's seasoned fries are my current favorite.
 
The lose of the flavor-filled cooking lard really altered the FF taste years ago, and moved them from a primary choice to a filler-side order for me.

Pommes Frites has been reviewed here by billyboy on Roadfood.com.

http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/4173/pommes-frites
 
I liked the ones I had at Nathan's Famous in Coney Island a lot.  Latin Burger & Taco Truck switched from wrapping their fries in foil, and now serves them in paper bags.  They are very good.
 
There is a Les Halles in Coral Gables, and I hope to go there and have steak frites one of these days.

Hey Al, wasn't it tallow they used to use at McDonald's?

The best fries that I've ever had were at the original Doe's Eat Place in Greenville MS. Theirs are, IMO, simply perfect; I can't even imagine any others being better.

The Windmill at the Jersey shore
 

We recently went to Wright's Chicken Farm in RI, one of the biggest, all you can eat, family style chicken restaurants. They can seat over 1300 people, not including the large waiting area/bar/gift shop. They are known for their fries.
 
The fries are sort of sweet, and so cook up dark (the sugar carmelizes). Our server said that they use a special spud from Colorado, and get a trailer load 3 or 4 times a month. I think that they just refrigerate the potatoes for a week or so before use. "Properly" stored spuds do best at 45 F or so, and cold stored spuds 33-35F convert starch to sugar. I don't know for sure though.........because when you know how to sell 1.5 million meals per year, out of a single location, you must know how to keep some trade secrets!! 
 
UPDATE..... We returned yesterday....the fries were cold. The cheerful server brought more that were cold too. The chicken was way too salty and dry. The crowd was smaller. We were seated without a wait on a Sunday at 12:30. I hope that things improve.

There's a place on the Boardwalk in Wildwood called Curley's, (actually two locations on the walk) that makes REAL good hand cut fries - supposedly the guy who founded it worked at Nathan's for a long time, and learned all their 'secrets'.....they are damned good, though....

Sundancer7


POSTED BY JM199:
Affectionately called the Dirty O by locals, they sell ONE MILLION pounds of spuds a week. Fried in fresh peanut oil, they are a meal by themselves, if you get them topped with either cheese or gravy (wet fries). However, do NOT order large fries, as they can feed a small army.


That is about two pounds of spuds per second sold. That is one really busy place. There is better than 600,000 seconds per week. If they are not open 24 hours daily, they have a hell of a day shift rush. Must be really good spuds.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Aye Matey, me thinks the number quoted is a little erroneous!
Perhaps the Scoundrel means a million pounds a year!

Five Guys.
 
And, they provide malt vinegar, too!

For many years Simplot was a Client of mine, we did the food service for them at one of their Food processing plants. At the time this processing plant processed McDonals fries. They did many tests on the quality of the fries, one test was to count how many chews of the fry still gave you a crunch in your mouth. After all the years of testing with taste tests, they found the only think people really had to have on the fries was salt. They could do without every other dip or seasoning, but salt was a must. I agree, what I look for is  a good crunch to the outside, a meaty potato flavor on the inside and a dusting of salt. I think most any fry, right out of the fryer nice and hot is in most cases fine. Of course some are better than others, but these factors are a must, everything else is just covering up the true flavor with dips..............pnwc

Best I ever had were in Denmark:  pommes-frites that would make Anthony Bourdain (Les Halles) weep, served with sauce bernaise.
 
This is said in the same vein as Sean Connery's character saying to Honor Blackman's in Goldfinger: "Well, there was this girl from Philadelphia...".

varelas


Today on the home page of AT&T worldnet they have a poll on who makes the best french fries. Mcdonald's is leading at 42%. I do like the fries there but I rather have them from the local hamberg joint. They are only at 17%. Go cast your vote.

Burger Kind's NEW fries are very good!

Actually, Sean Connery said it to Barbara Carera in "Never Say Never Again"

They must have been reading our minds!
 Serious eats Did a fast food french fry comparison.
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/02/fast-food-french-fries-taste-test-mcdonalds-burger-king-wendys.html?utm_source=Serious+Eats+Newsletters&utm_campaign=d9391d4552-Serious_Eats_Newsletter_March_5_2012&utm_medium=email

Phildelmar


Actually, Sean Connery said it to Barbara Carera in "Never Say Never Again"

You are correct, Sir! 
 
In many ways I thought that was the best Bond film ever.
 
Do you think that comment was in any way an allusion to Grace Kelly?

MetroplexJim

Best I ever had were in Denmark:  pommes-frites that would make Anthony Bourdain (Les Halles) weep, served with sauce bernaise. 
This is said in the same vein as Sean Connery's character saying to Honor Blackman's in Goldfinger: "Well, there was this girl from Philadelphia...".

Color me dense, but I don't get the connection between pommes-frites and a girl from Philly????

Foodbme

MetroplexJim

Best I ever had were in Denmark:  pommes-frites that would make Anthony Bourdain (Les Halles) weep, served with sauce bernaise. 
This is said in the same vein as Sean Connery's character saying to Honor Blackman's in Goldfinger: "Well, there was this girl from Philadelphia...".

Color me dense, but I don't get the connection between pommes-frites and a girl from Philly????

O.K.:  here goes ...
 
Those fries were so outrageously, transcentently good that it simply wouldn't be fair comparing them to any other fry:  "apples & oranges". 
 
Evidently "the girl from Philadelphia" was so ...

MetroplexJim

Foodbme

MetroplexJim

Best I ever had were in Denmark:  pommes-frites that would make Anthony Bourdain (Les Halles) weep, served with sauce bernaise. 
This is said in the same vein as Sean Connery's character saying to Honor Blackman's in Goldfinger: "Well, there was this girl from Philadelphia...".

Color me dense, but I don't get the connection between pommes-frites and a girl from Philly????

O.K.:  here goes ...

Those fries were so outrageously, transcentently good that it simply wouldn't be fair comparing them to any other fry:  "apples & oranges". 

Evidently "the girl from Philadelphia" was so ...

OK, NOW I got it!
Lets see----The girl from Philly was so transcentently good that she tasted almost like some pommes-frites from Denmark. Pass the Salt - Shaker, not stirred!! 

Foodbme

MetroplexJim

Foodbme

MetroplexJim

Best I ever had were in Denmark:  pommes-frites that would make Anthony Bourdain (Les Halles) weep, served with sauce bernaise. 
This is said in the same vein as Sean Connery's character saying to Honor Blackman's in Goldfinger: "Well, there was this girl from Philadelphia...".

Color me dense, but I don't get the connection between pommes-frites and a girl from Philly????

O.K.:  here goes ...

Those fries were so outrageously, transcentently good that it simply wouldn't be fair comparing them to any other fry:  "apples & oranges". 

Evidently "the girl from Philadelphia" was so ...

OK, NOW I got it!
Lets see----The girl from Philly was so transcentently good that she tasted almost like some pommes-frites from Denmark. Pass the Salt - Shaker, not stirred!! 

Every man has a particularily "fond" memory of their own "girl from Philadelphia". 
 
Here's to all of them!

Metroplex Jim,
What's a couple dudes from Da Burgh doin' eatin'Pommes-Frites when we could have those great fries from The Dirty O!

Foodbme


Metroplex Jim,
What's a couple dudes from Da Burgh doin' eatin'Pommes-Frites when we could have those great fries from The Dirty O!

That's why I started this thread:  http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=447511&high=pittsburgh+memories .
 
I was introduced to "The Dirty O" back in the '90's when my eldest was going to Carnegie Tech Carnegie-Mellon.  Love everything about it, including the fries.
 
  
 
 

it has to be in and out burger their fries are never greasy.off course my homemade fries are better then anyones.
 

Going back a few posts, I think I have a solution to the girl from Philadelphia question. Connery made a film for Hitchcock called "Marnie" which was set in Philadelphia, in which he played a man obsessed with a beautiful, troubled woman played by Tippi Hedren.
Now, as to the Grace Kelly issue, Hitchcock was trying too shape Hedren as a replacement.
If my theory holds, it was a great in-joke on Connery's part' or the screenwriters.

Phildelmar


Going back a few posts, I think I have a solution to the girl from Philadelphia question. Connery made a film for Hitchcock called "Marnie" which was set in Philadelphia, in which he played a man obsessed with a beautiful, troubled woman played by Tippi Hedren.
Now, as to the Grace Kelly issue, Hitchcock was trying too shape Hedren as a replacement.
If my theory holds, it was a great in-joke on Connery's part' or the screenwriters.

Ah, the plot thickens!  And, I can see your point.  And the circumstance that "Marnie" was from Philadelphia was an homage to Princess Grace. 
 
Unfortunately for Hitchcock (& the World), there was only one Grace Kelly.  I practically have to wear a bib when I re-watch "To Catch a Thief"!  (Of course wondering if her fried chicken was as good as Stroun's or Prince's).
 
Tippi Hedren is now more famous for being Melanie Griffith's mother.

I confess to a similar attraction to cool, cerebral blonds. Hitchcock never did find  a replacement for Kelly, although he tried Eva Marie Saint

Grace Kelly was one of those rare, treasured folk, like John Wayne, Arnold Palmer, Ronald Reagan, and Joe DiMaggio that have an "it" that cannot be duplicated or replaced, only admired.

Wasn't impressed by Checkers