REVIEW: The 'Fry'-nal Countdown: Ranking the Best French Fries
I think we all know what a good french fry tastes like.
Light and puffy, with just the right amount of salt. Crunchy but not hard. These qualities and others add up to a great batch of fries.
But restaurants can't always get it right, and we have all experienced the tongue-turning disappointment upon biting into a bad batch of fries. A bad batch of fries can ruin an entire meal.
There are multiple kinds of bad fries. Undercooked or overcooked, not enough salt or too much salt, dense and heavy, soft and tasteless.
Given the sheer variety of fries, I decided to group them loosely by type and crown the champion. Thanks to five very different restaurants, I have tried every taste level of fry.
And an unexpected winner emerged.
The rankings
Last place on the list has to go to Braum’s.
Sadly, the beloved fast food and ice cream chain's fries didn’t live up to the expectations I was hoping they would. Their fries were packed together soggily and had no crunch except for the obvious ends of the fry. The salt was missing on most of the fries, and the ones that did have salt didn’t have the amount needed.
But the fries did have potential. The flavor of the fry itself was there, but it missed out on every other quality. These fries barely earned themselves a place on this list.
Fourth place goes to Freddy's.
Their fries weren’t bad at all. In fact, they tasted pretty good. These fries were less than an inch wide but were as long as my index finger. For fries this tiny, their flavor and seasoning really surprised me. Firstly, these fries were not burnt or overcooked at all. They were light, puffy, and crisp, just like a good fry should be. There was plenty of salt and it was probably thanks to the seasoning they used. Their seasoning was like no other. It amplified the taste of the fries.
Now, for the reasoning behind why these fries are in fourth place and not higher. With how many fries there were in this batch, the seasoning got overwhelming. There was just too much salt after a while.
Third place goes to RibCrib.
These fries were splendid. There are no other fries like them. RibCrib has their own special seasoning. A seasoning that mixes perfectly with the natural flavor of the fries. However, these fries went back and forth. The crispy texture would come and go with every fry. Some fries would be perfect while other would fall flat. Even so, these fries had the perfect fluff to them that really complimented the fries. These fries were excellent and definitely deserved this place.
Runner up goes to Burger King.
This was the most difficult place to put this great restaurant. Their fries were phenomenal in almost every single way. The salt added was perfect. The fries were light and airy, and they had great flavor. These fries were almost flawless. The only reason these fries didn't place first was their texture. These fries were a bit on the soft side, weighing down their value. Overall, these were some pretty good fries and I would definitely come back for some more.
First place goes to Arby’s.
Arby's came out on top because each fry had exactly what I was looking for. The taste of these fries were excellent in every way. There wasn’t too much or too little salt, and the best part was the flavor. The crispy flavor of these fries beat out every fry on this list because these fries are the only ones that had it. This crisp is why people call good french fries good.
Overall, none of these fries were terrible. And each restaurant has its bad and good days. I definitely think that I would come back to all five of these restaurants to try them again. Because every restaurant makes their fries differently, and I loved each one of them in their own way.
