French Fry Diary 781: Lamb Weston Super Crispy Crinkle Cut Fries

Last year ConAgra Foods, one of the world's biggest French fries manufacturers, acquired Lamb Weston, another of the world's largest fry manufacturers. Recently they spun Lamb Weston off as its own frozen product line, and they're just now starting to show up in stores. 

Any fry from Lamb Weston should be great, as most fast food franchise fries probably originally came from them anyway.  Ideally it should be a superior product as you're cutting out the middleman, right?  I've seen four different varieties of frozen grocery fries with the Lamb Weston name on them - Crinkle Cut, Hand Cut, Thick Cut Hash Browns, and Diced Hash Browns, the last two obviously breakfast selections. They also have Steak Cut, Shoestring, and Potato Puffs.

I picked up a bag of the Super Crispy Crinkle Cut Fries.  There's a giant Grown in Idaho symbol on the bag that also proclaims 100% Real Potatoes.  Upon opening the bag I was surprised to see natural cut fries.  The skin-on crinkle cut French fry is indeed a rare beast.  And even though I have become accustomed to almost exclusively air-fried fries, I put a serving of these babies on a pan to bake, per their official cooking instructions.

The fries needed a minute or so more cook time than the directions indicated, but in any case they came out great, super crispy as promised, hot and soft inside.  I really enjoyed them, and they were just as good when air-fried.  Thumbs up.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #286

Today's Somebody Else's Fries comes from dear friend and frequent FFD contributor Robin Renee. Crinkle cut French fries with garlic powder, cayenne, and truffle salt (plus a tomato and peppers from the garden and volunteer dandelion greens).

Random Tater Pic of the Day #251

As I mentioned when I covered the SJWG surprise party at The Vault, friend and fellow writer Vince Sparks got me a very thoughtful and special gift - a French Fry Pen, to 'make my writing sizzle.' I love it!

French Fry Diary 694: White Castle Frozen Fries

The day before I found these, I had been watching an episode of Jon Hein's "Fast Food Mania" talking about Valentine's Day at White Castle, and lamenting that there was no longer any White Castles nearby any more. Toms River is quite the road trip for a sudden slider craving. Now these frozen fries, along with the grocery freezer version of the brilliantly microwave-steamed sliders, might just be able to approximate the White Castle experience at home.

I had thought in my passing acquaintance with White Castle fries that they were simply standard frozen crinkle cut fries, but examination of the contents of the bag made it clear these crinkle cuts are smaller. Not quite pixie crinkles, but larger than shoestrings, and

just as long. I'm not sure I remember the real thing being like this, but I'll pay more attention next time.

They came from the oven quite tasty. Crisp and hot and tasty, yes, but not all that much like real White Castle fries. Not that they couldn't be, of course. Follow the cooking directions, but keep a sharp eye on them while in the oven. You can have these just like in the restaurant, or however you like them. These are good fries, well worth it.

French Fry Diary 689: Famous Nathan

I like documentaries, so there's that, but folks that know me know the real reason I watched Famous Nathan, the bio-doc about Nathan Handwerker and his restaurant empire Nathan's Famous. Yeah, for the fries.

Regular readers know that I count Nathan's Famous Jumbo Crinkle Cut French Fries among the best fast food franchise fries, so of course I'd like some possible background on them. While Famous Nathan is a doc on Nathan Handwerker, you never know, there might be some insight on the fries.

The first thing on that front that caught my attention were the old pictures of the original Nathan's at Coney Island. The price I saw for fries (although the potato chips were more prevalent, at least in the old days) was five cents, which is cool, but I also noticed something else.

Nathan's had a lot of stuff for sale like malteds, different flavored sodas, hamburgers, potato chips, and roast beef. Look close, you'll even see fried sea food, barbeque, and chow mein. Clam chowder, frog's legs, shrimp - what couldn't you get at Nathan's?

The bio-doc goes on to reconstruct Nathan's journey to America, his rise in his chosen field, include interviews with family and friends, as well as feuds. Everyone in the doc is a larger than life character who plays a part in the world of famous Nathan and his empire on that corner in Coney Island. This is a delicious treat full of wonderful stories.

Fries aside, Famous Nathan, while failing in the best way as a biography because Nathan Handwerker was a hard man to get a handle on, the film is an amazing look at the American Jewish experience in the 20th century. The home movies may be of a specific famous family, but the tales are that of every family. This is America. Highly recommended.

French Fry Diary 687: Herr's Chickie's & Pete's Crabfries Potato Chips

Whenever someone asks me who has the best French fries, and especially the best locally made fries, there is always one name that comes up - and that's Chickie's & Pete's. Their trademark Famous Crabfries are truly fabulous. In many ways, those pixie crinkle cuts with their special Old Bay seasoning and white cheese for dipping are Philadelphia.

Now, two local potato giants - Chickie's & Pete's and Herr's- have come together for one potentially sensational product. Yeah, Crabfries Potato Chips. The full name of the product is exhaustingly (take a deep breath) Herr's Chickie's & Pete's Famous Crabfries Seasoned Potato Chips with White Creamy Cheese Sauce Flavoring. Fifteen words. That's probably a record.

As I love Crabfries, I was pretty excited when I heard about these, but then I also heard they also had the cheese flavoring in them. I love the fries, but the white cheese not so much. The Bride loves it, but I usually give it all to her for dipping. This detail made me wonder if these chips would be as good as I first thought. Notably cheddar cheese is listed third in the ingredients.

When I opened the bag, the aroma was not unpleasant, but additionally it was not what I expected either. I didn't smell Crabfries. Clearly this is not a Lay's Do Us A Flavor chip, but that may be a good thing. The chips themselves as depicted on the package were wavy ripple chips, a nice homage to Chickie's & Pete's crinkle cut fries.

My first bite however brought that special Old Bay seasoning home. This was exactly the taste of the Crabfries, and after a couple more chips I got the cheese flavoring as a cumulative aftertaste. These are very good, I liked them a lot. Much like the Crabfries, these are very hot, so have something to drink close by. Thumbs up for these chips.

French Fry Diary 679: Hamburgers in Sausalito

Guest post by my big sister, Bobbie, one of the coolest ladies I know.

So on our recent trip to San Francisco we were on a tour that stopped in Sausalito. We were hungry and had about forty minutes before the ferry would take us across the Bay and back to Fisherman's Wharf. We saw a restaurant across from the ferry called Hamburgers and decided to give it a try.

The restaurant was about ten feet wide and thirty feet long. There were no tables everything was to go. As you entered there was a round iron grill going in round like a turntable and the chef was putting burgers (and chicken) on the grill as it spun. We ordered our burgers and of course fries. Then went outside until our number was called.

The burgers were juicy and spiced and the best I've had in a long time. But the fries were fantastic. They were crinkle cut, deep fried and then tossed in a bowl with salt and spice. The outside crispiness reminded me of those Potato Sticks that come in a can, but inside was soft potato goodness. I thought of my poor brother who was missing this wonderful treat and snapped pictures of the meal and restaurant.

And if you are a vegetarian their second restaurant in Sausalito is called Veggie Burger.

Thank you, Bobbie, you rock!

French Fry Diary 671: Ott's 2013

Two summers past the Pineland Players performed "Into the Woods" and of course I went to see The Bride in it along with a couple of our friends. As the Medford P.J. Whelihan's was uncooperative with their reservations, we went to the Medford Ott's instead. I have been there before, not under the best of conditions, and the customer service was lacking, but I'm always willing to give places a second chance.

I ordered the Old Bay fries, which were store bought frozen crinkle cuts deep-fried and tossed in Old Bay seasoning. The fries were very good, better than they had a right to be honestly. They came with a white cheese sauce that tried very hard to be the stuff from Chickie & Pete's, but failed in my book. The fries had just enough seasoning to be good, like baby bear's bed, not too much and not too little. The Bride liked them so much, she finished them.

I had also asked for a side of the honey teriyaki sauce I liked last time, but it did not come. The wings that that sauce usually comes with did however. Customer service had not improved on this occasion. But in our waitress' defense, she had other things to worry about on this particular Saturday night, like patrons falling off barstools onto the floor near us. Quite a party night.

There was a band that night as well, called B.S. and The Truth. At first I hated them because they did a double shot of Van Morrison followed by Lynyrd Skynyrd - I thought I was in Hell. Really though, as the set went on, they were really good, doing some excellent and surprising covers not usually in the repertoire of a band like that. I was impressed. By the band, but not necessarily by Ott's.

Update: It should be noted that this review was written back in 2013, and I've since been to Ott's numerous times since when the food and the customer service were superior. This is a major reason why I do give some restaurants second chances. Some places like Ott's have bad nights, and now, it's one of my favorite places. Every other time I've gotten the Old Bay fries since, they have been awesome. They also have great potato skins, and I'm not a potato skins guy, so there you go.

French Fry Diary 662: Nathan's Kettle Cooked Crinkle Cut Potato Chips

Now I've reviewed them before and I'm quite fond of Nathan's Potato Chips, the thick crinkle cut style. On a recent stop at the fryless Nathan's at the Thomas Edison rest stop on the NJ Turnpike, I saw these chips - kettle cooked crinkle cuts. I figured I'd give them a try.

First things first. The bag was so hard to open (I eventually gave up and just used a scissors) I thought perhaps I was mistaken and had actually bought it at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

These are almost identical to the other chips in every way except for the kettle cooking. The chips are too crunchy and too greasy. It's almost as they were trying to ruin them. But I can't really say that. I don't like these, perhaps someone does.

French Fry Diary 648: Ore-Ida Bold & Crispy Garlic and Pepper Steakhouse Fries

One of the new fries in Ore-Ida's new Bold & Crispy line are these Garlic and Pepper Steakhouse Fries. They immediately got my attention because of their lengthwise crinkle cuts, closer to the old Gulliver's type than Famous Dave's. I was looking forward to trying these.

When you first open the bag, the garlic aroma is very strong and will remain so as they bake, but not so much when they're done. Your kitchen will smell nicely garlicky for about ten minutes or so, but it's a good thing.

These lengthwise crinkle cuts allow for extra crispness, but I would watch and adjust the heating directions as appropriate for you. My fries were done with seven minutes to spare by their instructions on the bag.

While the smell is good, I thought I had cooked the garlic out of these fries. Mind you, you'll still need a breath mint after having some, but nowhere near as garlicky as one might think. And while I can see the pepper and seasoning on the fries, they don't have much of a kick, so I get the 'crispy,' but not the 'bold.'

French Fry Diary 645: Laundromat Luncheonette

This memory is a very old one. When I was a little kid, my family didn't have the kind of things that other families had. We weren't poor, we were never poor. But let's just say we were a bit slower on the curve from everyone else.

It was a long time before we had a color TV, a stereo, a microwave oven, a dishwasher (well, maybe we had one of those, it was me), cable TV, an air conditioner, and a washer and dryer. Actually a few of those things we never had, but for the purposes of this entry, it's the washer and dryer I want to talk about.

No washer and dryer meant weekly (at least) trips to the local laundromat in the next town over in Berlin. All the dirty clothes would be put into pillowcases, packed into the car, and a few hours would be spent at the laundromat. There are many things to remember about that place. There were the full color picture Bibles chained to the bottom of the chairs, the Canada Dry Sport Cola in the soda machine, meeting an African-American boy for the first time and playing under the folding tables, and the penny gumball machines that also had peanuts and pistachios in them.

Despite all that, it was easy for a little kid to get bored. Sometimes I would go watch the car wash, and sometimes I would walk around the entire strip mall building the laundromat was in. It also included a dry cleaners, a paint store, a luncheonette, a liquor store at one end and a Sears pick-up center at the other. Honestly I think only the laundromat still remains, everything else has changed.

There's an AutoZone where the Sears used to be. I have fond memories of the Wish Book catalog at Christmas, and my dad getting his boat there, with what my childlike memory says were S & H Green Stamps. Bonus points if you remember them. And the liquor store at the other end of the strip is now a Risqué Video.

Every once in a while my mom would send me up to the luncheonette to get a snack to share while we waited for the laundry to get done. The snack? What else? The favorite fried food. I still remember the luncheonette, like a tiny diner squeezed into a strip mall-sized store - a store length counter with maybe half a dozen small booths along the opposite wall. The name however escapes me. Was it Nan's Luncheonette? Maybe. It could've also been Pat's, or Lynn's or something completely different.

The crinkle cut French fries, probably deep-fried, in a small paper box - circa the very early 1970s, were thirty-five cents, a quarter and a dime. At the time, with a comic book costing a quarter, this seemed like a fair price. It certainly beats the eight-dollar fries at the Old Homestead Steakhouse.

This is a very old memory, sharing French fries with my mom at the Berlin laundromat, but it's a very good one. I'm going to go do some laundry now, and maybe have some fries too. And I definitely miss my mom, and my childhood.

Fry High

Apparently there's a reason you can't just eat one fry or one potato chip.

Much like chocolate, or the more illegal addictive substances, French fries have a particular effect on the human body.

And no, Health Nazis, I'm not talking about obesity or transfats.

Apparently, French fries can get you high. 

Wow, man...

French Fry Diary 618: Richman's Ice Cream

Richman's in the Echelon Mall was my first real job. When I say real, I mean I was paid above the table and I actually needed a Social Security number for it. I was at the mall, saw the 'help wanted' sign, and asked for an application. I remember the kid at the counter, Dave was his name, first guy I ever met with a rat tail (yes, I'm dating myself), said manning the ice cream counter out front let you see all the girls walk by in the mall. This would be an awesome job!

I got it, and after buying a couple pairs of white pants, white shirts, pinning a badge on and topping it off with a paper hat, I was ready to go. The first day I spent scooping ice cream, weighing and putting it back in the bucket. I had to get the weight right before I could scoop for the public. For the next week, I rocked the front counter, meeting girls, and getting digits. As I suspected, awesome job.

Then counter training ended, and busboy/dishwasher training began. Star in the front to troll in the back overnight. This job was not fun. It seemed like I would never get back to the front, and as the holidays approached, I scored the primo job at the top of the mall food chain, at a record store.

That wasn't the first time at the Echelon Mall Richman's however. My cool big sister took me there once years before. In a lesson of learning the value of money, I had to earn enough to go to this 'grown up expensive restaurant.' I also learned things later while I was employed there. The government takes a lot out of your paycheck, and always carefully examine your food - you never know when a fly will die unnoticed in the rum raisin ice cream. I have never had that flavor, ever, since then.

I've told the story of the other thing I learned on an early episode of The GAR! Podcast, but I'll tell it again here. My first day on my dinner break, I ordered the Basketburger, and the waitress and multiple cooks kept calling back in the kitchen "Basketburger" and "Employee meal." I would later learn it meant to do it right, not mess with it, and if it fell on the floor, to throw it out. Yeah. Glad I was an employee.

Not a Richman's Basketburger, but you get the idea...

The Basketburger was a bigger than McDonald's burger on a sesame seed bun, a pickle, cole slaw, and crinkle cut fries. I didn't know then, and believe it or not, I never saw into the kitchen, but I'm pretty sure the fries were frozen and deep fried even though they didn't taste that way. They were pretty good and didn't taste greasy.

Working at Richman's was an educational job, fun at times, and the fries were pretty good too. Well worth it for the short time I was there.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #162

These freezer-burned but baked frozen crinkle cut fries are just as miserable as the place where I found them - Virtua Hospital in Mount Holly. Not where you want to go for fries...

French Fry Diary 608: The Competing Dogs at Cool Dog Café

While of course I'm rooting for The Bride's entry, Larry's South Philly Retro Dog to win Cool Dog Café's 3rd Annual Create-A-Dog Contest, it should be noted that there are some entries that may be of interest to readers of this blog.

Being voted on through this weekend are the Frenzy Fries Dog, which features crinkle cut French fries, hot sauce, cheese sauce, blue cheese dressing, and celery salt - and it's up against the Breakfast Dog which has pepper jelly, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns.

Later in the month, the Snack Attack Dog with cheese sauce, crushed Cheetos, pretzels, and potato chips, faces off with the Stuffed Tater Dog with tater tots, sour cream, chives, and bacon. Wow, some interesting combinations there.

I'm still biased for Larry's South Philly Retro Dog, don't forget to come in and vote when it's time at the end of August!

French Fry Diary 607: No More Satisfries

This has not been a good week for the favorite fried food. First I'm losing one of my favorite restaurants, Little Shanty, and now Burger King has announced they are discontinuing their Satisfries.

The Satisfries were a lower calorie alternative to the normally crappy and constantly changing regular fries at Burger King. These crinkle cuts were awesome when hot and even reheated, and quite frankly, a reason to actually go to Burger King rather than someplace else. After less than a year on the menu, BK has decided to pull the plug on these great fries because sales were apparently less than 'satisfrying.'

This coincides with Burger King's reintroduction of their Chicken Fries. BK claims they are back by popular demand and further says, "Get yours before they're gone!" perhaps implying that nothing on the BK menu is safe or permanent.

Chicken fries, meh, I'd rather have Satisfries. At least Burger King is consistent in their bad calls.

French Fry Diary 593: Weight Watchers Smart Ones

I'm not a good diet guy, besides the obvious fact that I write a French fry blog, I think many diet versions of foods lack fundamental taste. I don't mind low fat pancake syrup. Regular Jell-O is better than the no sugar stuff but I'll still eat it. Of course, on the other hand anything other than whole milk tastes like flavorless white water, and surely urine is yummier than Diet Coke.

Anyway, I've done Weight Watchers before, and didn't do too bad at it. The Bride currently does a steady diet of WW Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine microwave meals. While shopping for her I found something of interest to both me, and the blog - Smart Ones French fries.

The two meals in question are Chicken Strips & Fries, and the more traditional Fish & Chips. It should be noted that these aren't the regular TV dinner style nukables, but microwave trays like the Ore-Ida Easy Fries use.

The Fish & Chips included 'salt & pepper crinkle cut french (sp) fried potatoes.' Pretty standard crinkle cuts with duh, salt and pepper. The Chicken Strips & Fries included 'ranch seasoned french (sp) fried potatoes.' Other than Weight Watchers' insistence on not capitalizing the word 'French,' these were pretty good. Natural cuts that were somewhere between regular cuts and shoestrings, these were a little limp but still good. They needed seasoning, so obviously I didn't taste the ranch seasoning. These were not bad at all.

French Fry Diary 589: T.G.I. Friday's Loaded Fries

Now I love T.G.I. Fridays, so I know their menu fairly well, even though I don't get to go as often as I might like. And knowing their menu, I know that they don't really serve this item, T.G.I. Friday's Loaded Fries, in the restaurants. While they have a variety of French fry-like products, I don't think they even have crinkle cut French fries like these. Potato skins, yes, French fries, no. We'll forego that bit for now and review this frozen grocery treat as is.

These are very similar to the microwave fries I've reviewed before, the Ore-Ida Easy Fries. Same directions - cook 'em in the box, but then add the cheese and bacon. Other than having to melt the cheddar sauce in running warm water, this is a pretty easy prep.

The box comes with the same type of microwave box, and two packets, one with cheddar cheese sauce, and the other with shredded cheddar and American cheese, and bacon bits. There's a four minute plus fries cooking time then an additional minute with the toppings. The problem is you get a soggy box pan with the fries glued to the bottom with cheese.

Once you've pried the fries from the cheesy glue box, they're not bad. They don't have the crispness of the Ore-Ida Easy Fries, no matter how else they are close to them. I wonder if the size of the box (slightly bigger) or the additional cook time for the toppings has anything to do with that. These are not bad in a pinch, but I think it might be easier to do Easy Fries and apply your own toppings when they are hot from the microwave.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #146

These were the mashed potatoes from this year's DIS Meet Weekend. They were pretty good, but much like last year, I found myself jealous of the kids who got chicken tenders and beautiful golden brown crinkle cut fries…

For more on the NJ DIS Meet Weekend, check out the Make Mine Magic Podcast's special episode on the event here.

Grindhouse Killer Burgers

Back in September, one of my favorite bloggers and writers, Liz Henry, a recent transplant from Philly to Atlanta, visited Grindhouse Killer Burgers and got these crinkle cut fries.

Liz says: "They have just a hint of Old Bay and, by far, the best fries we've had since we got here. Unlike Philly, not everywhere offers fries. Pizza places are, generally, pizza only and maybe salads. It's kinda killing me. Heh. The burger is the 'Yankee.'"

Wow. Who's up for an Atlanta roadtrip?