Showing posts with label zagat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zagat. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

French Fry Diary 139: Wendy's

With all the hubbub of Wendy's changing their French fries due to low standings in the Zagat survey, I figured I had better review the old ones before they replace them with natural cuts.

Wendy's French fries (for now) are regular cuts, a little more golden brown in appearance than may be desirable - while some of them may look burnt - they're not. They are best when hot, but as with most fast food places - that's the luck of the draw. In fact, they get cold rather quickly and do not reheat well.

These fries are excellent for putting on your burger. Being a purist, I prefer a plain burger to get the full effect and taste of the fries. But the best way to enjoy Wendy's fries is in your Frosty. I've talked about this before here. Others do this too, so I'm not the only weird one here.

Frostys have just the right thickness (so do the shakes at Sonic) and consistency for this. If you really want to live dangerously, dip the fry-covered burger in your Frosty. Kids, don't try this at home, and everyone else, do so at your own risk.

Wendy's also has some pretty cool alternate dipping possibilities in the sauces for their boneless wings. These include the honey bbq, sweet and spicy Asian and spicy chipotle. I've also talked about this before, at the risk of repeating myself. My vote goes to the honey bbq.

As far as the fries go, there's nothing wrong with these fries really, and unless the new natural cuts are really really good, I think this will be a step down. Don't do it, and if you do, be careful. Hopefully we'll still have the old fries in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area for a while.

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Zagat Names Best French Fries

The Zagat Guide released their list for the best in fast food. According to The Consumerist: "Earlier this year, the burgers at quickly growing fast foodatrorium Five Guys made the Center for Science in the Public Interest's list of most calorie-filled meals in the country. Perhaps that's why the voters at the Zagat Guide recently chose Five Guys as the best burger in the country.

"In a survey of 6,500 fast food fans, Five Guys beat out all other burger chains for top honors, followed by In-N-Out -- last year's winner -- in second place. Rounding out the top five were, in order, Wendy's, Burger King then McDonald's.

"Among full-service chain restaurants, Red Robin reigned supreme. The rest of the top five were Stake 'n Shake, Cheesecake Factory, Ruby Tuesday and Chili's.

"Of course, what good are burgers without fries? And while Five Guys might be noted for drowning your burger in a sea of fresh-cut french fries, it still wasn't enough to be out McDonald's for the fry crown.

"The Golden Arches also took home gold medals in Best Value, Best Value Menu, Best Breakfast Sandwiches. And yet Wendy's was still voted Top Overall and Top Food among "Mega Chain" (over 5,000 location) eateries.

"The full results can be found here."


Also according to The Consumerist, as a possible result of this vote, Wendy's is now testing natural cut fries in Florida, North Carolina and Louisiana. They have been apparently getting rave reviews, but quite honestly in my opinion, there was nothing wrong with Wendy's old fries.

Two things - I'd better get to Wendy's and review their fries before they make a big mistake and change them, and In-N-Out Burger better open some east coast restaurants.

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