Dollar Fries

I posted about this over on the French Fry Diary Facebook group (and if you're not a member already, why aren't you?) when the deal first started, and thought it needed repeating, especially when combined with other fast food deal news.

Checkers and Rally's, for a limited time, are selling their small, medium, and large famous seasoned fries for only a dollar. The Fry Lover's XL size are excluded sadly, but until further notice, fries are only a dollar at Checkers and Rally's.

Now, if you have the fast food places in your town close together, you could end up getting a very inexpensive fry snack by first hitting Checkers and Rally's for dollar fries, then hitting McDonald's, where for a similar limited time, any size soft drink is only a dollar as well.

Sound like a deal? Yep, that's what I thought. Can't beat it. Enjoy!

French Fry Diary 546: Red Robin Seasoned Steak Fries

I have a soft spot in my heart for Red Robin. It is, after all, the home of the Bottomless Steak Fries. So when I saw that they had frozen fries available to make at home, I quickly snagged a bag of these frozen fries. The bad news, of course, is that they are not bottomless.

With Arby's, Checkers, and Burger King all competing in the frozen fry game, why not Red Robin? They do make good fries. Their natural cut seasoned steak fries are awesome, and in the restaurant, always good for at least one refill, if not two. The package itself promises Red Robin's signature blend of seasoning salt, as well as quickie recipes for two different dipping sauces.

They are only directions for baking, so that's how I did them. I have to admit being a bit surprised at the high temp (425 degrees) and longer than usual time (30 minutes), but I always gotta follow the instructions for a first time cooking. And I also had a little concern over the amount of seasoning on the fries, it seemed like a lot. As they cooked, the whole kitchen was filled with the aroma.

To be sure, next time I will make adjustments to the time and temp. There were more than a few crispy critters, still edible, and mostly small pieces, but still more crispy than I like - and I like crispy. They were overcooked, but steak fries being thick and 'meaty,' it's hard to ruin them that way.

All that said, these were pretty good steak fries, but very spicy, spicier than I remember them being at the Red Robin restaurant. I would definitely get these again, adjust the directions, have a cold refreshing drink nearby, and enjoy... until I hit bottom, of course.

French Fry Diary 514: Burger King's French Fry Burger

Burger King announced yesterday that they were coming out with a new burger next week, called the French Fry Burger, it's a burger, (you ready for this?) with French fries on it.

Perhaps Burger King thinks it's reinvented the wheel here, but really, putting French fries on your burger is as old as burgers and fries themselves. I've been doing it since I was a kid, and know dozens of other folks personally who do it. It's officially called planking (no, not that planking) or sandwiching, and I've talked about here on the blog many times before. What is ironic is that Burger King's new fries are as conducive to sandwiching as their older fries. Too little too late, BK.

Now there may some novelty in having someone else do it for you, but that doesn't work for everyone. A catastrophically picky eater would never be able to order this burger plain at Burger King. The clerk's head would explode. It's hard enough getting just a plain hamburger, I can't imagine trying to get one with fries on it…

And it's not just customers who have been doing the planking, some restaurants are also getting into the act besides BK. Rally's/Checkers have been doing it for a while with their Fry Lover's Burger, and fancier places have been doing onion rings and strings on burgers for decades. There's nothing new under the sun, or ahem, under the bun.

Special thanks to my GAR! Podcast partner Ray for hipping me to the BK news.

French Fry Diary 439: Popeyes, Delaware House

It's been quite a while since I've been to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (or as they are colloquially known, Popeyes Chicken), not since they started to replace local area KFCs at least, and I've never been to the Delaware House rest stop on I-95 despite passing it perhaps hundreds of times, so why not kill two birds (or chickens) with one stone?

Delaware House, recently renovated a few years back, is a more likely stop on I-95 now that personal favorite Maryland House is now itself being renovated. Oddly enough, the first time I had ever been to a Popeyes was also at a rest stop, this one somewhere between Chicago and Milwaukee back in 1992. I remember two things about the visit - the biscuits were good, and there was a 'gentleman' giving out business cards at the rest stop declaring himself a 'procurer of companionship.' Uh huh.

That didn't happen this time. Delaware House is actually rather nice, and has a loungey food court vibe. Originally The Bride was going to get pizza at Famous Farmiglia, but once she smelled what Popeyes was cooking, to paraphrase The Rock, she joined me in line there. Despite what seemed a long line on a busy Friday night, we were quickly taken care of with a friendly smile. A-plusses for customer service and appreciation.

The Bride and I shared some spicy chicken tenders, and I got a biscuit and some fries of course. The biscuits are still just as good as I remembered. The Cajun Fries were crispy and battered natural cut shoestrings, as opposed to the regular cuts I had gotten the last few times I'd been to Popeyes. I wonder if that's a franchise-wide change or unique to this location.

The fries came in an old style fast food paper pocket, but overflowed into their own mini-box, which was a nice touch. Some of the fries were stuck together in batches due to the batter in the deep frying - nothing wrong with that, just interesting. The Cajun spices and cracked black pepper gives the fries a good zing, not unlike those at Checkers. Good stuff.

Good relaxing stop and dinner break, and best of all, no pimps. ;-)

French Fry Diary 409: Arby's Frozen Fries

A recent phenomenon in the fast (and comfort) food industry has been making restaurant foods available in your local grocer's freezer. Here on French Fry Diary, we've looked at this type of thing from Burger King and from Checkers. Now it's Arby's turn as their Seasoned Curly Fries are now out.

The cooking directions are pretty standard for baking, although I noticed that many fries were done when I stopped halfway through to turn them. The bigger curls still needed a bit more cooking. At the end of baking, the small pieces not connected to big curls, coils or twists were pretty burnt. All of the curls, coils and twists however were nicely crisp in a way you can't get at Arby's, or anywhere else for that matter.

These Arby's frozen fries were quite good. I haven't had grocer's freezer curly fries like this before. Recommended.

Introducing the Fry Lover's Burger

Whether you call it sandwiching or planking, putting French fries on your burger has now hit the big time. At Checkers and Rally's they will now do it for you with the Fry Lover's Burger.

"What do you get when you take a perfectly seasoned Checkers & Rally’s burger and top it with our famously seasoned fries? You get flavor awesomeness ... that’s what! Introducing the Fry Lover’s Burger. This bold burger starts with a 100% beef, hand-seasoned hamburger patty, then we top it off with Checkers & Rally’s fries, a slice of American cheese, pickles, ketchup, mayo and mustard. After that we toss it on a toasted sesame seed bun and serve it up to you hot and fresh. Getting hungry? Swing by your favorite Checkers & Rally’s and order one from our money-saving, flavor-craving Cha-Ching menu today!"

French Fry Diary 363: Checkers Undercover

The Bride and I like reality television a lot, probably too much. It's sort of like eating too many French fries (how can there be too many fries??), you know it's bad for you, but you end up doing it anyway. One of the programs we've watching lately is called "Undercover Boss."

The premise has the CEO of a big company going to work for his own company, in disguise, and at the bottom of the ladder doing grunt work. In this way, they get a first hand look at the problems and victories going on in their business from the ground up. While in disguise, they can't break character, at least not until the big reveal at the end of the show.

A recent episode featured Checkers & Rally's CEO Rick Silva (no relation to my friend and fellow writer Rick Silva) going undercover within his company. When he found the conditions at one of his restaurants less than satisfying, he said screw it, revealed his 'secret identity' and shut it down! Go Rick! Yet another reason to love Checkers.

French Fry Diary 362: Checkers Rally's Famous Fries

I was surprised and delighted to find these in my grocer's freezer section as I like Checkers quite a bit, and with Checkers Rally's Famous Fries, now I can have them in my own home without the run through the drive-thru. Props to the Checkers folks.

Now the directions offer the option to either bake or deep fry these spicy batter coated babies, but let me tell you - don't deep-fry them. Just chalk that one up to I did it so you won't have to. These are not good deep-fried.

Now baked is a whole other thing. Not only is there less grease than deep frying (or even from the restaurant if I'm being honest), but these large shoestrings are near perfect from the oven. You can regulate the crispness, and they are always soft and hot in the inside. The seasoning on the outside make any additional seasoning pointless. These are just great baked.

If you're making dinner, these pair well with a burger, and the fries are skinny enough to stack on the sandwich, and also add that great seasoning flavor to it as well. Thumbs up for Checkers Rally's Famous Fries.

French Fry Diary 361: Checkers

Checkers and Rally's are the same place, and essentially the same food, but here in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, we only have Checkers.

Checkers is predominantly a drive-thru and/or walk-up restaurant, even though there are a few tables outside, I don't think they get much use - its not Sonic. The lunchtime I visited the place was dead, no drive-thru traffic even - which is a shame because the food is pretty good. And notably, the customer service is also very quick, and usually pretty accurate too.

The burgers are big and tasty, although this time it did take some effort to get a plain burger. Speaking of Sonic, I think the shakes at Checkers are thicker and better, and excellent for fry-dipping. They also have the usual fare of chicken, fish, and hot dogs as well, but it's the favorite fried food we're here to talk about.

The French fries at Checkers are long (sometimes very long) regular natural cuts with a thick crispy batter coating, salted and black peppered. This orange colored spicy skin gives them an extra zing and crunch that contrasts the soft hot potatoey insides. These are darn good fries, but make sure you have a beverage handy to balance the heat. It's a good heat though. They're also great for sandwiching and, as I said, shake dipping, which will also cool some of that spicy fire.

The Checkers fries also nuke well in microwave once you get home, at least twice, sometimes three times, making them an excellent drive-thru fry that can be had later. Recommended.

French Fry Diary 188: Roy Rogers

To quote Tommy Kiefer and Cinderella, the local glam metal band of that sadly lost era, "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone," and that's kinda how I feel about Roy Rogers restaurants and their fries.

They used to be everywhere, and I enjoyed them a lot, but then a few decades back, they all disappeared, except for on the turnpikes and on the way to Baltimore and Washington DC. Founded by the singing cowboy actor of the same name, Roy Rogers used to be the number three fast food place behind McDonalds and Burger King, a slot now held by the fry-switching folks at Wendy's.

I have fond memories of Roy Rogers, believe it or not. I played Dungeons & Dragons there. I read my comics there after picking them up on payday. I took dates there, yeah, I know, I was a cheap bastard. It was where I went with friends after the funeral of another dear friend. And the local Berlin Roy Rogers was once a Gino's where I got one of my first jobs. Roy's was a mainstay of my youth.

Roy's also has a special place in my heart if for only one non-favorite fried food reason - they serve their hamburgers plain. Being a catastrophically picky eater I like my burgers plain, 'regular grill' as some fast food places call it, just the burger and the bun as I have to stress whenever I go through a drive-thru or even go inside. As anyone who has asked for a special order at a fast food place will tell you - I might as well be robbing them at gunpoint, they don't want to hear it.

McDonalds is a major offender for getting orders wrong, White Castle is almost impossible, and despite what their ads say about 'having it your way,' Burger King has a shoddy record as well. And Checkers, just don't even bother, it ain't happening. Roy Rogers is the plain hamburger godsend in an apparently incompetent world.

Roy Rogers Restaurants have some of my favorite fast food French fries. They are golden brown regular cuts, crispy on the outside, and soft and hot on the inside. They're good for sandwiching, dipping and especially for running through a drive-thru for a quickie snack. Don't forget to get some of the bbq sauce from Roy's Fixin's Bar for dipping, some of the best.

These fries reheat well at home either in the microwave or the conventional oven, same for the burgers, I might add. They're terrific sandwiched in your burger and Roy Rogers bbq sauce is the best for dipping. And best of all, in true western tradition, the fries come in a holster. Now really, how cool is that?

In recent years, Roy Rogers has also gotten into the curly fry business with standard natural cut curly fries covered with that also standard spicy orange seasoning. Nothing special here, but I don't care as long I can still get their regular fries.

Come back to South Jersey, Roy Rogers, and I don't mean to the turnpike, back to somewhere we can actually get to when we want to, and with a drive-thru too. We miss you, come back!

More Fries on Twitter

Sternenfee: RT: @bhaddad: http://twitpic.com/epjsq - Riding by the track to pick up some frieS. THEY ARE THE PERFECT SNACK AFTER BANGING THE GOATS #RWRTF

A_Thoroughbred: How IS Popeyes going to run out of wings ? Thats like McDonald running out of french fries... UNEXCEPTABLE ! (LoL)

ritawyatt: Just leaving Chick-fil-a. Longest line ever, but it moved pretty fast.

sarahreigstad: Maxwells waffle fries are absoluetly my favorite waffle fry ever! Especially when they are steaming hot and dipped in the sour cream sauce.

Kiamotor20: Walkingto schoool is so weird! Im carrying cupcakes and it's so humid! I ironed my bangs and they look like curly fries now!

DGPRinc: Have you tried Zucchini Fries?: Have you tried Zucchini Fries? Click on pic for recipe from The Dish: http://bit.ly/pyVB7

nvrsummer01: there's some fries in my tummy, so yummy so yummy!

Haz9mg: Aww my bestfriend daniella drove all the way to my job jus to buy me some fries from checkers....ily...

d_chambers: @vaquero_menos cooking fried catfish outside plus homemade fries, hushpuppies and onion rings. The whole area smells so good!

getoutalive: chick fil a is in cahoots with the devil ;)

MalloryRayne: RT @stoner_stuff Sundays are good for smoking pot and eating french fries..

Ooooo-kay. That’s about all the time we have for today. Maybe we’ll do this again some time...

French Fry Diary 33: The Winner

The very clear winner of our “What Are Your Favorite Fast Food French Fries?” poll is McDonalds. Twenty-nine out of ninety-three votes went to Mickey D’s golden fries. Granted they are very consistent, very tasty and very very famous, as well as convenient (where isn’t there a McDonalds nearby?)

I’d really like to hear from the folks who voted for McD in this poll. Let me know why you voted the way you did. Contact me here. Remember, curiosity killed the cat, not the French fry fan. That was cholesterol ;-) but we’ll let the Health Nazis take care of that diatribe.

Second place with eight votes belongs to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and most deservedly should. Their fresh and hot natural regular cuts are always terrific. Check out my review of their fries here.

Also with eight votes is the ‘someplace else’ category. Obviously I couldn’t list every fast food place in the country so I just went with a handful. Eight folks chose ‘none of the above,’ and just like above here in this article, I’d like y’all to please contact me and let me know who does actually have the best fast food French fries. You’ve got me curious, let me know! ☺

Now on the other end of the spectrum, it should be noted that Sonic (whose fries are not the best), White Castle, Jack in the Box, Nathan’s and Stewart’s received zero votes. I’d love to know why on that point as well. Are those fries really that terrible? I would take serious issue with Nathan’s unique thick crinkle cuts getting no votes as I think those are pretty special. Not the best, mind you, but up there pretty high.

In-N-Out Burger, which I’ve never had, and those spicy long fries at Checkers and Rallys both got seven votes each for third place. Bringing up a tie for fourth place were Burger King, Wendy’s and those tasty waffle fries from Chick-fil-A. Fifth place with four votes belongs to Popeyes which leads me to believe that a lot more folks like those long and spicy battered fries than I thought. Me, I can only have them once in a while. Too much aftertaste.

Sixth place, Fatburger, was what I personally voted for. Whether you get the Skinny Fries or the Fat Fries, I think they are the best of the fast food fries, followed by probably by Nathan’s, Five Guys, Chick-fil-A and maybe Roy Rogers. But what do I know… about French fries?

Whataburger took two votes for the distant seventh place, and Arby’s, KFC, Carl’s Jr., Hardees, Roy Rogers, Dairy Queen and Long John Silver all received one vote each. We’ll do this again at some point and see how folks’ minds may change (or not). Please feel free to comment below, or contact me directly. Until then, mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 28: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen

This one’s for you, Quentin…

First off, I was surprised at the name change. I always thought it was Popeye’s Chicken. I’ve seen signs that say Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits. But apparently it’s really, or at least now it is, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.

Louisiana Kitchen does make a little bit of sense as the franchise started in New Orleans as Chicken on the Run. An additional fun fact is that the name comes from Gene Hackman’s character in The French Connection not the cartoon character. Although, that said, how one lends itself better to the name of a fast food franchise over the other is just beyond me.

But enough about that, you want to know about the favorite fried food, right? Their official name is Cajun Fries, or on the website, Cajun Battered Fries. Yeah, that about says what you need to know, doesn’t it? Popeyes Louisiana fries are natural cuts, thinner than standard straight regular cuts but not as thin as shoestrings. They are battered and deep-fried for that extra-extra-crispiness, and then heavily seasoned. They are actually very similar to Checkers fries.


The crispy factor, brought on by the battering, leads to lots of small pieces that are either all crunch and no potato, or just simply inedible. It also makes microwaving or reheating later after you’ve been home a while an exercise in futility. Only the full fries will make it through that process un-rock-like.

Warnings to heed… while the Cajun seasoning is hot, spicy and tasty – it will also stay with you for a couple days. It’s a heartburn I’m unsure is really worth it. But it is tasty when it first enters your body. Also, at Popeyes, a regular order of fries is the standard fries in paper packet, but a large is a big ass paper box. So unless you want that many Cajun fries, consider yourself warned.

Popeyes also has onion rings. Apparently. When I inquired about them I was told they didn’t have them. When I asked about the sign depicting the onion rings that was right next to the counterperson, I was told, “Oh, that’s just a sign.”

Ooookay.


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