Random Tater Pic of the Day #268

From good friend Terry's dinner table: venison chili dogs with Nathan's fries.

Fries of New York

Fellow Biff Bam Popper, author, and musician, Luke Sneyd hipped me to this quite some time ago, in fact a while ago when the exhibition was still running back in November of 2012. Even though these things sometimes slip through the cracks of the internet, the exhibition is still cool, and findable on the webs.

Sponsored by Sir Kensington's, makers of cool spiced ketchups, the company put together this awesome pop-up attraction called "Fries of New York: An Uncommon Exhibit" at 168 Bowery in New York City. Eighty different French fries from various New York restaurants participated and no left hungry as cocoa and chili-dusted waffle fries were served. Man, I wish I could've been there.

An article about "Fries of New York" can be found here, along with images on Instagram here, and all the great stuff at the Sir Kensington's website too. Mmm… fries… And thanks, Luke!

French Fry Diary 616: Ancho Chili Cheeseburger Potato Chips

"Feel Alive!" is what's written vertically on the side of the bag of these chips. One might assume that this is because they're manufactured by Blair's Death Rain, a hot sauce company, which is owned by Extreme Food. I've tried the their Buffalo Wing chips before, and the heat definitely made me 'feel alive.'

Like my first try from Blair's Death Rain, this is also a 'meat' chip. Fully called Blair's Death Rain Ancho Chili Cheeseburger Cauldron Cooked Potato Chips, these chips have no MSG, no transfats, are gluten free, kosher, and are of only medium heat.

The 'cauldron' cooking gives them the same twisted shapes as kettle cooked chips, but what really makes them stand out is the heavy coating of spices and seasoning. I think there might be more seasoning than chip, and it's very hot. So hot, medium or not, these aren't for me.

French Fry Diary 557: O!Karto

These 'Italian Potato Chips' were part of my Christmas present from friends Dom and Cindy, a selection of rare and exotic chips.

They are not really chips, more a potato concoction like Munchos or Pringles. Made from dehydrated potato flakes, starch, and granules, they are square shaped tubes, looking like regular cut French fries at a distance. This is apparently 'Italian style.'

The fact is they are not Italian at all. These Orion O!Karto Italian Potato Chips are Korean. They come in this flavor, Italian Gratin, and Chili Chili. The cartoon mascot on the bag, Mr. Karto, says, "O!Karto is unique and amazing type of potato snack. This Italian style snack 'O!Karto' is from high quality potato and fit for everyone."

The bag says they're cooked in sunflower oil, I guess that's the fit part. Although it's worth noting the ingredients also list vegetable oil, as well as palm and soybean oil. Your guess is as good as mine - much like the best by date, which is in Korean.

The Bride expressed interest in trying them, so I made her taste one first. She commented on how sweet they were. There's that, they are sweet, but I wasn't really getting the gratin. They could have used a bit more seasoning, even though I suspect the Chili Chili might have been too seasoned.

Because of their shape, these 'chips' might be interesting for dipping, especially in milkshakes or ice cream. They're a bit thin so maybe not. Taste wise, not bad, I would definitely try these again. Thanks, Dom and Cindy!

French Fry Diary 511: Nathan's Cheddar Cheese Crinkle Fries

These aren't the great French fries that Nathan's has at their restaurants (except for the one at the Moorestown Mall food court, which is inexplicably always staffed but never open when I've been there recently), these are corn meal snacks. I took a pic when I first saw them at Shop-Rite, and finally got around to buying a bag.

They also come in Honey Mustard and Chili Cheese, but I opted for the Cheddar Cheese Crunchy Crinkle Fries, mostly because those first two flavors really didn't grab me. The bag has both the great story and history of Nathan's as well as the ingredient list that verifies that potatoes had nothing to do with these fries.

Basically these are mediocre cheese curls but a lot of effort was put into making them look very close to how regular Nathan's French fries look. It works to a certain extent. The flavoring is uneven on the fries so you get a lot of cheesiness on some and hardly any on others. These are pretty good, but not great. If I want cheese curls, I think I might go for the real thing rather than these.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #111

Today's pic is from a food cart down the block from The Bride's offices on JFK Boulevard in Center City Philadelphia.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #103

This one comes from my friend Terry. These are Chili Cheese Tots from Frank & Stein's Eatery & Pub in Orlando, Florida.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #93

Nathan's new Crunchy Crinkle Fries snacks, captured on display at Shop-Rite.

Rachel Ray's Baked Chili Fries

This week's Food Network Friday is from "30 Minute Meals" starring Rachel Ray. The episode called "Put Me In Coach" features her recipe for baked fresh chili fries. Check it out!

French Fry Diary 152: Five Guys Cajun Fries

I love Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The burgers are better than most fast food places as are the fries, as a matter of fact, they are some of the consistently best franchise fries out there. One of the best things about Five Guys is the simplicity of the menu, including the fries - two sizes and two kinds - and I'd never tried the Cajun Fries, yet.

As friends and family converged on Five Guys for an August Saturday lunch, I felt brave and decided to try the Cajun Fries for the first time. We ended up with two orders as friends and family were game to help with the French Fry Diary experiment. The consensus was pretty unanimous.

The Cajun Fries at Five Guys are the same as the regular fries, natural cuts, but dusted heavily with Cajun seasoning. The seasoning includes, according to the manager on duty, salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, white pepper, and 'spice.' These are hot, oh so hot. So hot I think I burned the tip of my tongue and the roof of my mouth, yow. I had to suck on ice cubes to cool off.

Thankfully we also got the regular style fries as well for those of us with milder dispositions. And as always, the peanuts and the burgers were terrific, but I doubt I'll be getting the Cajun Fries any time soon. They weren't bad just very hot. There's a time for that, and folks who love that, just not me. I still love Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

French Fry Diary 109: Poll Results Spring 2010

The poll question of the moment on French Fry Diary for the last few months has been Best thing to put -on- fries, or dip fries -into-... Your answers are below:

Ketchup got 45% of the vote and cheese got 39%. These are the standards. Everybody likes ketchup (apparently, even though I don’t) and cheese fries are pretty darned popular. Next up is malt vinegar with 27% of the vote. These folks are either from the UK, have visited there or just stumbled upon this one. Similarly also from Europe, we get the mayo vote with 15%.

A notable 11% also like dipping their fries into their milkshakes just like I do. And we’ve talked about this before, I might be an oddball, but I’m not alone. One of my other favorites, barbeque sauce got a respectable 17%.

The pride of Canada, gravy, and disco chili fries each got 13%. Chocolate and maple syrup each pulled in 3%, while mustard, ew, got 11% of the vote. A recent favorite of mine, honey, which I’ve been putting on baked Nathan’s fries while they cook for an extra tasty sweet treat, got 7%.

Now ten percent of the vote went to ‘other.’ Now if you voted for ‘other,’ please do drop me a note and let me know what exactly you had in mind for your fries – I would love to know!

Chile-Cilantro Hash Browns

From Chow:

Chile-Cilantro Hash Browns

By Aida Mollenkamp

The ultimate hangover food, these hash browns are simply chile-spiked crisped potatoes sprinkled with cilantro. Serve them with a fried egg on top and a side of perfect bacon for a breakfast that will chase away the craziest night of partying.

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 pound russet potatoes
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet or frying pan over medium heat.

2. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and grate on the large holes of a box grater. Squeeze mixture by the handful to release as much moisture as possible. Mix potatoes with chili powder and pepper until well combined.

3. When oil shimmers, scatter potato mixture evenly in the pan and sprinkle salt over top. Cook until the bottom of the hash is golden brown and crisp, about 5 to 6 minutes. Break the hash into four pieces, flip, and cook until golden brown and crisp on the second side, about 4 to 5 minutes more. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately.

French Fry Diary 46: Nifty Fifty’s

The first thing that strikes one about the French fries at Nifty Fifty’s is the variety. Their fries come in cheese, spicy, spicy cheese, chili cheese, spicy chili, BBQ beef, BBQ beef cheese. I’m guessing you see a pattern here and I know there could be more if they tried, just based on the listed combos. Their chicken nuggets have similar varieties. On first impressions it might seem like they are trying to cover something up with these elaborate toppings – and they are.

The fries are natural regular cuts, nothing spectacular, while similar to Five Guys in appearance they are nowhere, I repeat, nowhere near as good. I got just regular fries with none of the toppings but there was still a hint of seasoning, maybe just bad preparation. The fries were lukewarm and soggy, from both grease and condensation. These were just really bad fries. No wonder they offer so many toppings to cover the fact up.

Nifty Fifty’s also has onion rings. These are big thick chunks of onion rings, obviously ‘home-made’ as advertised and evidenced by the haphazard way they have been battered – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. These were more onion than batter and had a pleasant Italian seasoning to them.

The rings were cold when I got them home (less than ten minutes in a closed bag), much as the fries had been just moments after I ordered them. One just assumes food should be hot when you order at drive-thru. I’ll give NF the benefit of the doubt and say the rings had time to cool. Onion rings rarely nuke well so I put them (seven of them in the one order) in the oven for a few minutes. They’re pretty good, not great. In all honesty I think I could make ‘em better myself at home.

So the rings are okay, and the fries bad, and the chicken nuggets questionable. If any of those are on your stomach’s agenda, I suggest you steer clear of Nifty Fifty’s.