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.

French Fry Diary 474: Honey BBQ Smart Fries

I've had these Smart Fries before, and while an actually fairly healthy snack, they were pretty bland. That was the Classic Sea Salt variety I tried, and I theorized that the Honey BBQ or the Vinegar Splash might be better because they'd actually have flavor.

Now granted, there's not much discernible flavor to the Honey BBQ, but they do have a bit of a kick, and enough taste to make this truly a potato chip-like you-can't-eat-just-one situation. These are great snacks, and recently started being carried by Wawa. They also come in Vintage Cheddar, Honey Mustard & Onion, and Jalapeño Trio.

French Fry Diary 63: Nodding Head

I had the chance recently to go to the Nodding Head on Sansom Street in Philadelphia when celebrating a friend’s birthday. This brewery/bar/restaurant has quite a reputation and I’ve wanted to go for a while. The birthday gave me a chance to finally try their famous Spanish fries.

For the uninitiated, Spanish fries are fries that are specifically deep-fried using olive oil, always an interesting touch. Those at the Nodding Head were very good. Hot crispy versions of Five Guys fries, they were natural regular cuts tossed with parsley and served with a honey mustard dipping sauce. These were crispy good with soft hot potato-ey goodness inside and a spicy kick outside. It was a big helping and hard to finish, and this is a good thing.

The Bride ordered a steak salad, basically a salad with hot peppercorn steak strips over top – and a side of fries. That’s right, a salad that came with fries. Does it get much better than that? Thumbs up for Nodding Head, and Happy Birthday, Andrea!