Hello, and welcome back to the regularly schedule weekend edition of Tyler’s French Fry Thoughts! For this weekend, I chose to check out this place, Paul’s Fifth Avenue. I have never been to this place, never heard of this place, and when I first saw it, I was amazed that a place like this had been so close to me for so long, and I had never even considered of going here. So, I went ahead and got that fixed, and here’s my review.
Address: 1565 W 5th Ave, Columbus, OH 43212
Cut: Straight Cut
Thickness: 5.5/10
Crispiness: 5/10
Salt/Seasoning: None
Price: $2.99/serving
The first thing I noticed about the fries here is that they were very well cooked, very hot on serving. The fries had the exact crispy exterior/fluffy interior that is considered ideal. There was some minor potato bruising, visible on the picture, but it did not affect texture or taste. There isn’t too much to say about these fries, the fries are very high quality, but they are definitely on the plain side, which in this case is hardly a major issue, considering the fries themselves are high quality and cooked very well. The serving is fairly small for a $2.99 price point, but they are quite filling for the amount given.
Hello! Welcome to a special weekday edition of fry reviews! For this review, I went to a place that I’ve noticed while driving through Clintonville and Worthington many times before, but never stopped at, and for months at a time, forgot it existed. This is Over The Counter Restaurant. From the outside, the place looks abandoned, like nobody’s so much as stepped in there for years, also it’s in an unusual location, away from downtown Worthington, but far enough away from the core walking areas of Clintonville that few of them ever venture up this far. Also, the place has unusual hours, open 3 hours near lunch, and 3 hours near evening. But enough of the area, how was the food?
Address: 5596 N High St, Worthington, OH 43085
Cut: Straight cut (hand-cut style)
Thickness: 4.5/10
Crispiness: 4.5/10
Salt/Seasoning: Very light salt, and (per the menu) rosemary oil.
Price: $3.99/serving (pictured two servings)
First off, the fries were very tasty, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the rosemary oil unless it said so on the menu, but seeing it there, the subtle taste of it was easy to discern. These were lightly salted, and were pretty light on the attached grease for hand-cut style fries. The fries were served in restaurant name branded baskets (I thought this was a nice touch), and were all around tasty fries. Fries were cooked well, and served very warm. Size of the serving was proportional to the relatively high price. As is typical for hand-cut fries, skins were present, and had slightly thicker insides (as opposed to what’s usually considered the ideal, light and fluffy insides). On the bottom of each serving (totaling about 1/6 or so of the serving amount) was some leftover small skins and assorted potato pieces. This isn’t a negative so much, but the first place that systematically gets rid of these will get a shout out on here. Overall, very good fries, and I would definitely come back again.
Hey everybody, welcome back to a new installment of fry thoughts for your consumption! Yesterday morning my wife and I went out to this place, Ma-Maw’s diner, about a half an hour outside the city. I like a good drive almost as much as I like my morning plate of french fries, so it’s good to get out and see the area.
Address: 1001 S Main St # 4, Baltimore, OH 43105
Cut: Straight/Shoestring (hard to tell in this case, it’s borderline in the classification)
Thickness: 3.5/10
Crispiness: 4/10
Salt/Seasoning: Light salt, no seasoning.
Price: $2.49/serving.
The french fries here are branded as Brew City Fries, and to be honest I don’t know if that means anything in particular, or if it’s just something they call the fries to sound cool, but the best thing about the fries here is that for a fry that is almost a shoestring cut, they’re very substantial on the inside. A lot of diners, if they use a thin cut, due to the re-use of the oil and having to fry many different types of foods, the fry will come out overly crisp on the outside, and the inside will be almost hollow. This did not happen here, the fries almost feel creamy on the inside (this is a very good thing). The serving size is slightly small for the price, but not by much. The fries were served very war, but not piping hot, and tasted very fresh. Overall a very good experience, though by my experience the fries were the best part of my order (contrary to some beliefs, I do eat other things when I’m doing these reviews).
Hello! For the most recent review I decided to take a nice drive out to Johnstown, to check out this place. A small diner, on one of the main roads going through Johnstown, I saw the description and appearance and immediately knew I had to check the place out. So, how was it?
Address: 16 S Main St, Johnstown, OH 43031
Cut: Straight Cut.
Thickness: 5/10
Crispiness: 5.5/10
Salt/Seasoning: None.
Price: $1.99/Serving
The fries here are a straight cut variety. Visually, the first thing that stands out is the color variation, this doesn’t affect the taste, and isn’t particularly indicative of the crispiness of the fry area. Fries were very warm when served, but not extremely hot. The fries were well cooked, and had the crispy exterior/fluffy interior that is often highly desired in french fries. Serving size was on the smaller side, but the price was also pretty low, so it balances out pretty well in this regard. This is another place, similar to last week, where the french fry serving size was small compared to everything else. It’s the second week in a row where I was served pancakes that could only be described as outrageously sized. This place fits the definition of greasy spoon as well as any diner I’ve been to, and the decor on the inside was impressive. I’d happily go back, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a small town diner.
Hello! The other day, I got the opportunity to go down to Dayton to go shopping with my wife and see some cool stuff at an antique mall. On the way down there, as good people do, we stopped to get ourselves some breakfast. Just from looking, the area has a lot of diner style restaurants and other breakfast places, so picking one was kind of difficult, and took most of a day to ultimately decide. This was the place that I decided on, a local diner in Springfield, just off of the highway partway from Columbus to Dayton.
Address: 920 Selma Rd, Springfield, OH 45505
Cut: Straight Cut (hand-cut style)
Thickness: 4/10
Crispiness: 4.5/10
Salt/Seasoning: None
Price: $2.99/Serving (pictured, two servings)
These fries are a hand-cut variety, with skins present throughout the fries due to this. As is typical from this cut, the fry holds a lot of grease, so you’re definitely getting your daily allotted grease from this meal (in a good way in this case, it definitely helps the taste). Fries were very hot and fresh, the only negative is that some of the fries weren’t cooked all the way through, they had that slight spongy interior texture, that is pretty typical for hand-cut fry varieties, but these were better than average in this respect, I’ve hardly ever had fries of this style that completely avoid this issue. Serving size was slightly small for the price, mostly compared to the rest of the food we received, which was absolutely massive for the price (seriously, the pancakes were the size of my head, and I was dumb enough to order two, won’t do that again). Overall, I’d highly recommend this place, if you’re in the Springfield area, and I will definitely try to return sometime in the future, even though I rarely if ever travel out this way.
Welcome back to a new installment of Columbus Ohio’s finest fries! This weekend I had the pleasure of trying the fries at Beer Barrel, a restaurant with several locations through Ohio. The location I chose to try was the Dublin, Ohio location.
Beer Barrel Pizza and Grill:
Address: 7482 OH-Route 161, Plain City OH, 43064.
Fry Cut: Straight Cut
Thickness: 7/10
Crispiness: 3.5/10
Salt/Seasoning: None
Price: $3.35/serving.
Beer Barrel french fries are a thick cut french fry, with very fluffy, potato filled insides, not very crispy overall, but the edges of the fries do have a little more crisp to them than the middle of the fries. Potato skins are present on some sides of the french fries, but the skin overall does not impact the texture of the fries where it is present. Serving size is small for the price, but due to the size and density of the fries, the fries end up being far more filling than the serving size would suggest (as a note, pictured is four single servings). Fries were very hot and fresh, and taste was overall excellent. These would go very well as a side to a main course serving, or with a drink due to how filling they are. Overall, highly recommend these fries, as well as the restaurant in general.
Hello, fellow fry aficionados! It’s good to be back. It’s been over three years since I last made an update here, and that’s simply far too long. Plenty of great french fries have been found over this time, but between starting a life with the wife, moving into a new house, and something called a global pandemic (and simple laziness, I won’t lie), it’s been a while since I’ve updated here.
But no more! Partially because life has settled down (a year in the new house will take up quite a bit of time and energy), and as celebration of two weeks fully vaccinated from the aforementioned pandemic, there was no better way to rejoice than to restart what I love most, finding wonderful french fries from all around.
To be fair, Linworth Diner is hardly new to me, I’m not flying blind into this place. It’s the second location of this diner, the first is George’s Beechwold Diner, which I have already reviewed previously. It’s been open for over two years, and I’ve eaten here plenty of times, but have never put my thoughts to the paper on this place. So, let’s get right to it.
George’s Linworth Diner:
2245 W Dublin Granville Rd (OH State Route 161), Columbus OH, 43085 (corner of 161 and Linworth Rd.)
Fry Cut: Crinkle Cut
Thickness: 4/10
Crispiness: 5/10
Salt/Seasoning: None.
Price: $2/Serving (three servings pictured)
The first thing about these fries that jumps out is not anything about the fries themselves, but the absolutely huge serving size provided, for three servings I got a full sized dinner plate filled several inches high with french fries. Simply put, if you want to stuff yourself full of potatoes for a minimal price, this is the best place I’ve seen yet. In addition, the fries are absolutely fresh and piping hot, which adds to the full feeling received from the fries here. The crispiness is very pronounced on the outside, leaving the inside fluffy soft, as any good french fry should be. There is a mix of occasional potato bruising on the outside, with areas of extra browning from the frying process, but nothing that detracts in any way from the fry texture, taste, or overall quality. There is no seasoning or salt apparent, so if eaten as served, the fries could be considered a little bit plain, but the basic quality here is high.
Overall, these fries are in the top 1/3 of fries in Columbus that I’ve reviewed, and George’s Linworth Diner is a regular stop on my restaurant food selections in the area.
Also, as with a few other places in the area, the waitresses know me and my order by heart, my eating habits probably scare these people half to death.
I’ve been very good about going to a new place every weekend, but less good about ensuring that the review gets up in a timely manner. Hence, I’m doing a double review today. First was Marion Diner, and this one is Pat and Gracie’s restaurant/tavern. On first look, the place was a bit bougie for me. I’m all about hole in the wall places where the grease is visible to all, less about popular sit-down restaurants, or *gasp* a Gastropub. But I was given a recommendation to try this place out, and considering how close this place is to me, I couldn’t refuse the opportunity to check it out.
Amazingly, me and the girlfriend managed to get in and not have to wait for a seat. Immediately, I had to order 3 fry orders, because of experiences at places like this with super small servings. But I was pleasantly surprised. I got quite full eating these fries. Price was very reasonable at $2.25/serving. Fries were natural cut, about a 3 thickness, and a 5.5 crispiness. As they were natural cut, the fries had lots of skins present, in all locations (not all skin on all fries, but all areas of a fry had skin on at least some fries). Fries were extremely well cooked, very hot and fresh. I was most impressed by the lack of grease, care was taken to ensure fries weren’t too greasy (this is a common issue with natural cut fries, the grease from frying tends to cling to the rough surface of these fries better than other cuts). Fries had no seasoning, and only a light salting, which gave a nice extra kick to the taste in this case. The only flaw I noted was on the third serving, there were a lot of loose skins in the order, more an issue with presentation, but it can feel more like eating crumbs than fully realized fries. Serving size was moderate, and I’m not sure how I feel about the metal rectangular plates, but that’s purely a “me” thing.
Hello again, fry lovers! It’s been a few weeks, but not to worry, I’ve been hard at work eating fries and coming up with reviews for the wonderful places I’ve been to. Two weekends ago, me and some awesome people went up to Marion for a place that I’ve long wanted to try out. This place caught my eye over a year ago when I went on a drive to the area, and found this place to be closed less than 15 minutes before I arrived. Since then, I’ve been hoping for a redo. And I finally found the right time!
So, how were their fries? Pretty good, if I do say so. The fries were served on a large plate (though I ordered 3 servings, very hungry that morning), regular cut fries. Thickness was about a 5.5/10, and the crispiness was about 4.5/10. Pretty ordinary in that regard. Heat of fries was somewhat inconsistent, some were very hot, others only warm, but were still quality in this regard. Either way, fries were notably fresh. No salt or seasoning present on any fries, it could have been helped having a bit, because the fries were fairly ordinary. Some of the fries had some imperfections on the edges (namely, potato bruising, something more commonly seen on store bought potatoes that you cut and fry yourself). This had no effect on taste, but was the only notable negative of these fries. Price of the fries per serving was $2.25/ and since the serving was a giant plate, this ended up being a moderate/large serving size.
Hey everybody! I’m back, with more Tyler’s Fry Ratings! I think I’m going to try to make a review a week now, as I’m starting to get into the groove of finding cool, new places to try. Which brings me to this week’s spotlight fry. I went to a cool all-day breakfast place, Abner’s Casual Dinings. First off, love the location. Right in the heart of Old Hilliard, it’s the kind of place that’s perfect to spend a morning eating a delicious breakfast. Amusingly, the area of town it’s in seems more old timey than the restaurant itself. It’s not shiny and 2010’s new by any means, but it’s not going out of its way to be old fashioned either. So, that being said, how were the fries? Overall, not bad. The negative first, the serving size was very small for the price. The side of fries was $3.25, and the amount given was barely bigger than the average small fry order at a fast food place. Yes, at a place like this, I’m not expecting a mountain of fries or anything, but a little bit more would have been appreciated. This was a theme with the rest of the food as well, with confirmation from my co-eaters. That’s the main negative though. The fries were cooked well and proper although perhaps more warm than piping hot, about a 4.5/10 thickness, and a 4/10 crispiness. The interiors were well cooked, they had the proper flakiness inside, without being overly dry. There were some skins on the edges of the fries, but this didn’t affect taste or even texture really. Light salting, and light/moderate pepper seasoning. The pepper wasn’t uniform over the fries, the top layer got significantly more pepper than the underlying fries. Overall, good fries. I’ve had better, and this isn’t a place to go to if you just want to gorge yourself on sweet, sweet carbs. But I’m not complaining, as everything was tasty and well made.
Tyler's French Fry Thoughts 