So, for the second entry in the food truck series, because work really does like to surprise me with cool things sometimes. The truck of the week was Philly Buster. And their fries were kind of like carnival fries, in fact the advertised name of the fries was “Fair Fries”, so it makes sense. But they were pretty thin, around 2.5 thickness, and not quite as crispy as that might normally indicate. They were very lightly salted, but the salt that was present was the thick salt, the kosher salt. This gave an extra texture to the fries that the limited addition of salt itself wouldn’t normally give, almost like more added texture than taste. The fries were a little bit rubbery, which usually happens when the fries/potatoes aren’t refrigerated when they’re stored. Not bad or good, just a different manner of storage (one that personally I don’t prefer, but what can you say). Skins were present on the sides of the fries, and it adds or detracts nothing from the fries.

Cut: Shoestring/Regular borderline

Seasoning: None

Salt: Very light (Kosher Salt)

Price: $4.00 (moderate/large serving size)

Loops is an easy-going casual food restaurant. But this time, I didn’t actually go to the restaurant. The restaurant came to me! My work has food trucks come every Wednesday, and this time the food of choice was Loops. And they did have fries! So, how were they? As it turns out, really good. These fries have average thickness and average crispiness. The style of fry is clearly fast food style, with the rough outsides lending a difference between the exterior and interior crispiness. These fries had a moderate to moderate/heavy amount of a spicy seasoning, which lent a nice extra taste to the fries. Lacking salt in this case didn’t cause any problems, because there’s enough going on with these fries in the first place. The fries did have a bit more grease than would be ideal, but not that bad, all things considered. The freshness (considering, food truck) was a big plus, and the fries were extremely hot and fresh. Serving size above average for the cost ($2.00), but not huge either. Overall, very good fries, and eating these makes me really want to go to the restaurant building to see if they’re as good, or even better!

Seasoning: Moderate/heavy, spicy.

Salt: None

Cut: Regular, fast food.

Price: $2.00

Hamburger Inn is a place quite out of the normal areas I travel to eat fries. Situated in downtown Delaware, it’s about 30 miles due north of my house. Even considering the distance, I did find time to try out their food, and of course their french fries. So, how were they?

The fries here are pretty thin, borderline shoestring cut. Considering that they’re of the handcut variety, they’re significantly less crispy than usual for this style, only about average, or perhaps slightly more crispy than the average fry. Steak & Shake crispiness, this is not. The fries are more greasy than would be hoped for, likely an artifact of the handcut nature, grease just tends to stick to the uneven surface area of these fries more than your mass-produced type fries at a McDonald’s or other fast food places. No seasoning or salt produces a pretty typical fry experience. Even though it’s not nearly as much a negative as it sounds, some of the fries did have a bit of a rubbery feel and crunch to them, and it’s not an ideal texture. On the good side, the fries are very crisp and hot, freshly made and done exactly right. Price is $2.75, and the serving size is moderate to moderate +, and the price is fair and reasonable, though this is hardly a bucket of fries 😦

Price: $2.75

Seasoning/Salt: None and None.

Cut: Shoestring/Straight Cut borderline.

Tommy’s Diner is a critically acclaimed diner on Broad Street, just west of the Downtown area. The place was absolutely packed on a Sunday morning, to the point where I had to push my way through the crowd of people trying to get a seat so I could pay after my meal. The place had equal parts old and new aesthetic, and everything looked really awesome. So how were their fries? Very good, solidly made. Straight cut, with about a 5/10 thickness. Extremely hot and very fresh fries. No salt or seasoning, and moderately crispy, probably about a 4.5/10. The only downside to these fries is that despite being really good and solid all around, there was nothing to separate them from any other fries, everything about these fries was middle of the road in terms of their spectrum. Just one of the qualities being somewhere other than the middle of the road would have helped these fries a lot. But beyond that, these are quality fries and are exactly what you’d expect from a place that has such good reviews.

Price: $2.50

Salt: None

Seasoning: None

Cut: Straight, 5/10 thickness

Marino’s Seafood is a little walk in food place in Grandview, on 5th Avenue. They call their fries “chips” because they just have to be different, but how are they? Really good, in fact. The first thing is that they’re steak fry cut (at least in basic style) but have ridges on them. The thickness is about 7.5/10, but they’re kind of flat for that basic thickness. The fries were very fresh, but not piping hot, only pretty warm. The insides were thick but well-cooked, and that’s far harder to do than it seems. Also, exceedingly filling. Overall, absolutely delicious fries, and one of the top 5 fries in Columbus I’ve reviewed yet. No seasoning/salt, but honestly these fries don’t need it.

Seasoning: None

Salt: None

Cut: Steak, 7.5/10

Price: $2.00

Dan’s Drive In is a diner style restaurant on South High Street. Consciously trying to look old-fashioned, they largely succeed in this ambition. It’s been a while since I went here, but I have good notes on the quality of their fries, so here we go! The fries were standard cut, about a 4.5/10 thickness, and are warm, though maybe not the freshest fries possible. A fair amount of the fries were really crispy on the outside, but kind of hollow on the inside. This tends to indicate the fries weren’t fried at the proper temperature (likely too hot). Aside from this, the fries were actually not very crispy, and occasionally even were a bit soggy. Odd dichotomy, indeed. It should be noted that while the fries were okay, the whole place had a feel of economy food, not exactly what you’re looking for when going out to eat anywhere. I’d recommend the fries if you’re passing by and want some, and don’t mind a sit-down restaurant, but just about everything else was subpar. But… that’s not what I’m here to review. Just keep it in mind.

Louie’s Daybreak Diner is a little diner on Weber Road, about a mile east of I-71. Upon entering, it’s immediately apparent they didn’t take the tactic that a lot of other places use regarding diner construction. It’s spacious, very much so. The kitchen is visible, and large. The seating is highly spread out (even if there could stand to be a bit more of it, it didn’t matter on this very snowy day, the only people there were 3-4 people at the front, and two cops at the back). And quite unusually, I went here with my aunt. These are usually solitary activities for me, because nobody wants to hear me discuss the finer points of french fry creation for an hour at a time. But that’s all irrelevant. How would I consider their fries? Different. On first glance, they’re very similar to Wildflower Cafe’s fries, but a little thicker. Homecut, and moderate cut. Probably about a 4.5/10 thickness. What changes is when you bite into them. They’re *very* seasoned, just like Rally’s fries, but on homecut fries. Which is nothing if not very unique. They are seasoned unevenly, so some fries have no seasoning at all, and there was about 5 fries in the batch that was like eating the hottest, spiciest Rally’s fry ever. I don’t consider this that bad of a thing, but for those that are all about exacting consistency, this might be an issue. The bigger problem was that these fries were *greasy*. Just like with Wildflower Cafe, the same discussion about homecut fries and greasiness applies, but these are way, waaaaay worse. Not the worst I’ve had in this regard, but still an uncomfortable amount of grease. Overall, this is more annoying than damaging regarding any rating. I just wish there was a better way around this. Also, no picture. Writer’s apologies.

Price: $2.00

Cut: Moderate (Homecut)

Salt: None

Seasoning: Moderate-Heavy spicy seasoning.

Wildflower Cafe is a kinda hipster cafe/diner/morning bar situated up on Indianola Ave. just north of North Broadway, near a Burger King, and about half a mile south of Beechwold Diner, one of the other reviews I’ve done here. Going inside the place, it looks kinda like it was once a house and got renovated into what it is now, giving it a very interesting, if somewhat cramped, feel. So, how is their fries? Interesting. The fries are the homecut style, and they’re very fresh. Thin cut fries, definitely a shoestring variety, probably about a 2/10 on the thickness scale, *very* browned fries, but not nearly as crispy as you’d think given that, they’re actually closer to soggy than crispy, but still very good. These are all the good qualities, but the fries are a bit greasier than you’d hope for. This happens with homecut fries, even frying at home, the grease sticks to the skin more for fries cut directly from a potato than fries that you get out of a bag. I’m not entirely sure why, but I’d like to know. Anyway, it’d be nice if these fries were gently blotted or something, but I’ve never seen a restaurant that does that. *rant over*. Also, these fries have no salt or seasoning, but they don’t really need them, the fries are interesting enough as is.

Price: $3.00

Cut: Shoestring (homecut)

Salt: None

Seasoning: None

Sonic is  fast food place, with a unique drive-thru system. But otherwise it’s not exactly extraordinary, except for the fact that there’s not a lot of them around the central Ohio area, and to a certain degree, Ohio in general. So I went to the only one I know the exact location of, and ordered their fries. How are they? A fairly thin cut, that is bordering the distinction between regular cut and shoestring cut, edge skins and a small amount of skins on the body of some of the fries. Light salt and no seasoning create a decent, but fairly bland french fry, combined with a moderately fresh, but not ideally fresh fry (but still within the range for acceptability for fast food fries). On the higher side of crispiness, about a 6/10, but this is actually slightly below average when taking into consideration the thinness of these fries. So, pretty decent. But every time I’ve been to Sonic, the wait in the drive-thru is exceedingly long, and this alone is most of the reason why I don’t go to there more often.

Price: $2.19

Cut: Shoestring (2.5/10, on the thicker edge of shoestring fries)

Salt: Light

Seasoning: None

Fitzy’s is a very retro styled diner. More than any other diner I’ve been to, it tries to emulate a movie rendition of the 1950’s. And it’s pretty cool. I came at off-peak hours, so the place seemed a bit bigger than it had to be, but that would probably be different if I went in the morning when breakfast food places have the highest amount of customers. So, how were the fries? Pretty interesting. A moderate cut, maybe slightly thicker than the typical straight cut fry, about a 5.5/10. The fries were not particularly crispy, about a 3.5/10, and on sight the fries appeared like they’d be soggy, but interestingly, that’s not the case. Even though the fries were very light yellow in color, the insides were well-cooked. They had no salt or seasoning, and there were several “edge” fries among the batch, basically the thin, somewhat pointy fries that when a potato is cut, make up the edge of the potato. Nothing wrong with this in and of itself, but the other issue here is the small serving size. Pictured below is an order of two sides of fries (and a side of onion rings, because they were served on one plate), and frankly, that’s a too small serving size for $3.09 per side. But, on the plus, the fries were very hot and fresh, and the general taste was very good. 

Price: $3.09

Cut: Moderate (5.5/10)

Salt: None

Seasoning: None