Tag Archives: French fries

Chicago food and drink

National French Fry Day – Local take and survey winners

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Wavy French fries sold in a Canadian supermarket.
Wavy French fries sold in a Canadian supermarket. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

National French Fries Day (July 13) was yesterday. Sorry we missed it, but over at this Gold Coast eatery, The Local Chicago, 198 E Delaware Pl., they’ve kicked off the celebration with a new french-fry-based dish, Cherry Pepper Poutine. Made up of hand-cut fries, rich brown gravy, Wisconsin cheese curds and fresh cherry peppers, it’s then topped with pork belly and an over-easy egg sprinkled with tasty chives. A filling meal-in-a-dish for $14.

French fries covered in cheese
French fries covered in cheese (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whether fast or fancy, some people have been known to judge a restaurant almost exclusively on how good its French fries are. Either way, it’s an honorable dish in the U.S. (deep-fried potatoes are known as chips in Great Britain), despite the French nomenclature. Read more about the history of French fries here.

Meanwhile, also in honor of National French Fries Day (July 13th), Ranker.com (crowd-sourced rankings) released results of its public poll asking voters to rank The Best Fast Food French Fries to determine which ones are a cut above the rest. Here are a few highlights:

  • McDonald’s French fries Take #1 Spot
  • Millennials prefer Dairy Queen French Fries and Chick-fil-A waffle fries
  • Women favor Rally’s/Checker’s seasoned fries and Culver’s fries
  • Men’s top picks included KFC Potato Wedges and Dairy Queen french fries
  • Baby boomers like Arby’s curly fries and White Castle fries

 

Chicago food and drink

Casual comfort food, fast, at Red Robin’s newest Chicago Burger Works

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A burger with fries from Red Robin Go...
A burger with fries from Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Red Robin has just opened a new Burger Works location at Madison and Wells, and the place was already jumpin’ only 3 days later, in the middle of a workday afternoon. You can easily satisfy your hungry-man-woman appetite here with a nice selection of hefty, fire-grilled hamburger sandwiches, all in the $6.50 to $7.00 price range. The turkey burger is fat and juicy like a real burger, with the feel and texture of a piece of sausage. Try a Guacamole burger with guacamole, swiss, bacon, tomato, onion, and lettuce.  French fries, ordered a la carte, are crisp, salty and tasty. Sweet potato fries are delicious, though very thinly cut, and served with their signature Thai Chili Ketchup, a gently zingy mix (homemade chili sauce mixed with regular ketchup).

They offer cheeseburgers and chicken tenders for the kids anytime, and burritos and sandwiches and potatoes for breakfast, plus even oatmeal and orange juice.  And if you want a hamburger for breakfast, this is the place to get it.

Red Robin’s got 500 restaurants in the US and has been serving hungry folks for 40 years. At the Burger Works locations they take the most popular items from the full-serivce Red Robin locations and make the menu from those. The point is good food, served fast (under 5 minutes). The day we visited the average time from order to service was 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

To keep the menu fresh, RR rotates the regular menu with new items. The goal is to be great at a few items rather than just okay with a lot. They make some lovely shakes – soft serve whipped up with other flavors and ingredients. The Salted Caramel was very nice; the strawberry tasty. So thick and slow to melt, they’re more like dessert than a drink.
The new location plans to be open weekends for all the downtown denizens who live nearby and perhaps want to satisfy a craving for tasty, filling food at a cozy, comfortable corner shop instead of going out to a fancy restaurant. You will feel welcome here, and and their Red Robin Burger Works menu offers nice options to get yourself well-fed.