Not all fast food french fries are created equal, and we sampled fries from 10 San Antonio-area fast food chains to prove it.
Want to start a food fight? Here's an easy way: Ask any gathering of people to identify their favorite fast food french fries. The room will go from zero to pandemonium quicker than any drive-thru line moves.
To help quell the turbulence, this week I've noshed my way through fries at 10 San Antonio-area fast food chains to see how the competition stacks up. It is safe to say not all french fries are created equal, and there's hard evidence to support that claim. The evaluative criteria in this contest began with the temperature at which a medium-sized order of fries was served as measured with a digital thermometer immediately upon taking possession of the goods. The next measure was initial crispiness and flavor, with a focus on balance of textures and a proper degree of seasoning. Lastly was the durability test. All of the fries were placed in their respective paper bags with the top folded down, just like you'd get in a drive-thru, and driven around San Antonio for a period of 15 minutes with the air conditioner blasting to evaluate their roadworthiness. Top dogs, fries: The best hot dogs, french fries, onion rings and shakes in the San Antonio area This is not an exhaustive survey of the fries at every fast food restaurant in town. There had to be some limits. Only places with drive-thrus were included No fries with performance-enhancing flavor courtesy of complex seasoning salts No funny waffle cuts, either And chains only If your favorite spot wasn't included, that decision was made out of expediency, not malice. Of the 10 restaurants I did visit, here's the pecking order. 10: Bill Miller Bar-B-Q These thick-cut, rustic fries arrived in a sad, saggy pile on a foam plate. While the potato skins were left on and provided some textural variety, that did little to make up for the bland, barely seasoned flavor of these excessively oily fries. The exterior of these fries was less of a crunchy shell than a thin, tough skin containing oodles of soft, fluffy potato. The 15-minute test: These fries changed very little after sweating in a bag for 15 minutes. They were soggy to begin with, and that didn't improve any. 9: Burger Boy The lone crinkle-cut order of fries in this contest couldn't deliver the crunch all of that extra surface area should provide. These fries flexed like oily accordions. The few fries with thinner ends did have a nice snap to them, but a general lack of seasoning left this option with a bland, almost sweet flavor of potato. The wadded fistful of napkins carelessly jammed into the bag with the fries only reinforced this lackluster experience. The 15-minute test: Once these fries hit the road, they cooled rapidly into limp, greasy logs with a mealy texture. 8: McDonald's While the Golden Arches has a legion of enthusiasts endorsing these fries, this particular order was nothing to get excited about. Cut very thin and fairly pale in color, these fries were unevenly salted and had a texture and temperature suggesting they had spent a few minutes too long under a heat lamp. The few fries that were allowed to cook long enough provided an acceptable crunch, but there weren't nearly enough of them in this order. The 15-minute test: As many of these fries were already fairly soggy to begin with, they didn't change much after hitchhiking a ride in my passenger seat. There were a few crispy ends left, but the fries were mostly mush. 7: Whataburger With about as much color as Bela Lugosi's face paint, these pale and wire-thin fries were surprisingly tough with a very dense chew. They had a pleasant aroma and were very lightly seasoned with salt. Despite the complete lack of browning, some of the fries did provide a nice crunch, but more than half the order was fairly soft and flexible. The 15-minute test: These fries took on an almost rubbery characteristic after riding across town, only amplifying their already problematic dense bite. Burger battle: Whataburger vs. Burger Boy: A San Antonio burger showdown to decide who makes the better fast-food burger 6: Sonic Drive-In Sonic provides a fairly solid fry. They're well seasoned, have an aroma that's mostly potato with a hint of clean cooking oil and aren't overly greasy. They're cut a little thicker than the fries at McDonald's and Whataburger, which gives them a good ratio of crispy exterior and pillowy insides. Sonic left the skins on the fries, which created a pleasing extra layer of texture. The 15-minute test: You'd expect fries at a drive-in to hold up pretty well, and Sonic didn't disappoint here. These fries proved quite road-worthy with a good bit of crunch remaining after the drive home. 5: Dairy Queen Like Sonic, DQ serves a slightly thicker fry that balances snap and softness well. This order came piping hot out of fresh oil and was well seasoned with an inviting scent. The fries were fairly stiff and rigid without crossing into tough territory and sported lots of little thin ends that browned up into crunchy bits of delight. The 15-minute test: You don't have to worry if you have these guys riding shotgun. They lost a bit of their crispiness, but remained firm and ready for ketchup-dunking action. 4: Burger King You just can't beat fries pulled straight out of the oil and served immediately, which is what happened at Burger King. These fries were also a bit on the thicker side, with excellent crispness and fluffy interiors. They were fried to an appealing deep golden color but salted a little too aggressively. The 15-minute test: This was among the freshest order of fries sampled, and as such, they still retained much of their crunch after 15 minutes in the car. 3: In-N-Out Burger This California-based chain served as the best example of a thin-cut fry sampled in this test. They were served piping hot and had a great crunch, clean aroma, and weren't at all oily. In-N-Out was the only place that seasoned its fries with black pepper in addition to salt, and that extra layer of flavor ramped up the experience with a pungent scent and gentle bite. The 15-minute test: These fries were served in a paper boat instead of a bag, and cooled quickly as consequence. But the shape of that container allowed the steam coming off the fries to easily dissipate, leaving most of their crunch intact. Best burgers: Top 10 burgers in the San Antonio area from our 52 Weeks of Burgers series 2: Jack in the Box This San Diego-based chain gets fries right. They were perfectly seasoned with very little taste of oil and had the best initial crunch of all the fries sampled. Jack in the Box uses a slightly thicker cut similar to Dairy Queen and Sonic, which gave these fries an outstanding snap-to-squish ratio. The 15-minute test: These fries remained firm and fairly crunchy after some time behind the wheel and traveled better than nearly every other competitor. 1: P. Terry's Burger Stand It's hard not to appreciate P. Terry's fries at first glimpse. They're rustic, shaggy, unpeeled and deeply bronzed, providing a platonic ideal of what a french fry should be. My order was spot-on with the seasoning, had a great crunch and smelled of nothing but potato. P. Terry's uses fresh spuds for its fries and warns they might not always be the same from order to order on its website, but on this particular day, they swung for the fences and scored big. The 15-minute test: While P. Terry's nails the first impression french fry experience, this order didn't hold up as well on the road, turning somewhat limp and oily on the drive home. Best bet is to enjoy these marvels in the moment they're served. pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen
In-N-Out Burger Burger King Whataburger Five Guys Sonic Drive-In Jack In The Box Sonic Burger Boy Popeye Murf Bela Lugosi @Pjstephen San Antonio Chick-Fil-A Mcdonald's San Diego P. Terry's Burger Stand California Whataburger Vs. Burger Boy Better Burger Bill Miller Bar-B-Q Burgers Golden Arches Twitter Instagram @Pjbites
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