Eaten by a Grue: Curly Fry Battle Royale (with cheese)!

Greetings fellow food enthusiasts and welcome to another installment of Eaten by a Grue. The blog where I talk about things I've (Grue) have eaten. This post has been a long time coming and I have had to do extensive research on the subject, but I have come a decision on a very heated topic: Who has the best curly fries?! I limited my search to fast food restaurants because sit-down establishments have a different caliber of fries (or at least they should). The contestants in this battle are Burger King, Jack in the Box and Arby's. Now...LET'S GET READY TO RUUUUUUMMMMMBBBBBBBLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEE.

The first contestant is Burger King. In my online research I discovered that Burger King now has Seasoned Sweet Potato Curly Fries. I've never had sweet potato curly fries and I hadn't been to Burger King in a long time so I was doubly intrigued. I fired up the Green Monster (Michelle's car) and headed over there. I decided to hit the drive-thru to avoid sitting alone in a restaurant making notes and taking pictures of fast food. 

Aww he looks so happy and much less creepy. 

I only wanted the curly fries but I ordered a Whopper combo because, well, gotta eat. They gave me these new fancy throwback bags because it's the 55 year anniversary of the Whopper.  About halfway home I decided I wanted to try one of these new curly fries. So I reach into the bag and this is what I found...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

there were in fact no curly fries, only regular ones...crap. I wasn't about to drive back there and demand curly fries (even though I should have). So I ate my whopper and...regular fries and wallowed in sadness. You tricked me again you creepy caliph.

After my crippling failure at BK I decided to move on to Jack in the Box. This time when I ordered curly fries...I actually got curly fries! WHAT A TWIST!

See what I did there?

I even got a bonus, I asked for ketchup and they gave me bbq sauce too, thanks uncle Jack! The fries had a nice texture and a lot of flavor. They were crispy but not hard. After biting into one of them if you look you can tell that this was in fact, at one point, a potato. The seasoning on the fries was also solid, adding and enhancing the flavor of the potato and batter. Speaking of batter, there was surprisingly not a lot. I mean they're curly fries, but I didn't feel like I was eating deep fried batter.

The curliest of the friest

The fries tasted good by themselves or with ketchup. However they did not go well with bbq sauce. These were good, nothing exceptional but solid curly fries.

Pros: texture, amount of batter, seasoning
Cons: good but not great
Overall Score: 3 out of 5 Curly Fry Happy Faces

Logically I should have gone to Arby's next but my hatred for Arby's runs deep and wide, so I put off going there as long as possible. I went back to Burger King to see if I could get my hands on those elusive curly fries. My persistence was rewarded and here they are!

Oooo. Aaaah. 

The first thing I noticed is that when I opened the bag the fries smelled great, like normal sweet potato fries but sweeter! Once they were out of the bag I noticed that the fries themselves were pretty small, but they filled the container so I can't really complain. I wasn't sure how this whole sweet potato curly fry thing would work out and I was surprised.

Curliest fry in the batch

My first bite was eye-opening. I was blown away by how much flavor these had. It's the standard crispy curly fry goodness mixed with a sweet, almost festive flavor. They are seasoned exceptionally well with cinnamon sugar. The sweet seasoning and the inherit sweeter flavor of the sweet potatoes work together perfectly. These aren't overly battered and feel light compared to the Jack in the Box fries. You can definitely tell these were once sweet potatoes, However there is not such a big sweet potato flavor as to put off those who don't prefer the potato's yammish cousin. I had some ketchup this time too, but no bbq sauce. These don't go well with ketchup, the flavors are very different and clash. That doesn't matter though, these are dynamite on their own.


Pros: taste, seasoning, texture, basically everything
Cons: not good with ketchup
Overall Score: 4.5 out of 5 Curly Fry Happy Faces

Now the moment many of you have been waiting for and the moment I had been dreading since I started this...I had to go to Arby's.

DUN DUN DUN.

My reasons for hating Arby's (yes hating) are many: There isn't one in town, the parking lots are always small and crowded, I got into a car accident there, they use garbage tier roast beef, and most of the other sandwiches are also disgusting. I could keep going but I have to finish this post eventually. All that to say "I like you guys so much, I went there anyway."

I wasn't expecting to hate the curly fries, as one of my friends pointed out "It's pretty hard to mess up curly fries" but I also wasn't expecting to love them. Not wanting their roast beef I got the Chicken Bacon and Swiss sandwich and made sure they understood I wanted curly fries with my order because no way in hell was I going back there a second time. The place was pretty packed but I got my order quickly.

Good Mood Food! *shudders*

I started with the fries as to not contaminate my palate. I bit in and...

Curliest and most coiled

my first bite was super greasy but full of flavor. These things have a ton of batter on them to the point you'd never know what they're made out of. That is probably why they taste so good. I have to say I was surprised how much I enjoyed eating these. I made my secret Grue dipping sauce (Horsey sauce and Arby's sauce) and the experience was even better. These fries are the quintessential guilty pleasure. They are so indulgently full of grease it's scary, but they taste so good you don't care. The chicken sandwich on the other hand was a complete disaster. The bacon wasn't crispy, the sauce was extremely off putting and I felt terrible after eating it. So what's the verdict? 

Pros: taste, texture, great with dipping sauce
Cons: super greasy
Overall Score: 4 out of 5 Curly Fry Happy Faces

So that's it, the battle is over, fries were eaten, waist lines were expanded and we have a winner. Surprisingly it is Burger King! One caveat is that if you REALLY don't like sweet potatoes then you might not like Burger King's offering and then I would say Arby's fries are better. What do you guys think? Do you agree? Do you know of any other places with curly fries worth trying? Feel free to share your thoughts!