I remember when McDonald's changed up their fries because they were limp d$@k type of fries.
Since then...they're pretty much at the top of my list. Swiss Chalet is still around?
I like the taste of McD's but the ones I get are like the 1 or at best, 2 on the list. Eat them fast before they turn to cardboard. I've been told you can order them extra crispy. Swiss Chalet are my favourites from chains.
Decades ago we got some awesome ones from a chip truck at Jackson's Point. Luck of the draw.
There used to be a restaurant in Fergus that was really good. He hand cut the potatoes with a razor sharp knife. Ramming the spud through one of those mini sewer grate things crushes the potato cells. Then double fry them.
I did some that were mindbogglingly good by knife cutting and double frying them in duck fat saved from a roast. The rendered duck fat you buy isn't as good. Unfortunately not all ducks are created equal and I don't know what species of duck I used. Other efforts weren't as good.
Washington russets are my go to spud.
A potato is a bit like a wine grape. The same plant grown in different soil will taste different.
I spent my first eight years on the planet living in my grandmother's house in Manitoba. It had a dug basement with just dirt walls. The house sat on a concrete sill.
I was my job as a tyke to go down to the cellar to get potatoes for supper.
Fast forward 25 years and I was working for a potato distributor in Toronto, dealing with mostly PEI spuds. One weekend I got a call from the boss that they had a shipment of Manitoba potatoes come in and what to do with them. When I walked into the warehouse I could smell my grandmother's cellar.