The Poutine of [Your Area]

March 15, 2018 2:28 PM

I would like to catalog every regional variant of the fries+meat+cheese+whatever calorie-bomb.

Does your location have its own take on "fries with everything", often consumed at the end of a night of drinking, and typically unavailable outside of your geographical area? Something like poutine, carne asada fries, or kapsalon?

What is it called?
What's in it?
Are there variants?
What is its origin story?

posted by stefanie to Food & Drink (48 answers total)

I have no idea if this is regional to the PNW or an import from somewhere, but if you replace the chips in nachos with fries, I have heard them referred to as "Disco Fries" in several, unrelated places from Seattle to as far south as Eugene.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:38 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

A midnight run to Waffle House, and ordering the hash browns "smothered covered and topped" (onions, cheese, and chili) is probably the 20th century Southeast US variant. It's not old tradition back to the roots of Southern cuisine, but it's also not the recent phenomenon that has inserted poutine everywhere (presence of bbq pork poutine on brewpub menus across Alabama is very recent, 2014+).
posted by aimedwander at 2:38 PM on March 15, 2018 [5 favorites]

In college in Illinois we would order "Irish nachos" -- waffle cut fries topped with melted cheese, sour cream, bacon, and green onions.
posted by pantarei70 at 2:39 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

In New Jersey "disco fries" are fries with brown gravy and mozzarella.
posted by madcaptenor at 2:51 PM on March 15, 2018 [8 favorites]

St. Louis has the Slinger, which is hashbrowns, meat of some kind (usually hamburger patties), a couple eggs however you like them, all covered in chili con carne and optionally cheese, diced onions and/or jalapenos.

Central Illinois, specifically Springfield, has the Horseshoe, which is an open-faced hamburger on toast, covered in fries and cheese sauce.
posted by brentajones at 2:52 PM on March 15, 2018

I don't know where Tater Tachos (nachos with tater tots instead) originate, but I learned about them from friends who lived in Memphis. Related item frequently consumed in the Upper Midwest: Super Potato Olés at Taco John's. (It's basically Tachos, but with extra salty and delicious tots).

Would animal-style friends at In 'n Out count? When I lived in LA that was definitely my #1 drunk food. Fries with Thousand Island dressing, melted cheese, and grilled onions. Mmmm.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 2:53 PM on March 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

On the east coast of the US, 'disco fries' are classic bars-are-closing diner food and consist of regular-cut fries (never crinkle-cut or curly, thicker than shoestring, thinner than steak fries) covered in industrial-grade brown gravy (the kind you make from a mix) and topped with either industrial-grade-shredded mozzarella or industrial-grade-shredded cheddar cheese. At a good diner, if your server isn't rushed off their feet, the gravy will be hot enough to melt the cheese, but it's hit or miss in my experience.

Jersey often claims the dish as its own, and the folklore goes that bridge-and-tunnel partiers coming back home drunk from clubbing would stop off at a diner (of which there are many in Jersey, and in the NY/NJ/DE/MD swathe in general, often all shiny neon and chrome and Greek-owned, all with ridiculously comprehensive novella-length menus and splendid mile-long dessert cases) in dire need of some greasy carbs to sop up all the night's alcohol.

I've never seen them north of NY, and I've never seen them south of VA, but Jersey doesn't have a lock on them -- or else they've migrated, but they've been around for decades. I would guess that PNW disco fries are an invasive species imported from the east coast, but couldn't say for sure. They've been around on the east coast since at least the 70s (hence the 'disco' moniker). Given NY's proximity to Canada, it seems possible that poutine may have been the original inspiration, but it's possible they were independently spawned by drunk geniuses cut from the same cloth in two different countries.
posted by halation at 3:02 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

Not sure if these were universal enough to be a thing, but in college in Austin we loved to go to one or the other Magnolia Cafe in the middle of the night and order their "landscapes." Martian Landscape was (I think) home fries covered in chipotle sauce before chipotle was so ubiquitous, cheese, and jalapenos. Just thinking about it in my 40s is giving me heartburn but it was so great.
posted by Smearcase at 3:04 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Rochester's Garbage Plate is sort of like this and sort of different and totally delicious.
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 3:05 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

In San Diego we have carne asada fries: carne, cheese, guac, and sour cream. You put all that in a tortilla and get a California burrito!
posted by too bad you're not me at 3:10 PM on March 15, 2018 [5 favorites]

Closest we have is the HSP, which is a kebab variant.
posted by pompomtom at 3:16 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

Not precisely what you're after but Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh sells sandwiches with french fries included therein. The original location is open 24 hours so I imagine a fair amount of drunken enjoyment of these.
posted by exogenous at 3:33 PM on March 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

The Halal Snack Pack, or HSP.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 3:43 PM on March 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

When I was at university in Birmingham, UK, a bag of chips often with curry sauce was sometimes knows as a nosebag.
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 4:00 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Carne asada fries are pretty much available all over the West/Southwest at this point I think (data points: Sacramento/Reno).
posted by elsietheeel at 4:13 PM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Chips & Gravy or chips and sweet chilli sauce. Used to be super popular 8 years ago when I was still in Australia.

The Chips/Fries are served either with a lovely thick Pub Gravy as I like to call it I think Americans call it Brown Gravy. I have never been able to 100% recreate it. I suspect there is some it's some trade only gravy powder involved.

The other is Chips served with Thai Sweet Chili sauce & sour cream. This is tastier than it sounds.

These are a standard pub snack to stick in the middle of the table & share.

Remembering Aussie Fries are often thicker & chunkier than us Fries & usually double fried so super crispy.
posted by wwax at 4:14 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Curry chips were a thing when I was in Dublin, too. They're simultaneously gross and delicious.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:14 PM on March 15, 2018 [5 favorites]

I was in Park City in January and enjoyed a delightful poutine comprised of sweet potato fries, pork belly & manchego cheese covered in Hatch green chile gravy. I wish I knew how to replicate it at home.
posted by singinginmychains at 4:25 PM on March 15, 2018

Around Erie, PA we have a greek fries. It's fries topped with cheese and Pennsylvania Greek Sauce (Decidedly different from anything authentically greek and all but unheard of out of western PA).
posted by FakePalindrome at 4:45 PM on March 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

More minimalist than poutine but the Bay Area likes to lay claim to garlic fries, with regional Gilroy as the "garlic capital of the world." I have also seen truffle or garlic fries with cheese curds in a few yuppie mixology gastropubs in California. But in a bar/diner it's more likely to be nacho fries, with cheese, jalapenos, sour cream, etc.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 4:52 PM on March 15, 2018

I wouldn't call it drunk food, and I'm cheating because it's usually tortilla chips, not fries, but Memphis has BBQ nachos that fit the meat-cheese-calorie-bomb description. Tortilla chips with shredded pork (or chicken), nacho cheese sauce, shredded cheese, BBQ sauce, dry rub seasoning, and jalepenos. There is at least one restaurant that will substitute house-made potato chips or french fries for the base layer. I'll take mine with extra nacho cheese, please.
posted by raspberrE at 4:56 PM on March 15, 2018

In the Cleveland suburbs, the Yours Truly restaurants (which are mostly on the east side of town) sell a version of this called Notso Fries - cottage fries topped with melted cheese, bacon, and sour cream. Their website says that they've been making them since 1993.
posted by Anita Bath at 5:00 PM on March 15, 2018

In Pittsburgh we also unashamedly put french fries on everything. The aforementioned Primantis sandwich is the most famous example, but there's also the Pittsburgh salad, which is basically a chef's salad (or any salad, really) with fries and cheese on it.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:01 PM on March 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

I suspect there is some it's some trade only gravy powder involved.

The mix is available over-the-counter -- amazon for sure, and sometimes bulk food or restaurant supply places. The home-cook stuff, McCormick's and Minor's and the like, is somehow not quite the same, and real actual proper gravy is just entirely wrong for this application.
posted by halation at 5:05 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Frito Pie is a bag of fritos cut open, with chili and toppings ladled over it. It was mentioned as an aside in the recent FPP on the Blue about Tex-Mex.

Cheese fries and chile (not chili) cheese fries are pretty common in these parts, too.
posted by adamrice at 5:08 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Frito Pie is a bag of fritos cut open, with chili and toppings ladled over it. It was mentioned as an aside in the recent FPP on the Blue about Tex-Mex.


I have also seen these called frito boats at 1980s fairs in California.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 5:14 PM on March 15, 2018

Indeed, here in Pittsburgh, fries are a condiment.

I hesitate to mention it as it's not a Thing, but maybe, someday... anyway, about 7-8 years ago I started stopping in for lunch at a deli that went sort of hipster bistro, and began serving poutine. My usual was an order of poutine and an order of chopped liver, which then got dumped over the poutine. They started making it for me that way (so that the gravy and the onions could go on top) and ended up liking it too. Ugh, it's the best.
posted by notquitemaryann at 5:14 PM on March 15, 2018

Newfoundland (and I think other parts of Atlantic Canada) have a poutine variant that involves fries, gravy, and dressing (basically Stove Top Stuffing); sometimes there's also peas on top. Googling around I haven't been able to find a more definitive name aside from "Newfoundland Fries" (please ignore the picture on that website, that's a fancified version that substitutes panko breadcrumbs for the Stove Top). I could have sworn that I've heard this dish called "all-dressed fries" or "dressed fries" but I can't find any support for that so I'm probably mistaken.
posted by mhum at 5:57 PM on March 15, 2018

McLard's in AR has the tamale spread :two tamales
with fritos, beans, chopped beef,
cheese & onions
posted by brujita at 6:02 PM on March 15, 2018

A barbecue restaurant here (Alabama) serves crinkle-cut fries covered in pulled pork, chicken fingers, cheese, and both regular and white barbecue sauce.
posted by hollyholly at 6:03 PM on March 15, 2018

at the falafel stand in the bus station in Kiryat Shmona in 1989-90 you could get a pita v’schnitzel v’chips which came with hummus too. you could then load it up with all the pickled veg/harissa you wanted. no cheese tho because chicken schnitzel - maybe the hummus served the same purpose?
posted by Lawn Beaver at 6:16 PM on March 15, 2018

In Scotland, a Munchy Box, a pizza box with a random mix of fast food stuff: kebab meat, fried chicken, pakoras, a slice of pizza, a bit of salad, onion rings, curry, and lots of “Glasgow salad” i.e. chips/fries. Ireland has some not entirely dissimilar called a Spice Bag. In parts of north-east England there is the Parmo, which is a piece of breaded meat (often pork) covered in cheese sauce and served with chips.
posted by Jabberwocky at 6:26 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Mexican version of Frito Pie (or maybe vice versa?) is tostilocos:
A bag of Tostitos (or hot Takis) is cut open and topped with a variety of things which may include cucumber, jicama, Japanese peanuts, pork rinds, tamarind candy, lime juice, Tajín chile powder, chamoy (a tangy apricot sauce) and hot sauce.

I admit this is getting a bit far afield. But it's good and equally crazy.
posted by exceptinsects at 6:55 PM on March 15, 2018

Frito Pie is a bag of fritos cut open, with chili and toppings ladled over it. It was mentioned as an aside in the recent FPP on the Blue about Tex-Mex.

In Iowa, this is made with a bag of Doritos and called a Walking Taco. I don't know if they're an Iowa thing, but I'd never heard of them before I moved here.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:56 PM on March 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

In Australia the aforementioned gravy has been popular for as long a I remember, and these days what's called loaded fries could involve cheese, beans, meat, chilli sauce, sour cream or other things besides. There's a place here in Canberra that does fries topped with the beef, vegetables and herbs from Phở.

But no discussion of Australian fries could ignore the glory that is the Halal Snack Pack.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 7:22 PM on March 15, 2018

In New Orleans it's not necessarily a go-to post-drinking snack but pretty much anywhere you can get a good roast beef po-boy you can get fries with debris on them. When you cook the roast beef you end up with what is effectively a pan of brown gravy with all the tiny chunks of roast beef that fell apart as it cooked.

I've lived down here long enough that if you said to me "debris" out of context I would most likely think of meat before construction rubble. I have definitely seen the shocked look on tourists' faces when someone near them orders fries with debris on them.
posted by komara at 7:56 PM on March 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

St. Louis has the Slinger, which is hashbrowns, meat of some kind (usually hamburger patties), a couple eggs however you like them, all covered in chili con carne and optionally cheese, diced onions and/or jalapenos.

The other variant is the Toby, where it's white (milk) sausage gravy instead of the chili.
posted by notsnot at 7:58 PM on March 15, 2018

Green chile fries are a thing in NM and parts of CO, maybe also in other parts of the southwest. Green chile and cheese is a common treat on most things, no meat on fries though that I'm aware of.
posted by fieldtrip at 9:12 PM on March 15, 2018

An old Texas standard calorie bomb is the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes covered in gravy and soft white dinner rolls. Back in the day when I hung out with all night drinking folks, we'd head out to Hill's Cafe and I'd witness many a sizzling pile of beef being consumed. Being a vegetarian, I only observed.

Migas at the Magonia Cafe at 3am was more my style.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:03 PM on March 15, 2018

Patatje oorlog, cousin of Kapsalon.
posted by humboldt32 at 1:58 AM on March 16, 2018

Frito Pie is a bag of fritos cut open, with chili and toppings ladled over it. It was mentioned as an aside in the recent FPP on the Blue about Tex-Mex.

In Iowa, this is made with a bag of Doritos and called a Walking Taco. I don't know if they're an Iowa thing, but I'd never heard of them before I moved here.

In Indiana and Ohio, the Frito Pie is called a Walking Taco.

I think we just call the fries concoction Loaded Fries.
posted by cooker girl at 6:01 AM on March 16, 2018

cheese fries are pretty popular around here (oklahoma and i assume surrounding states) but they aren't weird or necessarily drunk food.

fries, cheddar, bacon, green onions - broiled until melty and dipped in ranch or sour cream.

jalapenos, tomatoes optional.
posted by domino at 6:41 AM on March 16, 2018

Cheese fries and chile (not chili) cheese fries are pretty common in these parts, too.

Here in Washington, DC it's chili-with-an-i cheese fries, available at basically any dive bar but the most notable purveyor is Ben's Chili Bowl, which is definitely late-night drunk food. (They're best known for the "half smoke" which is a coney dog except it's a smoked sausage.)
posted by capricorn at 6:43 AM on March 16, 2018

Oh! There's also pizza fries! i.e. fries with marinara and mozzarella. Basically every hole-in-the-wall pizza delivery place will make them. And again, definitely drunk food.
posted by capricorn at 6:46 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yiro Yiro does a HSP, but they also have 'fries' made with haloumi cheese instead of potato, and hot chips with feta.
posted by zamboni at 7:49 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Cincinnati has Cincinnati Chili which normally consists of spaghetti topped with the chili topped with cheddar cheese. Most if not all of this city's "chili parlors" will serve you the chili and cheese on top of fries like my neighborhood place does.
posted by mmascolino at 11:08 AM on March 16, 2018

Curry chips and Curry cheese chips are both fairly common everywhere in Ireland. There's also Taco Fries, which are chips with meat, cheese & pink sauce.
posted by Fence at 12:53 PM on March 16, 2018

Response by poster: These look delicious and I want to eat all of them. Much thanks (from me and my future cardiologist).
posted by stefanie at 3:40 PM on March 16, 2018