FOOD

Survey says these are Bloomington's favorite french fries

Portrait of Carol Kugler Carol Kugler
The Herald-Times
The famous garlic fries at FARMbloomington on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.

Everyone's favorite fries at FARMbloomington are the garlic fries, according to owner Chef Daniel Orr. But patrons also order and enjoy the regular fries — thin-cut Idaho potatoes deep-fried and served warm, with salt, black pepper and a special chipotle ketchup.

FARMbloomington fries were tops in the recent french fries survey posted online at HeraldTimesOnline.com.

The garlic fries are tossed with Parmesan, garlic, herbs, chili flakes and lemon zest, then served with turmeric aioli. They're only available at 108 E. Kirkwood Ave. "We call them our crack fries," Orr said. "People rave about them."

Luis Lopez makes the famous garlic fries at FARMbloomington on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.

Both fries are sold on FARM's starter menu and you get a lot, enough to feed up to four people, Orr said. The garlic fries are one of the most popular items, along with the Lugar burger and the Famous BLT. In 2023, Orr said the restaurant sold about 200 orders of fries on average every week. He and his kitchen staff expect that to be even higher this year.

About the Favorite Fries survey results

Newspapers in the USA Today Network were invited to open a poll on Crowd Signal asking readers to submit their choice for favorite fries. At The Herald-Times, a total of 1,675 votes were received between June 17 and June 21. FARMbloomington received the most, with 368 votes or 21.97%.

"Other" was the next highest vote total, at 300 votes or 17.91%.

The Tap was third, with 276 votes and 16.48% of the total, followed by Nick's English Hut with 190 votes or 11.34%.

Others on the list were:

Restaurants included in the 'Other' category

Readers were able to add their favorite if wasn't on the list. And there were a lot of submissions, showcasing the extensive variety of restaurants serving fries in Bloomington. Here's which restaurants people added, shown in the order of how many times they were added:

The famous garlic fries at FARMbloomington on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.

And a couple of participants thought they had the best. Two responded that "mine" were the best fries and another said "UR moms house." They didn't give an address, so there's no way to go ask for a serving.