French fries at Beef & Barley

A good french fry is pretty easy to find. A great french fry? Much harder. It’s a Goldilocks situation: These fries are too crispy. These fries are too soft. These taste as if they were ambushed by the yellow-dress girl on the Morton Salt canister. You get the idea. That’s why I was so excited to find a memorable plate of fries when I wasn’t even looking for them. They came, unassumingly, with the burger ($12; $5 for just fries), each with a feather-light crunch giving way to an extra-fluffy middle. The chef must have some trick, I thought. But, better yet, the prep is deceptively simple: The potatoes are double-fried in vegetable oil and tossed with kosher salt. That’s it. That means someone in the kitchen has the timing of the fryer, to quote our gal Goldilocks, just right.

3001 N. Ashland Ave., 773-248-0990, www.beefandbarleychi.com

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