Prairie Artisan Ales Brewpub Tulsa

Prairie Artisan Ales makes some damn fine brews.  Their Prairie Bomb! is one of the best and even though you have to take out a second mortgage to buy one it's worth it once in a while.  We were in Tulsa recently and noticed that Prairie built a huge new brewpub downtown AND they have fries.

Our Uber driver later told us that the big barrel with all the taps on it was imported from somewhere in Europe.  #InsiderInfo

Here's a closer shot of the barrel thing.  Impressive.

They call their fries "Crack Fries".  I guess that means they're like crack and you keep wanting more and more.  Is crack still even a thing?  Anyway, 3 bucks for some fries in a fancy-schmancy brewpub is a pretty good price.  I took this artsy photo of the window next to our table while we waited.  I am a professional photographer after all.

BOOM.

House cut fries with (what I believe was) truffle oil and parmesan tossed about.

Great amount, good price, and strong overall.  DO IT.

Afterwards we went to Fassler Hall and I took this great picture of Amy outside in the beer garden (because I am a professional photographer).

A REALLY drunk girl saw me taking Amy's picture and INSISTED that she take one of both of us.  I have no idea how she got that stamp looking thing on the picture.  She is NOT a professional photographer!

After that we saw Billy Joel play.

And then we saw Andrew Jackson Jihad play.

We were so rad.

Kobe Hibachi Grill and Sushi

When my Grandmother Kay was alive, she used to do this thing that drove my parents crazy whenever we would go out to eat at a restaurant.  Whatever the kind of food the restaurant was, she would always order something that was completely outside of their specialty.  If we were at a Chinese place, she would order a Reuben.  If we were at a Mexican joint, she would order BBQ ribs.  And whatever it was would always suck and she would complain and refuse to eat it.  Every.  Time.

Here's me and the old lady in 1986.

I loved it.  I like to think she did it on purpose as a little thrill (since old people only eat fried chicken and candy anyway) and I don't think we paid for my Grandmother's meal a single time at a restaurant for a solid year.  It was madness that these places even had stuff on the menu that didn't fit the style of the restaurant so it's kind of their fault.   And I always wondered if she would complain about something even if she thought it was actually good just to keep the thrill going.  Who knows?  But every time I look at a menu I try to find the "Kay Item".  The thing on the menu that shouldn't be there.  In a way, it makes Kay immortal.

So where I am going with this is that I was at this Hibachi/Sushi place last week and they had fries. Why?

It used to be a joint called "Twin Peaks"- which is one of those chains where the girls show tons of cleavage and giggle incessantly.  The motif of Twin Peaks is Alaska/Log Cabin and it's interesting that all Kobe did was slap some Japanese signs up around the place.

Japanese?

Japanese Log Cabin Fries for $2.95?  Sounds like the Kay item!  Let's rock!

The fries were hot and crispy.  Not fresh cut, but one of the more expensive frozen varieties as evidenced by the slight battering.  Tempura?

Good amount for $2.95.

Quite good actually.

I have to say that these fries are definitely worth it.  Not sure if they are a true "Kay Item" though as we will never know if Kay did her thing on good stuff or not.  Either way, Kay lives on every time I look at a menu.

Pinnacle Bar & Grill

New joint opened up in Rogers territory and I happened to be near it by accident so I decided to see what their fry sitch was all about.  It's called Pinnacle Bar & Grill BTW.

Kinda swanky place I guess.  Decor reminds me of Tokyo in 1986 for some reason.

Cheese Fries NOW!

BOOM.

The fries seemed fresh cut, and although they were less crisp than I think they should be they kinda get a pass since they are covered in so much yummy stuff.

Nice.  I was gonna ding em for lacking cheese until I noticed there was actual cheese dip hiding at the bottom.

PB&G--DO IT!

Basin Park Hotel Eureka Springs

Before the Grunion was born we used to do all kinds of dumb stuff like stay up late drinking beer and singing karaoke on the Hunkr Down PA in our kitchen (the neighbors loved it) and then wake up at the crack of noon and head to Eureka Springs for some mimosas on the balcony of the Basin Park Hotel.  We considered it "cultural" and I can't remember what it was like to be able to jump up out of bed with 6 hours of sleep, shower, drive 45 minutes, and begin drinking again.  Ah....the wonders of the energy of the young.  Usually the Bandit was involved.

I don't specifically remember if they had fries back then, but they have them now and that means it was on a few Sundays back.  The Grunion went with us on accounta he "had some things to speak to the tigers at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge about" and it was on the way so no big deal.

I should preface the review by letting you know that having a drink and some fries on the balcony of the Basin Park Hotel on a Sunday WITH a 6-year old is totally not like I remember it being sans 6-year old.  Mostly because questions.

GRUNION:  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?

GIBBY (haven't even sat down yet)  

GRUNION:  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?

GIBBY:  What?

GRUNION:  Do they have lemonade?

This went on the entire time we were there.

GRUNION:  Dad? Dad? Dad?

GIBBY:  Whaaaaat?

GRUNION: Did you know?  Did you know?  Did you know that tigers are really big?

I mean, it never stopped...

GRUNION:  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?

GIBBY:  Hmm?

GRUNION:  Are we gonna buy a toy at one of these stores?

It's important to understand that each question had at least five follow-up questions, BTW.

Eureka Springs is a must visit.  It's beautiful and "quirky" and full of artists and locals who hate you and hate that you think they're "quirky".  They don't let on too much that they hate you, but I know they do from inside sources who used to be residents (not Drew Van Winklestein).  Anyhoo there are cool shops, restaurants, and a few bars where weird stuff happens on the weekends.  The main drag has a New Orleans/Old West town vibe.

The Basin Park Hotel is kinda in the middle of everything so you can watch all the tourists bumble around buying crap. Let's see...ah yes....fries please.  Please note that due to excessive attention vampiring by the Grunion I failed to take a photo of the menu and thus have no idea what we paid for the fries.  Amy remembers them being about $5 though so I 'm going with that as a price.

The basket of fries we got was HUGE.  Seriously.  It was way bigger than the Grunion's head. 

Wait..is that Rusty sitting down there on the street?

NICE.

Skin-on, lightly battered, definitely frozen from a bag but high quality.  Hot, crispy, delicious.

All things considered, these "fries with a view" are a "must do". heh.

Only strike is this nonsense.  Boo.

There were so many fries that even with all three of us eating em this is what was left. We're such dainty bird eaters....

You should definitely eat the fries on the balcony of the Basin Park Hotel in Eureka Springs.  Just maybe do it without a kid. Incidentally, Amy ordered a mimosa and told the waiter to "hold the orange juice".  That's my girl.

GRUNION:  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?  Dad?

P.S.  On the way home we stopped at the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and the Grunion made me take a picture of him "looking scared" in front of this bear sign.  Not sure what he talked about with the tigers.

Fossil Cove/The Container Kitchen

Fossil Cove is a brewery in Fayetteville that has kick ass beers.  You should go there.  But you should especially go there on accounta they also have fries available from the non-food truck/trailer thing behind the brewery made out of a shipping container that serves food.

It's called The Container Kitchen BTW.

I ordered both the "regular" fries and the Rosemary and something fries.  I can't remember what the other something is on accounta there were beers-maybe it was Parmesan?  Mmmmm...beer.....

Then they delivered em to me right at the bar.  BAM!

Nice!

The fries are fresh cut, and seasoned just right.

The Rosemary ones are excellent and the dipping sauce is like crack.

And there were so many I shared em with pretty much everyone at the bar.

Fossil Cove and The Container Kitchen are a definite DO IT.

Parlor Pizza Bar in Chicago

Chicago has lots of joints with fries.  Probably on accounta it's such a big city and all.  And I've tried lots of em.  But this last trip, I found a real gem in the heart of the super-schmancy Wicker Park area.

Parlor Pizza is primarily a wood fire pizza place, but they also have fries which is kinda rare for a pizza joint.  I'm always suspicious when places have fries that shouldn't.  On this particular day, it was 89 degrees with 40% humidity so all the Chicagoans were melted and refused to sit in the massive outdoor area.  Wimps.  I refused as well, but only cause I am a huge bear and my thermostat was broken.

Their beer list is awesome.

Hand Cut Frites?  Fancy! 8 bucks?  Better be super-fancy...

Whoa!  This just got serious.

The fries came with ice-cold ketchup, jalapeno cream cheese sauce, and sriracha honey mustard-which I though would be gross but was really good.

I figured out after a few fries that what you should do is dip the fry in the sriracha sauce first and take a bite, and then while your mouth is burning dip the fry in the cream cheese dip and take a bite to cool off your mouth (for some reason the jalapeno was only present as a taste and not heat).  I repeated this step 42 times and found it to be solid science.  They also come with green stuff on them so they're basically a salad!

Fresh, crispy, hot, delicious.

The pictures may not do the amount of fries justice, but believe me it was plenty for the price (especially for this area of Chicago).  This is what was left that I couldn't finish.

Parlor Pizza Bar.  DO IT.

Also they have this cool cartoon bear mural on the side of the building.