Hellburger Fries photo courtesy Samer Farha
I love Ray’s Hellburger, guys. It’s to the point where I don’t even bother ordering the burger at most other restaurants because it will just disappoint me. But every time I take someone there who hasn’t been before, they wrinkle up their nose in annoyance. “What, no fries? Who serves a burger without fries?” Someone who is spending all his efforts on making the best damn burger I’ve ever had, that’s who. I don’t even notice the lack of fries, that burger is so tasty.
It seems that Michael Landrum has heard the pleas of the masses- according to WLDC reader Samer Farha, french fries are now on the menu at Ray’s Hellburger (edited to add: Samer tells me the small order of fries is priced in the $2-$3 range). But I’m looking at this photo, and they look like your general foodservice, frozen-in-an-enormous-sack, shoestring-cut fries. I could be wrong, I have not eaten them myself, and I welcome correction from anyone in the know.
But look. I once walked into Hellburger and saw Michael Landrum standing next to a side of beef and a meat grinder with a cleaver in his hand. That burger was recently steak. Steak that was aged by the Ray’s staff. Frozen food service fries do not deserve to be on the same table as that burger. But for all of you who just can’t fathom eating even the finest burger without a basket of mass-produced, thawed-out french fries… here you go.
Tiffany Baxendell Bridge is an Internet enthusiast and an incurable smartass. When not heckling the neighborhood political scene on Twitter, she can be found goofing off with her ukulele, Bollywood dancing, or obsessing about cult TV. She is That Woman With the Baby In the Bar.
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Those do look pretty pre-packaged… but I’ll gladly cope if it means getting my hands on one of those burgers for dinner.
Bah… they shouldn’t even have bothered if that’s the crap they are going to serve up. Very disappointing.
Doesn’t take much to make a good french fry and yet they fail.
I definitely think they shouldn’t have bothered if they didn’t want to spare the staff/prep space to make them fresh. That said, they’re served a la carte, so it’s not like *I* have to pay for them. If people need their fries this bad, I can’t blame Landrum for giving the people what they want. I’ll stick with corn on the cob or mac’n’cheese.
I was so taken aback by not being able to get fries when I went, I am still in shock. I love me some french fries. Maybe they can run down the street and get some from the Five Guys? Those are some fresh, homemade fries that do not disappoint.
Either way, I’m a fan of them offering fries now. I’ll be going more often. But let’s wait until we have a first hand account of how good or bad they are before dissing them…these are fries people! YUM
So we’ve french fry snobs now?
No, I just don’t like a yawning chasm of quality between the items on my plate. The fries should be worthy of the burger. Ray’s would never serve frozen patties peeled off a stack that came from a box delivered by a truck that says “SYSCO,” so why should their fries be different?
Fries just seem to downgrade the experience. The experience is the burger. Fries get in the way.
I’m actually with DCUrbanDad on this one – I liked Hell Burgers with watermelon, and corn. If I wanted a burger with fries, I’d go to 5 guys.
That said, I trust Landrum to do fries correctly, just as he does everything else. If he’s decided to do them, I’m going to trust them, until proven wrong. The picture above might not do it justice, so let’s wait til we can get a WLDC investigative report to start judging.
I don’t know if the fries are packaged or cut there. I will say they were just okay. Of course, their taste was a bit drowned by my burger and that delicious ketchup they have. These fries are not going to be the replacement for the long lost Les Halles frites, but they are as good a side as the potato chips on offer.
See, I think the fries were introduced the same way the reservations policy at the old Ray’s the Steaks was thrown out. I think he did it his way out of principle, and then just got tired of the bitching and gave in. It got harder to get a table at Ray’s the Steaks (pre-move), and the fries don’t hold their own against the burger.
Expect the results of our investigation first thing tomorrow morning!
Oh, those frites at Les Halles were so good.
Now you’ve made me cry, Samer! ;)
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I really miss Les Halles frites too. Next time I’m in New York, I’ll have to stop at one of the ones up there.