We Ranked Fries From Popular Fast Food Chains & Here's The Golden Winner

When I think of French fries, I think of American fast food (so really, quite the opposite of French). Nothing about fried potato sticks sounds at all gourmet to me, nor do I think it should. My first memory of consuming a fry was as a wee child in the back country of North Carolina, at a McDonald's off of Battleground Avenue. I remember the bustling (and very likely germ-infested) ball pit, the strange smiling statue of Ronald McDonald plastered to a bench out front, and the distinct smell of golden grease as I plucked the starch spear from its red pouch and stuffed it into my mouth; It was glorious. But then I became an adult, and the frequency with which I consumed Mickey D's waned. Fries were instead delicately munched at sit down restaurants — in turn becoming less fast and more French (with truffle oil and Parmesan). Had I forsaken the sweet smell of golden grease from my younger years?!

To answer this haunting question, I decided to embark upon a fry-trying journey — not only in order to revive my childhood nostalgia, but to also get a handle on the current fast food fried potato scene. Maybe McDonald's wasn't always the best, maybe it was actually Wendy's? Or, dare I say it, the trendier newcomer Shake Shack? And so I embarked upon a journey around the NYC streets where I picked up greasy fry bag after greasy fry bag (five to be exact), toted them back to the R29 offices, and had my all too willing coworkers join me in a tasting and rating palooza.

Click on to find out which fry really reigns supreme. We know we're about to make some "fryenemies," so tell us your ideal ranking in the comments!