Idaho Falls Eats & Treats :: Bacon Cheese Fries & Potato Skins

My kids and I love good food! We enjoy cooking it, learning about it from cooking shows and of course, eating it. We also really enjoy going out to eat and sampling some of our city’s best fare. Apparently, the people of Idaho Falls feel the same way as we have one restaurant for every 391 people which puts us way above the national average according to creditdonkey.com. We have all kinds of places to eat here in our town, from fast food locations to fine dining and everything in between. As a bonafide particular eater and someone who’s in tune with my taste palette (Ok, I’m a picky eater!), two teenagers and a first grader, I think that my kids and I have just the right taste buds to eat our way around Idaho Falls and share our thoughts with you about some of the best food in town. We’ll choose one of our favorite treats or eats, taste test it at a few eating establishments around town and let you know our favorites!

We had a hard time trying to decide what to taste test first. We thought of some of our favorite foods and Bacon Cheese Fries/Potato Skins made the top of the list, I was born and raised as a Shelley Russet after all. We are true Idahoans (we grow more potatoes than any other state in the country and most of those are grown right here in Southeast Idaho) through and through and love potatoes almost any way, but top them with cheese and bacon and we are very happy people! Several restaurants have them on their menu and though we would love to try them all, we didn’t want to be gluttonous. We sampled them at a variety of restaurants around town from fast food to downhome cooking and even got to try a couple of new places – which was exciting!

We made up score cards which we used to judge the fries and potato skins and we followed these rules:

1. We shared one order so that we all tried the same ones.
2. We didn’t eat anything else from that restaurant so we had unbiased opinions to just judge the fries/potato skins (which was hard because everywhere we went had so many delicious looking options).
3. My kids had to be well behaved and very polite (they were…pretty good about this).

We had 6 items on our scorecard:

1.The crispiness of the fries (The crispier, the better in my opinion!)

2. Ooey gooeyness of the cheese (We were watching Food Network Star once and they kept talking about “the money shot” of cheesy goodness so my kids had to have this on the list!)

3. Bacon to fry ratio (Who doesn’t love bacon?)

4. The uniqueness of the fries (Potatoes are our state vegetable after all so we’ve had lots of potatoes in our day!)

5. Flavor of the dip (It’s all about the dip!)

6. Overall taste (How does it all come together?)

Now let’s see how they measured up!

Arby’s 17th street location made us some delicious curly fries doused in cheese sauce, grated cheese, peppered bacon and a creamy ranch sauce. They impressed us with the overall taste of their crispy, curly fries as the flavors all melded together nicely. They got high scores for their uniqueness; those curly fries are addicting. One of my children summed them up by saying, “These were extremely satisfying!’

 We were excited to try the fries at The Rusty Lantern in Ucon.  We loved their cozy decor and homey atmosphere where it seems like you’re visiting old friends. Owned and ran by three generations of a local family who know their regulars by name, this restaurant will remind you of the meals Grandma used to make. Their platter of homemade fries with ample cheese and bacon was delightful dipped in their creamy ranch. They got the highest scores for bacon to fry ratio and for best tasting dip, which was “incredible.” We loved every bite!

We discovered that Chili’s makes their ranch in-house and it was amazing. They scored high on the dip, overall taste and ooey gooeyness of the cheese due to three different kinds of cheese being used. Their fries come with jalapeños and onions which give them an extra kick! Your whole family would fit nicely at one of their big tables or could enjoy a nice meal outside with a view of the river. There were no complaints from us about their amazing fries!

Wendy’s Baconator Fries from their convenient Ammon location definitely lived up to their name with nice big pieces of crispy bacon. Their natural cut fries were covered in a cheese sauce and grated cheddar cheese and then topped with a good amount of bacon. We gave their fries high scores for bacon to fry ratio and the ooey gooeyness of the cheese. Their fries were just the right amount of crispiness and would be a great side to one of your favorite sandwiches or burgers there.

Texas Roadhouse definitely did not disappoint. Just like their meals, the portion was perfect for sharing and the amount of bacon and cheese was just right.  We got an ideal “money shot” as the cheese was definitely ooey gooey! Their hearty fries could be a meal all on their own or the perfect appetizer to share. We also enjoyed their ranch sauce.  My oldest daughter, my son and I all scored their fries as our favorite in town.

We are lucky to have a fine dining experience like Jaker’s here in our small community. Their bacon cheese potato skins were beautiful to the eye and to our stomachs. My kids had to be on their absolute best behavior here and enjoyed the quaint fine dining atmosphere. Served with a creamy side of sour cream and topped with fresh green onions, they know how to do a potato right! We felt that they were hearty yet lighter than the fries. They were flawlessly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. They won in the uniqueness category and scored high with the bacon to fry ratio. My youngest daughter voted their potato skins as her favorite!

And our overall winner…drumroll, please…was Texas Roadhouse’s cheese fries!