Ballard French Fry Crawl (Krål)

I’m continuing on my never-ending (but oft forgotten) quest to find the best French fries in Seattle. Last October I challenged myself to a 24 hour French Fry Marathon where I ate French fries from a different restaurant every hour for 24 hours. That was insane. In observation of National French Fry Day (July 11, 2025) I decided that it was time for another fry challenge. Since my company does not recognize National French Fry Day as a holiday, I observed it a day late. On Saturday July 12, 2025, I embarked on a French Fry Crawl through the Nordic neighborhood of Ballard (French Fry Krål?). I didn’t give myself any hard requirements about the number of restaurants I needed to visit, but I emotionally committed myself to visit 10 different places.

I had company for the first 4 stops, and then after that I was on my own. Here’s the list of restaurants in the order that I visited:

1. Cookie’s Country Chicken
2. L’il Woody’s
3. Scooter’s Burgers
4. Skål Beer Hall
5. Percy’s & Co. Seattle
6. Kimchi House
7. Kangaroo & Kiwi
8. Spice Waala
9. The Old Pequliar
10. Slim Goody Sports Bar

The Hits

My goal is never to drag a restaurant down, so I want to start with the French fries that really stood out as special. These are dishes that I would go back and order again, and even make a special trip for.

Skål Beer Hall – Their $10 basket of fries was elite. These were beer battered 9mm fries served at 194 degrees (fresh!) with a dill and powdered vinegar seasoning that was pretty addictive. It came with two dipping sauces (a ketchup and an aioli) and the portion size was generous and shareable. I also ordered the Dru Bru draft rootbeer (local rootbeer brewer in Cle Elum), but it didn’t wow me. Might have been a weak keg. They also had a beet shrub with lemon and soda that also felt a bit muted. The Viking size pretzel for $14 was magical, though. I was glad I had people to share the food with at this stop.

Cookies Country Chicken – This was the only poutine I had on the crawl, and it was a damn good one. It’s in the “bowl’s” section of their menu and it comes with a pretty massive serving of their fried chicken. I asked, and they don’t offer the poutine without the chicken, but you can get it on the side. The fries were 8mm, lightly battered, and while the temperature read low (115 degrees) I think this was because of the blanket of gravy and cheese curds over the top. They tasted fresh, and the naked fries were plenty crispy. By the way, I’m not a spice wimp, but getting the chicken a 2 out of 4 on their spice scale surprised me a bit. It wasn’t too hot for me, but it was hotter than I expected. Shoutout to Eli at the register for being so chatty about local French fries.

Kimchi House – While the fries alone were not that remarkable (8mm, 114 degrees), the toppings definitely were. There were multiple creamy/mayo based sauces, some cheese, scallions, and finely chopped kimchi all over. When I asked for them to make me a small portion (and charge me the same as the regular portion), they went ahead and charged me less for a smaller plate of food. The combination of flavors was super interesting with the fermented vegetables and the vibrant sauces. I also enjoyed their earthy roasted barley tea that was available for free at the counter. Even if I didn’t like the food it would be hard for me to give these guys a bad review because promptly after eating my small plate of fries (by myself) I snuck away and destroyed their bathroom for about 5 minutes. Thank goodness they had a bottle of Febreeze, but I made sure I was ready to bolt out the door as soon as I was done. Sorry guys.

Kangaroo & Kiwi – This Australia and New Zealand themed bar is located in an old library and has a bouncer on the front steps like a night club. It’s fascinating. The Fremont Street Fries were also fascinating. The fries are 8mm thick with a unique cut that makes them almost half-circles. These are fried crispy and then topped with a cheese sauce, onions, and large chunks (medallions?) of tender smokey beef. It’s a lot of food and you should definitely share it. The dominant flavors to me were the cheese and the goulash like beef (sort of bbq/smokey). Tasty, but heavy and filling. I also ordered a non-alcoholic spicy jalapeňo margarita that was made with muddled lime and jalapeňo, margarita mix, and non-alcoholic tequila. The glass was rimmed with Tajín to push even more sour/spicy notes. It was refreshing and zippy.

Spice Waala – I knew these would be good because I’ve had them before. Spice Waala has another location on Capitol Hill and it was one of my stops on the second-half of my French fry marathon last October. The dish his called Masala Aloo, and it’s fries that are heavily dusted in garam masala or other spices and served with a bold cilantro chutney for dipping. They were about half crispy and half limp, but interesting enough that I won’t drop them in my ranking. They were 8mm thick, served at 156 degrees, and I would happily eat them again. They are a little bit bitter, or earthy, from all that dry spice they’re tossed in, but I think it works great.

The Misses (or Near-Misses)

L’il Woody’s – I think I just have a philosophical disagreement with how the L’il Woody’s people see the world of French fries. Some people love this style, but I vehemently oppose it. That doesn’t mean I’m right, and I’m not saying that they’re wrong, but I strongly dislike what they’re doing. The fries are thin (6mm), were served at 163 degrees, and appear to be cut in house. I know this because they’re not fried twice. They’re fried once at a high temperature which gives a temporary crispiness, but it also bogs them down with oil. They come out greasy and somewhat bitter. I ordered the Shake Fries that come with a small bowl of milkshake for dipping, but there was so much grease on the fries that the melty ice cream couldn’t adhere to the surface at all. You dip the fry and it’s basically hydrophobic…the shake just dribbles off. There’s plenty of other good food at L’il Woody’s, I’m just going to skip the fries in the future.

Slim Goody Sports Bar – The menu claims that this $9 basket of fries is “Pretty OK”. I think that’s a bit of a stretch, but not too far off. These were basic fries with no batter and no discernible crust. They were 8mm, were served at a reasonable temperature (172 degrees), but were salted very inconsistently. The texture dropped off quickly as they cooled down, and the Come-Back Sauce could only help so much. I also ordered their Seasonal Shrub which was a “Hibiscus something or other” because my server couldn’t remember. After trying it, I couldn’t figure it out either. It mostly tasted like vinegar, which isn’t entirely unexpected, but the soda water was so flat that there was nothing to liven it up. This was also my last stop of the day, and it took a million years for the waiter to come back with my check, but that has nothing to do with my ranking of these fries.

Scooter’s Burgers – These aren’t bad fries, but the competition was tough and they just weren’t good enough to be memorable and make it into the top half of my stops. It’s a cute little neighborhood burger stand with a menu full of standard fryer fare. I think that that’s the problem with the fries. They were 7mm thick, came out at 170 degrees (fresh), had two sauces (a pink tartar and a ketchup), but the flavor was just a bit off. I think they’re using the same fryer for everything, and maybe it was a bit past its prime on my visit. The fries tasted a little fishy…just a little. Beyond that, they were lightly battered, fried a beautiful golden yellow, and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful.

Percy’s and Co – These weren’t bad fries at all, and I loved the vibe of the bar. Everyone was friendly, the place looked timeless and clean, and their food menu was thoughtful and appealing. The fries were really just standard fries, though. 8mm thick, no batter, so even though they were served to me at 204 degrees, they cooled quickly and never achieved a crust. They were well seasoned and I had no problem eating them, but if I were to go back I’d order a different item and feel more confident in the result. One absolute standout here was the hot sauce, though. For $1 you can get a side of the house made hot sauce, and it’s a banger. It’s a fermented habaňero base and has a ton of heat and flavor. I doctored my ketchup with it and started sweating from my face profusely.

The Old Pequliar – This is another one where the fries weren’t bad, they just weren’t special. The only real bummer here is that some random online menu indicated that they had “Very Pequliar Irish Nachos” made with french fries, but that was not the case. The menu in effect right now is different and unfortunately the Irish Nachos were removed. Best I could do was just a regular basket of fries. They were 8mm thick, no batter, no crust, and served at 192 degrees. They tossed them with salt and either a very mild black pepper seasoning or some sort of dried herb thing. It didn’t add any flavor that I could tell, but it looked nice. The employees asked about my GoPro camera, probably assessing whether or not I was a creep, and were friendly once they knew I was harmless. Decent fries, cool bar, but I probably would not order them again. Plenty of other stuff to try on the menu.

Final Thoughts

These Fry Challenges are tough, but I have a good time. Any other neighborhoods where you think I might find a good concentration of excellent fries? Maybe a mocktail crawl? Let me know! And don’t forget to follow/subscribe to my other social channels. I like making the video content, but would love more viewers!