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Chowdown French Fry Challenge: Dante's vs. Thirsty Whale

We have two finalists for this round of the Chowdown Showdown.

 

Last week, we asked McHenry County Patch.com readers: which restaurant do you think has the best french fries in the county

Thanks for all the responses! We have two finalists for this Chowdown: Dante's, 10400 South II Route 31 in Algonquin, and Thirsty Whale, 1700 S. Randall Road in Algonquin. 

Here is how you can vote for your favorite restaurant: 

  • Cast your vote in the poll below
  • Comment below to let us know why your restaurant has the best fries. Think a different restaurant deserves to win? You can let us know in the comments' section. 
  • Share your thoughts on our Facebook page

The winner will be determined based on a combination of poll results and comments. Voting will continue through 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 13. The winner will be announced in an article the morning of Wednesday, March 14. 

Without further ado, let the voting begin for this week's Chowdown Showdown champion! 

  • Who has the best french fries in McHenry County?

    (Voting has been closed for this question)
    • Dante's
        160 (68%)
    • Thirsty Whale
        75 (31%)
    Total votes: 235
  • Your vote will only count once. This is not a scientific poll. View Results Vote!
Related Topics: Chowdown Showdown, Chowdown Showdown Challenge, Reader's Choice, and best of
Which restaurant has the best fries in the county? Tell us in the comments.

Darren Trinity Auto Center

8:23 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Harry has the best fries Gyros and dogs this side of the Mississippi ... Salad is good, and will also customize any thing for you. He has a special Russ burger he invented for my mechanics at Trinity Auto Center on 31...... Way to Good !!1 Hats off to Harry at Dante's. Keep it up . See you at lunch.....

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Kelly Izral

10:10 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Thirsty Whale all the way!! Love the homemade taste and deliciousness!!!!

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Rich Kee

10:20 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Gotta give it up to Thirsty Whale and their kitchen. The food is ALWAYS on point! The Fries are virtually perfect. "Do fries come w/that shake?" Shooooot... Just give me the fries!

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Ashley Kerns

10:26 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Thirsty Whale has the most amazing fries! Hand cut and homemade and seasoned perfectly, it doesn't get better than that!

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Megan Parker

11:01 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Aaron at the Thirsty Whale. Best chef in the world.. HANDS DOWN!!

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Bob

12:12 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Why was ALGONQUIN SUB SHOP left off the final ballot?

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Amie Schaenzer

12:19 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Hi Bob, Algonquin Sub Shop did not receive enough votes. But if we get enough votes for Algonquin Sup Shop on this article we will take that into consideration in deciding the champion. Thanks!

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Dan Arenov

2:16 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

so patch did a prelim vote for a week to come up to the finals where readers can vote but it doesn't decide the winner because the new format has where the staff make the final decision. so if you want to vote for different places in this article, they will maybe pick that place even though it isn't listed in the vote.

next week is cheese fries.

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Michael Bivona

4:21 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

@dan: Why would all the Patch editors gather together and scientifically calculate a way to leave certain businesses off the final poll? This is a great way for readers to learn about different places in the area. And so far, it's been doing just that. Thanks for reading Patch and keep those great suggestions coming!

Nikki KiKi Specht

1:08 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Oh my word, THIRSTY WHALE!!!!!!! I miss Aaron's fanfreakingtastic food!!!!!!

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Rachel Strong

1:51 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Hands down, Thirsty Whale has THE BEST fries!! I can never stop eating them, Aaron is the best!!

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FrankTheFixer

1:53 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Harry makes some of the best fries in the state let alone the county. My vote is for Dante's

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Nick

2:01 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Dante's fries aren't even in the same category. The guy at Dante's uses some crazy multi-step technique to make these pommes frites. The Dante's fry is absolutely the best French fry I have ever had and I've been to France and had duck fat fries and been to numerous places in Vegas that a celebrity chef has opened and the Dante's guy is better.

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Donna

10:01 pm on Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Why is it I cannot leave a comment for Dante's? In the article "You can leave a review for Dante's here" When I click on the link, (leave comment here for Dantes') it's states page cannot be displayed, I think that's a totally unfair for Dante's!!
DANTE's IS THE BEST!!!!

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Amie Schaenzer

2:48 pm on Friday, March 9, 2012

Hi Donna, unfortunately, there there has been some technical difficulties this week with the Dante's listing — our directory team is working to get back the listing back up on the site. I've taken the link down since it is not working. With that said, for this round of the Chowdown, we will choose a winner based on poll results and comments on this article. Thanks for your vote!

The Dream

12:22 am on Thursday, March 8, 2012

Dante's is a real french fry...Hand cut taters, soaked, and Flash fried...TWICE!!!! he has no competition...this is apples to oranges...and you can get them LOADED!!! I heard he got Kudos from the Illinois ZAGAT editor once... and if you need more evidence check out his yelp comments:
www.yelp.com/biz/dantes-algonquin
This is Algonquin's best restaurant...hands down...

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Silent_Lucidity

9:26 am on Thursday, March 8, 2012

Dante's by far...and I think the Thirsty Whale fries are great! So that just tells you that Harry makes the best fries this side of the planet!

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Rob

8:31 am on Sunday, September 23, 2012

I haven't been to Dantes yet, but I'm going to have to try it now! I am amazed at the raves for Thirsty...tried it twice and am not impressed at all. The food at Tommys is better than Thirsty!

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