I love battered and fried onion rings. They have often constituted my dinner.
Make that "good" onion rings. I do not eat them from chain fast-food joints: the onions are usually "minced and reconstituted," pre-breaded/battered, shipped frozen and then fried. Some places offer "real onion rings," which is a slight step up, but they are still frozen. I would rather eat my house slippers.
Like french fries (another compulsive peeve): Yes, I know. I can make them at home, and often do. It's a mess, though, and time-consuming.
Lately, some of my go-to independent burger joints that boast "fresh, hand-battered onion rings" are coming up woefully short: stringy single strand of onion encased in an over-fried or grease soggy and limpy crust/batter. Totally disappointing.
I want fresh, meaty and thick onion rings, soaked/hand-dredged/battered and fried until crisp on the outside, with the onion rings still meaty, moist, juicy and oniony.
Strangely, when I lived in Chicago before moving back home to Houston, my favorite onion rings were those fried to order at Popeye's. They have disappeared (Damn you, Popeye's).
Suggestions appreciated.
I haven't been in at least 10 years, but Prince's Hamburgers had really good onion rings as you describe. Nothing else on the menu is good at all, especially the dried out hamburgers and any of the "original" items. I do like the root beer.
My memory is fuzzy but I think Bellaire Broiler Burger does good rings. They also do an almost dish of the month chili cheeseburger that is quite serviceable. Maybe brucesw can help out.
Aw . . . I have sweet memories of Prince's and the onion rings there. I haven't visited Prince's since they closed the location on Fuqua and the Gulf Freeway. I always found the double meat double cheese burger perfectly good -- maybe not a destination burger, but fine if you were near by. In my recollection, Prince's also served a pretty damned good open-faced chicken-fried steak sandwich.
Looks like the location closest to me (Friendswood) is on N. Post Oak. I'll try it the next time I'm in that neck of the woods . . . but, then, the original Christian's Tailgate is not that far away . . . .
Have to admit I don't understand Prince's strategy since closing the flagship location (with carhops). There seems to be no strategy. They open dine-in-only locations in inconvenient locations and then close them (result of competing with destination higher-end burger joints and drive-throughs for those in a rush for lunch or take-home dinner.
I'm a former (at least for the time being) chef with experience from flat-top-grill-only joints to higher-end restaurants. If I could advise Prince's: Close your existing locations. Recreate the flagship "experience" (air-conditioned in-door dining, out-door tables and parking with car-hop service) somewhere on the Gulf Freeway feeder. (Webster/League City). Upgrade the quality of the burgers. Pare the menu. Forget the salads, baked potatoes, shrimp, chicken, hot dogs. Concentrate on burgers (maybe a turkey burger), cfs and fish sandwiches, fries, onion rings, shakes/malts and root beer.
Just my humble opinion.
Sat night, diners drive in dives was on satallite TV for 6-8 hours. Sometime last night the host was in Houston, and the host raved about the onion rings.
I have tried some of the places the show in the Northern California area and enjoyed them. Thus, to me, the show's recommendations are worth trying.
FWIW: I have tried the host's restaurant and would not recommend it. Edit: I have tried the host's restaurant and another restaurant with a similar name. I would go back to the host's restaurant. Garlic vs Rocket
I did try your suggestion about adding "diners drive in dives" to my typical "Houston onion rings" sort of input, and came up with Langford Grocery, which sure looks worth trying.
Although I've definitely heard of Google, and definitely heard of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," I hadn't thought of combining the two for my search.
Seems to have worked pretty well. I'll do it again.
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