Readers choose winner and runners-up
- A dive bar and restaurant with a nearly 50-year history in East Nashville takes the crown.
- An Asian comfort food restaurant, a celebrity chef restaurant and a street food restaurant also garnered votes in the poll.
At Dino’s Dive Bar in East Nashville, a small neon sign flickers above the door leading to the back patio.
“Fries,” one can simply read.
According to a recent poll by The Tennessean and USA Today, this is where the best fries in town are found.
Dino’s has been around for decades and has built a reputation as a friendly neighborhood bar with great food at reasonable prices. It joins Xiao Bao, Chauhan Ale and Masala House as a handful of other Nashville restaurants serving up the best fries in town, according to the survey.
Dino’s Animal Fries
Dino’s doesn’t have all the trappings of the hip East Nashville cocktail bars, but that’s exactly what makes it special. The bar is small and unassuming, but it’s beautifully decorated with stickers, posters and Polaroid photos of customers over the years. On the back patio, patrons can sit at picnic tables and enjoy a Dolly Parton lemonade stand.
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And on the menu: cheeseburgers, fries, chicken sandwiches and Frito pies.
The dish to try is the bar’s animal style, topped with Velveeta cheese, grilled onions and a special sauce similar to Thousand Island sauce. But Dino’s also offers the “Joe style,” topped with Velveeta, grilled onions, tartar sauce and hot oil. Don’t pass it up, it’s excellent.
And you can never go wrong with a classic: crispy, salty, hot fries with plenty of ketchup for dipping.
Pair your fries with your choice of a Dino’s cheeseburger (which you can also order animal-style, I might add) and a beer for a complete meal.
The bar has been no stranger to accolades over its nearly 50-year history, racking up editorial recognition for having one of the best cheeseburgers in the United States, being one of Nashville’s best dive bars and serving the best cheap eats.
Dino’s Fries garnered 31.73% of the vote in the poll, but there are other Nashville fries worth checking out, too.
Xiao Bao Beef Fat Fries
Asked about the beef fat fries at Xiao Bao in East Nashville, Mackensy Lunsford, senior food editor at The Tennessean, nearly fell off her chair.
The original McDonald’s French fries used beef tallow in the fryer until 1990, when the fast food giant switched to vegetable oil. When Lunsford eats Xiao Bao’s beef fat fries, she’s transported back to the backseat of her mother’s station wagon with a wave of nostalgia. Fat, crispy, thin fries from the McDonald’s drive-thru.
Xiao Bao’s fries, while very simple, are a staple of the Asian comfort food restaurant. They come on a large plate with a special sauce on the side. They garnered just over 18% of the votes in our poll.
Honorable mentions
Voters surveyed also gave their support to menu items at Greko Greek Street Food and Chauhan Ale and Masala House.
Chauhan’s dish is a combination of tandoori chicken, makhani sauce and cheese curds on crispy masala fries. Poutine garnered nearly 15% of the votes in the poll.
Greko’s street fries are topped with oregano and mizithra cheese. They are crispy and well-seasoned and garnered nearly 13% of readers’ votes.
