Top 10: Fried Foods

It’s pandemonium on Wall Street these days. The stock market is crashing! Standard and Poor’s has downgraded the United States and it’s likely France is next. People are rioting on the streets of London. The world, it seems, is coming to an end. If our time has come there’s not much we can do to stop it so I say let’s embrace the end. Let’s toast to the dark side! Put down that low-cal smoothie. Step away for the steamed tofu. Join us as we celebrate Eating Unhealthy: Top 10 Fried Foods. If the world’s gonna end, we might as well eat like it!

10. Fried Oyster Sliders – The Dutch

(131 Sullivan St. @ Prince St.)

Andrew Carmellini’s foray from Italian comfort food to American comfort food has brought us lots of tasty treats but these just might be the tastiest of them all.

9. Fish and Chips – A Salt and Battery

(112 Greenwich Ave. @ 12th St.)

We’d be remiss to have a top fried foods list without fish and chips and the combination is at it’s finest at A Salt and Battery.

8. Korean Fried Chicken – Mad For Chicken

(314 5th Ave. @ 32nd St.)

Korea town got a little more crowded when KyoChon invaded the neighborhood but nobody has yet knocked off the Korean fried chicken champ.

7. Fried Potatoes – Barbuto

(775 Washington St. @ 12th St.)

You can fry just about anything in duck fat and make it taste good. But this good? Only Johnathan Waxman could do it.

6. Fried Pork Dumplings – Vanessa’s Dumpling House

(118 Eldridge St. @ Broome St.)

The gold standard in all things dumpling fries ‘em up better than any others we’ve tried.

5. Fried Oreos – Led Zeppole

(328 East 14th St. @ 2nd Ave.)

Does this one really need any further commentary? The brains behind Artichoke Pizza do it again.

4. French Fries –  Pommes Frites

(123 2nd Ave. @ 7th St.)

Easily the toughest decision we had to make was which French Fryer to add to the list but the sheer magnitude of fry variations – all delicious – give Pomme Frites the leg up on the competition.

3. Empire Roll – Sushi Sen-Nin

(30 East 33rd St. @ Madison Ave.)

It’s really nothing more than a glorified shrimp tempura roll but the best one at that. Shaped and colored like the empire state building gives it it’s namesake, perfect taste and crunch land it on this list. (we couldn't find a picture, but trust us on this one!)

2. Fried Chicken – Dirty Bird To Go

(204 West 14th St. @ 7th Ave.)

We can’t talk fried foods without fried chicken right? So let’s talk about it. Dirty Bird is nothing more than a small take-out place but what it lacks in size it makes up with some of the dirtiest fried chicken in town.

1. Pretzel Dusted Fried Calamari – ABC Kitchen

(35 East 18th St. @ Broadway)

You don’t win a James Beard award for nothing. You win for taste and creativity, two of the defining characteristics of this dish from Dan Kluger.