What’s the key to Wichita’s best fries? The spot readers selected shares its secret
The secret to Wichita’s favorite french fry? A thick cut and crunchy coating.
After four rounds of voting in our competition to find The Eagle reader’s favorite french fries in Wichita, a popular fast food restaurant reigned supreme. With a more than 200-vote lead in the last round, Spangles took the crown — winning against 18 other places chosen by our readers.
We spoke up with René Steven, director of operations of Spangles, who said the Eagle’s voters have good taste.
“Thank you to readers for voting for us, and we are glad to see that they have such great taste,” Steven said in a recent phone call.
Steven, whose brothers Dale and Craig founded and still run the company, has been with Spangles for 40 years. When asked what makes the french fries stand out, she had thoughts.
“Ours is a thicker fry, plus it has this crunchy coating around the outside of it,” Steven said. “It’s kind of like when you sear a steak, you sear a steak [and] keep the moisture in to keep all the flavor on the inside. So when you cook our french fries, it has this crunch on the outside that keeps the product hotter longer, and keeps all the flavor on the inside.
“We just always took a lot of pride in the crunch, and we want you to be able to taste the potato on the inside of a french fry,” she said.
Spangles, a 1950s-themed diner founded in Wichita in 1978, has 27 locations across Kansas.
“Every guest that enters our restaurant, it’s a greeting of ‘Hi, welcome to Spangles,’” Steven said. “We want them to know that they are welcome here. And pride ourselves on our good customer service ... We may make mistakes, but we want the guests to feel that when they spend money with us, we appreciate them, and they are like family. Because we live here, you live here, and we just want them to feel welcome.”
Walt’s and Barn’rds were the two other restaurants who made the top three in our poll. Spangles gathered 322 votes in the last round, Barn’rds took second with 66 and Walt’s walked away with 50. Remember, our poll wasn’t scientific, but it was fun!
