$3 Fries Vs. $100 Fries

- Today on Worth It, French

fries

. Why don't you tell us what we are going to do today in a drastic way? - (laughs) Today on Worth It, we're trying three incredibly amazing potato chips. At three drastically different prices, to find out which

fries

are worth the most at their price. - We're starting this episode here in Los Angeles. And then later on, we'll go international. - Oh I love it. - Let's... - Montreal! - Because we are making French fries, but we didn't want to go to France (laughs), so we went to French Canada. - The next best option. - That's how it works, right? - My name is Steven and I like to be even.

The only thing that rhymes with Steven is pair. Did you know? That sucks. Bread without yeast. (laughs) Let's go eat some fries. - That's you. Steven Unleavened. ^(heavy guitar music) ^- Okay, I'm Steven Fretz. ^I am the executive chef and co-owner ^of Top Round Roast Beef. - Tell us about the Higher Round. - We make roast beef sandwiches, hand cut fries, we make our own frozen custard. Our motto is "Chef-Driven Fast Food." - What does that mean to you here? - We take the time to really focus on technique. And everything in this kitchen is made in this kitchen.

Our cheese genius, our fries. There is a human element in everything we do. And that's how we want it. Today we are going to try our hand cut curly fries. - How do you get the curly fry shape? I'm realizing I've never seen a potato turn into a curly fry. - It is a machine that was made for us. So, let's put our potato there. So we're in there nice and tight. Make your hand like this and push hard. (machine whirring) There you have it! All of our frying in this kitchen is done in beef fat. - Beef fat is the classic way to do it. - It all comes down to one thing, flavor.

I think, as a chef, there is a lot more flavor in beef fat than in regular oil. We finish them with fine sea salt and serve them. - And I see that on every table there is a seasoning shake. - Yes, it is exactly the same seasoning that we put on meat. It's kind of our signature. I recommend putting it on the fries. - What is the ideal texture for really good fries? - You want it to be crispy on the outside and then fluffy on the inside. That golden color is what you strive for. People must understand that this is a living plant.

At certain times of the year, you will get a browner fry than a late-season fry that is starchier and will burn more. You just have to pay attention to the difference in the potato and how it is fried. (cash register rings) - Oh man, what did you order for me, Andrew? ^- You have a concrete and I have a strawberry milkshake. Regards, Steven. - Health. (upbeat disco music) - Oh, yeah. - Oh, that's really good. You should try this, it's very rich and milky. You know, like that whipped cream, that Oreo. - Okay, we're not here, we're not doing an ice cream video today. - Okay, okay, okay. - We're making... - French fries. - What I like most in this program is when we say the same thing at the same time. - Ready?

Friendship. - Potatoes! - Well. Look how fun that is! It looks like a shag rug, but with potatoes. - Oh it's good. - It looks like a cursive lowercase A. - Greetings. - Incredible. - Is awesome. It's surprisingly... - Fluffy! - Yeah! I was going to say soft, but fluffy is the right word. - (laughs) Adam almost pounced on my fry. You can have it. Should we try to shake it up a bit? - Yes. I don't know if it's because I know it tastes like beef fat, but it tastes more like meat. Oh, it's fine. - Delicious.

Would it be obscene to fry it in ice cream? Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. - Oh no, don't lose it! - That's really delicious. Strawberry ice cream on a meaty potato? Highly recommended. -I was recently visiting my filmmaker friend and he told me: "To be at the forefront, do what others don't do." And that's what they're doing here with curly fries. They get fresh potatoes from Idaho, cook them in beef fat... - I like the way you say potato. - Dad? - (laughs) Yes. - How do you say it? - Dad. - Say potato. No, you're just saying it wrong.

Dad. It must be stated. - You sound like in The Lord of the Rings. Potatoes! - (laughs) Can we try some roast beef? (upbeat funk music) - Do you want to go bite by bite with this? - Go for it. - I'm sad that we didn't eat this along with the fries. This is soft and delicious, this is crunchy and delicious. This is smooth and delicious. - That's so... - Oh, yeah, let me get it back. - Throw a little of that in there, here. Boom roast. - You just, yes, roast beef. - To Montreal. What we are going to do next. - Little Canada. -We've traveled here because we were drawn to a certain dish that we'll get to later in this episode.

But, before we get there... - You may remember that when we had our bagel episode, we learned a little fact about bagels in Canada. ^- In Montreal, everything that is bagels ^is called dressed bagels. - So, we decided to treat ourselves to a little action of our own. - Oh yeah. - I'll give one to this guy, I'll keep one for myself. (humming) (humming "The Star-Spangled Banner") Were you singing the anthem? (laughs) Where are we going now? - A small restaurant called LOV. - Love? Let's try some vegan food. First we had non-vegan fries. The last place will definitely not be vegan at all.

But at this place we're making kimchi fries. Let's try. - Oh! ^(relaxed jazz music) ^- I'm Stéphanie Audet, I'm the chef here ^at the LOV restaurant in Montreal. - What kind of restaurant is LOV? - We are specialized in botanical cuisine. That's why we serve vegetarian and vegan food. Today I'm going to make kimchi fries, the famous kimchi fries. - Was that your idea in the first place? - Yeah! - Okay, so where did it come from? - I love fermented foods in general. It's really good for your gut, it's good for your system. All the vegetables in the kimchis are grown in Quebec.

It's all organic and fermented here. I really wanted to include kimchi on the menu. I didn't want to put it somewhere that would scare customers so much. So with the fries I thought: everyone buys fries, it's super convenient. And I think our clientele is a little bit (foreign language speaking). Like everyone else, it's probably very new to them. - What was that expression you used? ^(speaking in a foreign language) - Sir, madam, everyone. - Oh. - (laughs) It sounds weird! - Like Joe Schmo, Joe Schmo, anyone. - And then we add the kimchi. Then we make the sesame mayonnaise.

I thicken our homemade soy milk aioli with a blend, in the Vitamix, of miso, sriracha, sugar, garlic, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Then we just squeeze it on top of the fried kimchi and it's ready to eat. -What makes French fries the perfect medium for that kimchi? - Giving that umami flavor to fermented foods is a good complement. You want to try? - Yes. (laughs) - Definitely. - Sounds good, huh? (cash register sound) - What a cute cutting board. It's like a ping-pong paddle. (Clicking tongue) You make an amazing ping-pong sound. - I love how every time we come to a restaurant, we immediately gravitate towards something that the restaurant doesn't care about at all. -But they do care about this cucumber and black pepper kombucha. - Cucumber and black pepper kombucha. - That's what I'm talking about. - Oh.

Cucumber kombucha tastes like a delicious pickle brine. - Yes, if the pickle brine tasted good. Sorry to the pickle lovers. - Okay, sorry, pickle brine tastes good. But this is like a watered down version of pickle brine. - Alright, let's delve deeper. - Do you want to go fry first? - Fry first, always fry first. Health. - Delicious fried potato. - Mine has a little mayonnaise. - Mine had a little mayonnaise left. A little preview of the main feature here. - Oh yeah. - Now I'm going to get a forkful. Because I want to have all these flavors in my mouth at once.

Oh yeah, wait. I'm making a mess. - My turn, my turn. - Kim-cheers. Hell yeah, I sure could crush this. - This is not what you would think of as vegan in the first place. - Because normally when I eat kimchi, it's with delicious meats. - Yes, this mayonnaise, aioli and sesame thing, it feels like I'm eating something very meaty. And potatoes are perfect vessels. - For all those who do not eat or enjoy kimchi. You just have to understand that it is a pairing for delicious, spicy and salty food. - Yes. - A hot, crispy French fry?

Kimchi is perfect with that. - I don't feel bad after eating them. Which is hard to say with fries. -And I've had cheese fries that taste less creamy and delicious than these kimchi fries. - At first I thought it was cheese. Hello chef, how do you repeat that saying? ^(speaking in a foreign language) - Who did it better? ^No! - For the record, the chef pointed out to me. - Every time we do this in any language, it beats me. I don't understand. (speaking in a foreign language) Well, that sounded really good. You sound like you're from Ratatouille. (laughter) (upbeat piano music) (cash register sound) Fact! ^Actually, Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing ^potato chips to the United States. ^- Really? ^He was serving as an American minister^ to France in the 1780s. ^And he said, "This is delicious, let's bring it." He referred to them: I can't speak French, but (I speak in a foreign language). - Let's just play that.

And we'll get a person who actually speaks French. Yeah! (woman speaking in a foreign language) ^Or chips while raw in small cuts. ^-Just adds to the list of accolades from him. ^Great independence, great writing, great statement. ^- You brought the fries and we thank you, sir. You might be wondering: how did we come up with $100 fries? Well, we'll get 15 pounds of poutine. - More like Munch-real. Because we are chewing. - Mm, it's not your best work. - I'm sorry. - Are you ready? - Yes. I mean, not at all, but sure! (smooth jazz music) ^- Hi, I'm Costa, co-owner of Poutineville in Montreal. ^We have prepared a good meal for you today, ^it's called Heart Attack. (laughs) - A good meal called Heart Attack. - It's what we're known for.

We have groups of two come and challenge themselves to see who can eat the most Heart Attack. Seven years we've been open, only one man has done it. - A man? - And it took 22 minutes to do it. - That is incredible. Tell us about Poutineville, what type of establishment is this? - Instead of us creating our own menu. We let customers create their own poutines. We have an infinite amount of ingredients. If you want to be vegan or if you want to be a meat lover. We focus on great ingredients, fresh products and let customers be very creative. - What is poutine? - Oh, wow.

Poutine is an original fast food with a special touch. French fries loaded with lots of cheese and lots of sauce. What you put on top is what makes you different from everyone else. - When you were a child, did you eat a lot of poutine? - That's where Poutineville really started. Whatever my mom made for dinner, the next day it was poutine. - Oh. - Whether it was lamb, spaghetti, beef. It turned out to be a poutine of the week. The Heart Attack is a monster poutine. It is the largest in Montreal. 10 vegetables, chicken, bacon, ground beef, hot dogs, sausages, steak.

A traditional poutine is made with cheddar cheese curds, but we infuse it with mozzarella so we can get a little more of the stringy effect. So when you take out the cheese, it's delicious. It's a double layer poutine. What we do is we put a layer of potato, half the ingredients and a layer of cheese, and then we put another poutine on top of that, which becomes a monstrosity, and we cover it with sauce at the end. And as you can see, shortly, it's fantastic. - Is this a fork and knife type situation? - It's a fork and knife situation.

You should have a bib at the same time, because it can get a little dirty. - Wrong clothes for this day. - Wrong color for poutine. (cash register sound) ^- Can we take a second to just ^appreciate the majesty of this? This is 15 pounds. -When I was born I weighed 10 pounds and I thought that was big. - That's great. - I'm sorry, Mom. - That's big for a baby. - Very sorry. - Greetings, Steven. - Let it begin! - Delicious potato. - Solid. That crispiness is exactly what I wanted in these fries. A good base, starchy but ready to soak in the other juices.

I'm going to roll up my sleeves. This is definitely a dish for rolling sleeves. May the best competitor win. (upbeat salsa music) - Until now, I wasn't convinced that salsa was right for French fries. - Oh, sauce belongs to everything. What are you talking about? I have three different meats at once. - You don't even have fries on your fork. - I do not need it. - Look at this thing. I feel like a giant that is eating the earth. - I feel like a mouse trying to eat human food. - I think this is our personal vision of life. - (laughs) You're digging a big hole there. - I got to the second layer of cheese.

It's kind of like knowing the age of a fossil based on the other materials that have been placed on top of it. There's no way a human could have eaten this in 22 minutes. - There are images!I saw it a moment ago. -Then, I am going to affirm that he is not human. We need to make this an unresolved episode. - Oh. (singing) Wait, what's their music? - Wow! (laughs) One man claimed to have eaten 15 pounds of poutine, but how could he do it in 22 minutes? - Ghosts! -And then Shane says, "Well, don't say he's an alien!" - What's happening? -I think he gave us the delirium of the flesh.

You make a dent and then it sinks in on itself. So, do you like poutine? - I'm very love this, yes. The good thing about this is that you never get bored. You can make your own poutine in this poutine. Right now I feel very meaty. But then I think, "Ah, too much bacon." So, I prefer more fries. Whatever you want to do, you can ride it. Literally, in this huge plate of poutine. - I think you're winning right now. - Oh yeah. So if you really wanted to finish this, how many people would you bring? 17 people? - I don't know, I can't tell. - Oh, yes, we've barely touched it.

Oh, do I see the bottom now? No. (laughs) - It's been 20 minutes. Just as we finished two small pieces of food, a man came in and ate it all. - That seems impossible for a human. - I just want to take a nap. Oh man. - Can I give you one last bite? - No I can not. - Why not? - Please keep the curd. - That's why it's called poutine, you name it. (laughs) (slow, dark electronic music) (upbeat funk music) - I'm just trying to get the fries off, okay, I'm just-- - You can try, but no.

Those are now permanently part of your body. - No! Which fry and at what price were most worth it for you? ^- Those fries at Poutineville could feed an army. ^- That was incredible value. 15 pounds, 100 dollars. - If I were in high school and on the football team, that's the food I would want to eat. But my Worth It winner moves on to the upper round. The fact that you had some kinky action on that? That's just fun. French fries are fun, and curly fries are the funniest of all. - My Worth It winner goes to kimchi fries at LOV.

It was simply delicious. I felt very good after eating them. ^- Adam, who's your Worth It winner? So this ends for us here in Montreal. It was a lovely trip. - Do you know who needs to go to Montreal? (speaking in a foreign language) Ah, shoot. (Andrew speaking in a foreign language) (Steven speaking in a foreign language) - You only said that, because I said it first. So edit that, where it doesn't say so. - No no! - I couldn't remember that. He also didn't remember how to say it. Hey, check out our Instagram, it's new.

It's @buzzfeedworthit. - See you there, guys. Oh yeah!