The Tornado Potato Touches Down in the U.S.
Remember the tornado potato? That strange spiral-cut potato that's skewered and deep-fried? The street-food treat found in Seoul, South Korea? It did a whirlwind tour of the web in 2007, when the blog Superlocal posted a photo of it. (And, yes, we blogged it, too.)
It looks like the tornado potato has finally made it Stateside. It'll be available at the Minnesota State Fair this year (August 27 through Labor Day), but I caught sight of one this week on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey, which is basically all state-fair food all the time (at least during the summer tourist season). [What it looks like, after the jump ...]
Called "Tornado Fries" here in Wildwood, it's the same thing the South Koreans have had for a while now—an entire potato spiral-cut on a stick and fried. The one we tried was interesting and tasted like a cross between sautéed potato slices and fries. They're available with an array of toppings, including barbecue, cheddar, nacho cheese, Old Bay, ranch, and salt and vinegar, among others.
Suggested accompaniment: an OJ shake-up from the Curly's Fries stand at Schellenger Avenue just a couple blocks north.
Tornado Fries
Wildwood Boardwalk (b/n Spicer and Garfield avenues; map)
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26 Comments:
I was in Wildwood NJ this week too! There were so many ladies on the boardwalk offering free samples!
PrettyNicola at 1:15PM on 06/27/09
When I was in South Africa in 2004, there were a couple of places that had these, although they called them 'chip twisters. They were pretty good and I've been trying to think of how to make them at home ever since.
trialbyfood at 4:56PM on 06/27/09
does EVERY state have a wildwood? the one here in FL boasts a bigger bovine population than human. i also lived in a wildwood in GA...the townspeople were so excited when the walmart came to town. man, THAT was the place to be lol. oh and those tornado fries look damn good
gypsykid at 5:45PM on 06/27/09
That looks awesome.
dmcavanagh at 11:42PM on 06/27/09
Take a look at twistedchips.com. Here you can buy a cutter to make these verry nice snacks!!!
chan76 at 8:11AM on 06/28/09
Isn't it basically the same thing as Ribbon Fries that have been at state fairs for years? The only difference is Ribbon Fries are served in a pile on a plate. Very yummy covered with cheese, bacon & chives!
RHorton at 8:53AM on 06/28/09
MINNESOTA STATE FAIR. Sorry, I had to do that. My favorite event of all time.
inothernews at 1:33PM on 06/28/09
I saw these on the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk 2 weeks ago as well.
JoanieLSpeak at 4:03PM on 06/28/09
@JoanieLSpeak where on the OC boardwalk did you see them? I've sworn off Wildwood now I have kids and would love to try these.
DCLSweetspot at 6:00PM on 06/28/09
I'm giving serious thought to going to the Minnesota State Fair just to eat.
worldcupfever at 11:12PM on 06/28/09
Seems to me they are the same as I've seen at fairs, except on a stick
cebonney at 10:10AM on 06/29/09
It doesn't look as good as fries and looks messier than fries but I would give it a try for novelties sake.
the_o at 12:51PM on 06/29/09
Interesting - we've had similar things in Texas for a long time, just not on a stick. Ours come out roughly football-shaped and you can find them at pretty much any festival, event, or fair.
morgancain at 1:59PM on 06/29/09
I was down in Wildwood this weekend and saw this great new shop. I tried a sample and loved it. It was seasoned with their original seasoning. Then I came across another guy selling a similar product in an arcade. It was not nearly as good. And the people at the Tornado Fries stand were much friendlier and more professional.
criticalone at 11:13PM on 06/29/09
I saw this at our local barbeque fair (Pork in the Park - Salisbury, MD) a couple of months ago. I'm shocked that they had something here in the boonies that you guys hadn't seen yet! I'm pretty sure it's just a bbq-circuit though, so they probably picked it up somewhere else...
tideandthyme at 11:20PM on 07/01/09
you can buy them at www.twistedchips.com
not so expensive!
chan76 at 11:09AM on 07/07/09
these have been a fair favorite for a long time, in Idaho there is a guy who has an electric drill and a cheese slicer makes great ones youn dont even need the stick in the middle
ejf150 at 2:29PM on 07/09/09
you can buy an appliance at Walmat, called a Tater Twister, this has the attachment tha tallows you to make these. I have been eating them for years!
Busterbear at 2:52PM on 07/09/09
Found their website. Looks like they are selling franchises.
http://www.tornadofries.com
criticalone at 6:57PM on 07/09/09
Tornado Fries accually came from a business started 9 years by Gary Barnes who now resides in the UK. He invented the original spiral cut potato blade and started a company called CHIPSTIX, a fried potato with a twist. It started in South Africa not Korea. The Tornado Fries company is trying to take credit for this creation but have merely copied and tried to brand themselves as The Original.
The true original is CHIPSTIX and yes you have seen them in Ocean City, NJ at the French Fry Factory. They are also located in North Wildwood at the famous Gateway 26 Arcade and in Wildwood at Lime Ricky Arcade. CHIPSTIX also offers there potent mixture of fresh squeezed lemonade.
CHIPSTIX at 3:20PM on 07/19/09
Hello all, I was able to check out this snack but couldn't find tornado fries. I tried chipstix, it was across from Morey's Piers and they had a flavor called pizza and it was awesome. I also got a fresh squeezed lemonade that was to die for.
The girl working there was named Iryna and she said shes the owner. She was very nice and helpful. There was a NBC 10 news interview playing from Memorial Day weekend that featured the world famous chipstix.
Golato at 3:54PM on 07/19/09
The original Korean product is called "Twist Potato". Their website is http://www.potatotwist.com.
ryu2121 at 5:02PM on 08/04/09
Chipstix was the shop in the arcade that I tried after Tornado Fries. It was NOT good. Looks like the post on July 19 from Golato was posted by the owner of the Chipstix shop. Lets look at this... It was posted just 34 minutes after the post by the obvious stor owner "Chipstix". Very unusual spelling of the owners first name. I bet 9 out of 10 people wouldn't guess that was how you spell it.
Couldn't find Tornado Fries? It's the big store with the huge sign right in the middle of the boardwalk. It's much easier to find the chipstix store in the corner of an arcade. Did you trip over the Holy Grail or Jimmy Hoffa's body on your way to the chipstix store?
Once again... The people working in the chipstix store are very ignorant. Especially the "Little Person" (I have nothing against "little people", but this guy takes the cake) who runs around like he owned the place.
C'mon buddy, promote your "little" store somewhere else.
criticalone at 6:50PM on 08/05/09
I guess the big store criticalone is referring to above is the same Tornado Fries store that doesn't have a sign because they didn't follow city zoning requirements, wheres that big sign you mentioned. Word has it they are also using an illegal fryer with no fire suppression system to make there horrible deep fryed candy bars, located in the back room. One other note, they may loose there Trademark status because of lack of enforcement by other companies, log onto patent trademark office website and read all about it.
Golato at 11:28PM on 08/05/09
LOU are you kidding me, would we have this thread up on the website if I was still involved with Tornado, absolutely not. Just simply click on the link above and magically it takes you away from your site and too a small competitors site, I thought you and Richard were a little smarter than that.
Golato at 11:36PM on 08/05/09
Hey Golato, you know an awful lot about this store. I'm confused. You said in your first post that you were not able to find the Tornado Fries store. Now you claim to have "insider" information about what goes on in the back room. Are you lying now, or were you lying then?
criticalone at 1:10AM on 08/07/09