America’s Most Decadent Potato Dishes

House tater tot Swiftine, $12
The classic Quebecois drinking snack poutine (fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds) takes a Texas detour at this eclectic small plates hot spot. Chef Mat Clouser arranges a ring of house-made russet tater tots around a pool of smoked ham hock gravy that’s amplified with Worcestershire and Tabasco sauces, plus a glossy mix of duck and pork fats. “I went to culinary school in Vermont and I spent a lot of time traveling to Montreal,” says Clouser of the dish’s Canadian inspiration. Meat from the braised Niman Ranch ham hocks, along with slow-melting cubes of queso fresco from a local producer, Dos Lunas, send the indulgent dish into the stratosphere. swiftsattic.com

Smoked and fried potatoes, $9
Chef Nick Balla uses a combination of three techniques to develop layers of texture and flavor with Yukon Gold potatoes. He first roasts the potatoes in a convection oven to soften them, smokes them over alder wood, then dunks the slightly crushed spuds into a roiling vat of rice bran oil to crisp. A black garlic and porcini vinaigrette cuts the richness and adds umami, while a scattering of dill sprigs nods to the restaurant’s Eastern European influence. The tiny spuds are served with ramp-spiked mayo. bartartine.com

Twice-baked potato, $8
This Seattle gem now benefits from having the talented, Eleven Madison Park-trained chef Jason Franey in the kitchen, but the menu continues to include a few nods to Canlis’s midcentury roots. The restaurant opened in 1950, with a then-radical twice-baked potato on the menu; it is still offered, alongside modern dishes like cold-smoked salmon and uni panna cotta. Franey roasts big russet potatoes, scoops out the flesh and mashes it in a bowl with plenty of fat—about three pounds of butter and four pounds of sour cream per batch of 25 potatoes. Pecorino Romano, green onions and bacon go into the bowl, too, along with a few good handfuls of salt. Franey spoons the luscious mixture into cast-iron crocks, tops them with more pecorino and sticks them in the oven to bubble and crisp before serving. “The twice-baked potato is the epitome of decadence,” says the chef. “It’s a filling and beautiful thing.” canlis.com

Animal-style frites, $13
At his sustainable gastropub, chef Jonathon Sawyer simultaneously tips his hat to In-n-Out Burger’s off-the-menu animal-style fries, and outdoes the cultish, West Coast-based chain’s combo of cheese, grilled onions and Thousand Island dressing. Sawyer fries his potatoes in a mix of house-rendered beef, pork and poultry fats, along with thick-cut lardons of double-smoked bacon. The potatoes make a rich and crunchy pedestal for beefy gravy, organic mozzarella cheese curds, two runny fried eggs and plenty of cracked black pepper. However, the first step, says Sawyer, is finding a mature potato. “We use an Idahos that are at least 40 days old—the older the better,” he says. “The sugars are so strong in fresh potatoes that it messes up our blanching process. We like to wait for those sugars to start converting into starch.” thegreenhousetavern.com

Out of Control foie gras poutine, $18
There’s an entire section of the menu devoted to poutine at this South End gastropub, but the ever-changing Out of Control iteration is the one to watch. “The OOC has to be ridiculous and over the top,” says executive chef Seth Morrison of the dish and its wild accoutrements, which range from smoked turkey and cranberry sauce around Thanksgiving to heirloom tomatoes and basil in the summer. But the lobes of foie gras come out only during the chilly winter months. Morrison sears and slices the fatty liver, then piles it atop a tower of golden fries, luscious chicken gravy, homemade ricotta, and seasonal garnishes like roasted chestnuts and dried fruit chutney. thegallowsboston.com

Périgord potato salad, $32
Chef Kevin Binkley’s luxurious spin on picnic potato salad is a bit of a culinary white whale. It’s available exclusively during peak truffle season, January through March, and even then it surfaces only as a rotating special. But there’s an excellent reason to seek it out: Binkley’s deluxe mayonnaise, enhanced with fresh chopped black truffles. Other highlights include four varieties of heirloom potatoes, including Ruby Crescents and La Rattes, fat-cutting celery gelee, a wisp of fried serrano ham and a blanket of freshly shaved truffles—an extravagant crowning touch that justifies the price tag. binkleysrestaurant.com

Everything potato chips with smoked salmon, $17
To make potato chips resemble bagels, chefs Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan core russets, slice them thin with a mandoline, then crisp them in rice bran oil. A handful of “everything” spices—fried garlic, plus sesame, celery and poppy seeds—season the chips, which are piled on a slate board and served with a Mason jar of pickled tomatoes, and smoked salmon napped with crème fraîche. “We tried to get all the elements of the bagel sandwich you grab in the morning on your way to work in there,” says Gardner. Approximating the schmear: a chive-laced dollop of Philadelphia cream cheese foamed in a whipped cream dispenser. passandprovisions.com

Torres tots, $7
This East Village cocktail bar is known for its haute hot dogs, designed by top NYC chefs like Wylie Dufresne and Daniel Humm. But when the city’s reigning queen of Mexican cuisine Sue Torres (Sueños) was asked to collaborate with the bar, she offered a riff on the spot’s signature cheese fries. Her chorizo gravy is a 48-hour project that starts with ground pork and smoked New Jersey ham punched up with fistfuls of aromatics like cumin, coriander, cinnamon and three kinds of chiles. “The chorizo gravy is one of those great Mexican recipes that gets better if you let it sit and allow the flavors to come together,” says Torres. She prepares the sauce at Sueños and sends gallon jugs of it to PDT, where it is ladled over oniony tater tots with chipotle crema and creamy, melting shreds of Chihuahua cheese. pdtnyc.com

Papas fritas with mole poblano, $7
Chef José Andrés connects Chinese and Mexican foodways at his restaurant in the Cosmopolitan hotel, but his extravagant revision of disco fries is South American influenced. This one is all about the sauce—a traditional Pueblan mole that requires three days and 21 ingredients (nuts, multiple chile varieties, chocolate and cinnamon) to make. “The mole is rich, delicious and complex,” says culinary operations director Joe Raffa. “It’s one of the treasures of our kitchen.” The spicy mole tops crisp and fluffy wands of Idaho potatoes, along with crumbles of salty queso fresco and cooling crema. chinapoblano.com

Rotisserie drippings potatoes, $6
Here’s how chef William Kovel perfects roasted potatoes at his Kendall Square farm-to-table spot: Kovel and chef de cuisine Anthony Mazzotta nestle a pan of raw ingredients—fingerlings, thyme, pearl onions and garlic—into the bottom of a rotisserie, where they’re bathed in the fragrant fat dripping from the Crystal Valley chickens slowly roasting above. “These are the quintessential potatoes,” says Mazzotta. “Golden and crispy, with the beautiful roasted scent of the chicken.” catalystrestaurant.com

Ember-roasted potatoes, $6
A childhood memory of tossing foil-wrapped potatoes on a campfire to cook in the coals inspired Vitaly Paley’s crushed, skin-on side dish.The Yukon Golds are charred in a wood-fired grill, cooled, then smashed and browned with butter and oil in a cast-iron skillet. They’re seasoned with a sprinkle of dill, sea salt and persillade, and served in the skillet. imperialpdx.com

One potato, two potato, $15
At their progressive Lower Downtown (LoDo) destination, chefs Max MacKissock and Blake Edmunds use an immersion circulator for their next-level tribute to the loaded baked potato. The pair sous vides and fries a slice of sweet potato, carves holes in it and pipes them full of yam puree, leek-and-caramelized-onion puree, or crème fraîche, made in-house with cultured buttermilk. Toppings of blanched broccoli Di Cicco, sous vide bacon and tangy aged cheddar foam hint at the classic toppings, and a scoop of savory ice cream—made with Yukon Golds—is a stand-in for sour cream. thesqueakybean.net

Pommes puree (served with main dishes)
French superchef Joël Robuchon’s mashed pommes are the apogee of the decadent potato dish—a silky and butter-laden icon. The key to the puree is La Ratte fingerling potatoes. “The La Rattes are very firm and cook evenly. They also have a very particular chestnut-like flavor,” explains L’Atelier executive chef Steve Benjamin. The potatoes are simmered, passed slowly through a manual food mill and whisked with milk and cold French butter—an amount that’s equal to nearly a third of the mixture—while still warm. Forced through mesh to further smooth its ethereal texture, the puree is such a seminal part of the luxurious L’Atelier experience that it is served with every main dish on the menu. mgmgrand.com

Thrice-cooked chips, $9
Chef April Bloomfield may have built the perfect french fry for herNew York gastropub at theAce Hotel—thick, full-length sticks of skin-on Idaho potatoes that are boiled, blanched in peanut oil and then fried once more before serving. These viscously crisp, unabashedly salty lengths are served like a bouquet of flowers in a paper cone stuffed into a copper vessel, with a pot of cumin mayo on the side. thebreslin.com

Pommes soufflé, $9
Steam—which gets trapped inside potato slices when they’re transferred from one hot pan to another that’s even hotter—inflates these fried potato puffs, creating their creamy, airy centers. Themurky ancestry of the dish dates to the 19th century kitchen of the French monarch Louis-Philippe I. But you can taste an incredible version of this classic at the historic French Quarter eatery Arnaud’s, where there’s likely to be an order of pommes soufflé on every table. The potatoes, which become extra golden brown during a third and final dunk in oil, are served nestled in a napkin, with a ramekin of silky béarnaise for dipping. arnaudsrestaurant.com

Baked potato pizza, $17
At this Crown Heights pizzeria, the unorthodox topping combos read deranged but taste amazing. For example, this eccentric baked potato pizza combines a gratin of purple Peruvian potatoes and house-smoked bacon. After par-cooking the dough in a 550-degree oven, chef Peter Entner piles on the potatoes, with crushed bacon and shreds of tangy aged cheddar, letting the whole thing melt and blister in the oven. The finishing flourish: a scoop of tangy crème fraîche. petezaaz.com

House-cut fries with buttermilk dressing, $7
“The perfect potato is all about balance,” says Top Chef Season 5 alum Jeff McInnis. “It’s about weighing sugar content against starch. The right amount of sugar will give you that golden brown color,” while starches give texture and help the potatoes hold up to frying. The chef’s search for a flawless frying potato led him to Kennebecs, the nubby tubers he uses to make standard-setting fries at his Southern hot spot. The fluffy specimens are seasoned with applewood-smoked bacon that’s been pulverized with sea salt, and served with a simulacrum of ranch dressing—a tangy buttermilk-based condiment featuring vinegar, garlic, onion and herbs. runchickenrun.com

Pommes Anna, $9
Chef Riad Nasr estimates about two heaping tablespoons butter go into each serving of his dazzling version of this French gratin at Keith McNally’s West Village bistro cum steakhouse. Nasr shingles translucent slices of Idaho potatoes in individual pans, adding drizzles of clarified butter to each level until the gorgeous rosette is completely submerged. The potatoes cook in the fat, first on the flattop, then in the oven, until they develop a golden sheen and are tender inside. The finished disk is drained, garnished with sea salt, thyme and persillade, and presented in a showstopping two-handled crock. minettatavernny.com

Potato hash with duck heart gravy, $10
This West Loop diner upends the short-order pantheon, stuffing cabbage with foie gras and turning a ham and cheese sandwich into a gooey crock of pork-studded fondue. But of all the eclectic greasy spoon revisions, the potato hash may be the most over the top. Chef de cuisine Jeremy Fisher hand-shreds potatoes and browns them in pork fat on the griddle before deep-frying the hash browns in more pork fat. He seasons them with garlic salt and piles on layers of rich toppings: A brown gravy stocked with crumbled pork sausage, duck confit and sliced duck heart, a Gruyère and butter Mornay sauce, and a pair of jiggly fried eggs. aucheval.tumblr.com

Pommes aligot, $12
Although Wolfgang Puck’s flagship restaurant was recently revamped for millennial tastes, this classic preparation from the Aubrac region of central France has stuck around as an off-menu special. Cream and garlic fortify an equal-parts blend of velvety Yukon Gold potato puree and cheese—a mix of stretchy mozzarella and Fontina, along with buttery, assertive Cantal. The result is something like a love child of mashed potatoes and fondue: elastic and almost perversely rich, with an earthy potato undertow. wolfgangpuck.com