Spud-tacular fries

Potatoes are the most popular vegetable in the American diet. A lot of those spuds are French fries.

Jar

Chef Suzanne Tracht isn’t shy about it. Frozen fries, she says, “crisp up the best.” But she doctors the frozen skinny fries she uses with bits of candied garlic that form little nubbins on the fries’ surface, fresh parsley, kosher salt and pepper. They come with ketchup. But if someone at the table happens to have ordered a steak with lobster bearnaise, try dipping them in there.

* Fries, $7. 8225 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (323) 655-6566.

Beechwood

This sleek modern American dining room serves three kinds of fries, all with a fervent fan base. There are classic shoestrings; your standard thin fry a la the Golden Arches; and “sweet potato” fries, which are actually made with yams. Whether you order one kind or a sampler of all three, you get three dipping sauces: aioli, spicy ketchup and barbecue.

* Fries, $4; fry sampler, $9. 822 Washington Blvd., Venice, (310) 448-8884.

Reddi-Chick

Do as the locals do: Line up for some barbecue chicken and fries at this stand in the Brentwood Country Mart. (It’s Brentwood’s version of slumming.) The chicken is good. But the fries are the stuff addictions are made of, mostly because of a generous amount of seasoned salt that gives them that extra something.

* Small fries, $1.50. 225 26th St., Santa Monica, (310) 393-5238.

BLD

You’ll need a fork for the home fries at this stylish spot that stays open from morning until night. Chunks of crisped, seasoned Yukon gold potatoes are tossed with silver-dollar-size slices of salty, smoky Spanish chorizo (a very different beast from Mexican chorizo) and mild Spanish lomo, a.k.a. cured pork loin. No ketchup required.

* Home fries, $5. 7450 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (323) 930-9744.

Bin 8945

Chef Matt Carpenter’s duck fat fries, which are just what they sound like, were inspired by fries he ate in Bordeaux at a restaurant called La Tupina. Carpenter seasons them simply, with sea salt and rosemary. And because this is a wine bar, David Haskell, the in-house wine savant, is happy to suggest a pairing. His first choice isn’t vino however, but a Guatemalan rum.

* Small fries, $6; large, $8. 8945 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 550-8945.