If youre gonna include chips then you should consider Brewers Art rosemary garlic fries. Duck fat fries, you can also add the ones at Annabel Lee Tavern.

Here's another vote for the Brewer's Art rosemary fries.

The potato gratin in the mini cast iron dish at Woodberry is super as well. Goes well with the ribeye.

Brewers' rosemary garlic fries are the stuff of legend. Many a messy night, caused by poor mental calculations of alcohol content have been forestalled by the sweet, savory, suds-soaking capacity of those gorgeous nibblets.

The hilarious thing is that it's not uncommon for them to come out a little over- or underdone; it doesn't matter. Still the best thing for what ails (or ales) you.

Happy St. Pat's Day, everyone. My favorite Irish joke:

Q: What's Irish and sits around outside all summer?

A: Paddy O'Furniture

Potato Valley on State Circle in Annapolis makes a great baked potato with a wonderful choice of toppings.

Thank you O'Bucky.

The Potato Gratin dish at Flemings at Inner Harbor is also quite tasty. There are a few jalapeno peppers baked into the cheese, cream & potatoes for extra zing.

The Oceanaire style hash browns at Oceanaire...yuuuuum. Crispy potatoes, cheese, bacon, and a dash of hot sauce.

A few other notable honorable mentions in my book:

1) Ale Mary's Tater Tots a-go-go

2) The poutine at Woodberry

Salsa Grill in Woodlawn has great causa.

The Tater Tots with cheese at Regi's American Bistro in Federal HIll are super!

Q: Whats the traditional Irish 7 course meal?

A: Potato and a 6-pack

i'm sure she didn't add brewer's art due to the recent allegations of using the same few restaurants over and over.

i'm making reservations to get a steak frites as i wipe the drool off of my lapel.

I like the fact that you can get champ as a substitute for french fries at Ryan's Daughter. I can walk away with only the carbo-guilt, not the olio-carbo-guilt.

However ... I would love to know if anyone in the area does a real Pommes Anna.

Is it true there are no snakes in Ireland???

Into a Belfast pub comes Paddy Murphy,
looking like he'd just been run over by a train.
His arm is in a sling, his nose is broken, his face is cut and bruised
and he's walking with a limp looking like he'd just been run over by a train.
"What happened to you?" asks Sean, the bartender.
" Jamie O'Conner and me had a fight," says Paddy.
"That little shit, O'Conner," says Sean,
"He couldn't do that to you,
he must have had something in his hand."
"That he did," says Paddy, "a shovel is what he had, and a terrible
lickin' he gave me with it."
"Well," says Sean, "you should have defended yourself, didn't you have
something in your hand?"
"That I did," said Paddy. "Mrs. O'Conner's breast, and a thing of
beauty it was, but useless in a fight."

Never were any snakes in Ireland, Hue. It was a code word for "pagans".

Lissa

Why woud yeh be talkin down to us Druids?

Fascinating bit of history trivia, Lissa. When we were in Antigua I saw my first mongoose. We were told that they were brought in to rid the island of poisonous snakes, and that they were successful--no snakes left, but now the mongooses are skulking around.

I'll second the comment on Fleming’s jalapeno potato concoction. Often times I find the addition of jalapeños to be gratuitous, but it actually works in this dish.

I just had the parmesan truffled frites at Jordan's in Ellicott City, and I found them quite tasty. My only issue with shoestring potatoes is that they go cold fast, so you really can't linger over them.

Finally, and I know I'll catch some heat for this from those espousing both moral and culinary outrage; nevertheless, I really like the hash brown casserole at Cracker Barrel.

LEC, I'm a heathen myself. I've nothing against my cousins, the Druids.

Dahlink, I always think of Kipling when someone mentions mongooses.

Lissa, refresh my memory, please. What did Kipling have to say about the mongoose? We saw several on our trip and I was disappointed that the one time I got "up close and personal" the photo came out a blur.

Dahlink, one figures in his story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." It has been ages, but the pet mongoose saves the kid from cobras.

What did Kipling have to say about the mongoose?

Rikki Tikki Tavi

Is it true there are no snakes in Ireland???

Never were any snakes in Ireland, Hue. It was a code word for "pagans"

So, yesterday morning, I’m putting a “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” pin on the grandson’s pre-K uniform and he asked why, exactly, we were doing this? “It’s fun thing to do and St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland.” (Why would I say this to a 5-year-old? Because the cat is threatening to take his breakfast out of my leg if something doesn’t happen with his bowl real soon and the dog is doing his “get me to a tree” dance by the back door and all I really want is to keep things moving along??) “Snakes?” asks the lad, “Should I catch the one that went under the shed last summer? I could take it to school!” It’s not travelin’ there in my,/i> car! Thank god, I didn’t know about pagans!

Eve, you don't let pagans in your car, either?

I don't let snakes of any persuasion in my car! (LIttle boys and big dogs ride in that car. Pagans may be among those who'd rather meet me there!)