Taste

Mr. Fries Man piles its potatoes high with shrimp, steak, crab and more

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Mr. Fries Man’s BBQ bacon ranch chicken fries
Photo: Wade Vandervort

Craig Batiste started at home. Five years ago, the Gardena, California, resident began piling backyard-grilled meats atop mounds of fresh-cut French fries, drenching them in yummy sauces and posting photos to his Instagram page, where growing numbers of South Bay residents clamored for a taste of what Mr. Fries Man was making. (Initially, he sold his loaded fries in parking lots belonging to other businesses, who kept kicking him out.)

Several years and celebrity endorsements later (the late rapper Nipsey Hussle was a fan), Batiste and his wife Dorothy are up to 21 brick-and-mortar locations, spread across multiple cities as far as Atlanta. The Vegas Valley has scored two, one in North Las Vegas on Craig Road near Decatur Boulevard and another UNLV-adjacent at Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway. The reason for Mr. Fries Man’s growth is pretty easy to figure out: Batiste is still doing what made him a hit, serving up enormous and irresistible plates of fries, protein and sauce.

Start with the specialties. Sure, you could get a simple plate of chicken chili and cheese fries, but they’re low on the menu, beneath shrimp and steak fries doused in honey garlic sauce ($21), fried or grilled chicken with bacon, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing and barbecue sauce ($15), or a generous helping of crab and shrimp, finished with cheddar and lemon garlic sauce ($25).

A “build your own” option ($12-$25) offers any house meat the or plant-based Beyond Meat, your choice of sauces—from a creamy and spicy jalapeño ranch to the house’s sweet, tangy “Hello”—and as many add-ons ($2-$7) as you’d like, such as cheddar, bacon or chili. Every plate of fries is hefty enough to feed two to three people, so if you’d like to try more than one of Mr. Fries Man’s namesake creations, you’ll need lots of friends or lots of time. At the rate Batiste’s hot potato empire is growing, there’s room for both.

MR. FRIES MAN 1040 E. Flamingo Road, 702-485-1144; 4040 W. Craig Road, 702-202-2870. Daily, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Tags: Dining, Food
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