Frickles

[BookGuy]

Whenever I ask my eight-year-old goddaughter what restaurant she wants to go to, she always says the one with the frickles which is the fried pickle dish that she gets at Arlandia's Del Merei Grill. As the kid lives in Wheaton, that is a long trip to make. A few weeks ago, we went to the cafe of Palena in the hope that the fried plate would satisfy her but the restaurant was no longer serving it.

Although I do understand that it may be back on the Palena menu, I wonder if there are any other places that serve a dish similar to frickles.

[edenman]

BookGuy said:

Whenever I ask my eight-year-old goddaughter what restaurant she wants to go to, she always says the one with the frickles which is the fried pickle dish that she gets at Arlandia's Del Merei Grill. As the kid lives in Wheaton, that is a long trip to make. A few weeks ago, we went to the cafe of Palena in the hope that the fried plate would satisfy her but the restaurant was no longer serving it.

Although I do understand that it may be back on the Palena menu, I wonder if there are any other

places that serve a dish similar to frickles.

Rustico has fried pickle spears on the bar menu. Are the ones at Del Merei Grill fried pickle slices? (I've been searching for a place that serves fried slices)

---

[Note: As of Jun 9, 2016, I couldn't find any fried pickles on Rustico's menus, but they don't have lounge food menus online.]

[jpschust]

ferment everything said:

Rustico has fried pickle spears on the bar menu. Are the ones at Del Merei Grill fried pickle slices? (I've been searching for a place that serves fried slices)

They are extremely thin- I wished they would be thicker.

[mdt]

They are extremely thin- I wished they would be thicker.

No!

[wolverine]

Rustico has fried pickle spears on the bar menu. Are the ones at Del Merei Grill fried pickle slices? (I've been searching for a place that serves fried slices)

Agreed. Fried pickle chips are the way to go. I too have been searching for a local place that serves these southern delicacies. So far, I have been able to coax a friend into making them during a fry night, but no restaurant/bar where I can get my fix consistently.

[cheezepowder]

Clare and Don's has fried dill pickle chips.

[sandynva]

I've had fried pickle chips at the bar at Acadiana, and they were very good. I'm not sure if they're actually on the printed menu or not, but you can definitely order them.

[brendanc]

southside 815 on washington street in Alexandria.

[soapy]

They have them at the Rennfest although I think they do them as sticks rather than slices.

[Bob Wells]

BookGuy said:

Whenever I ask my eight-year-old goddaughter what restaurant she wants to go to, she always says the one with the frickles which is the fried pickle dish that she gets at Arlandia's Del Merei Grill. As the kid lives in Wheaton, that is a long trip to make. A few weeks ago, we went to the cafe of Palena in the hope that the fried plate would satisfy her but the restaurant was no longer serving it.

Although I do understand that it may be back on the Palena menu, I wonder if there are any other

places that serve a dish similar to frickles.

I've been racking my brain trying to remember where I got frickles recently and it finally came to me: The Bungalow (FKA Bungalow Billiards), in Chantilly, which also has three other NOVA locations.

In addition to the frickles, this place has a large menu of some of the best bar food around. The weekend rib and prime rib specials are outstanding.

N.B.: Even though this is a bar, it's very kid friendly.

[ebgbdc]

I am told -- but cannot personally confirm --that Hooters has frickles, and that they are good. So apparently there are now 2 reasons to go to Hooters (the other being the wings, of course. Why else would someone go there?)

[BookGuy]

Thanks for Hooters which may be the only restaurant named that is in the Maryland suburbs. The goddaughter has been to the one in Rockville where she liked the chicken wings and made some interesting comments about the servers' costumes. Here is the menu with the fried pickles:

May I note that, were it not for the costumes, Hooters would be a marvelous family place.

[DonRocks]

Ever since Del Merei Grille shut down, I've seen Frickles several times in the area, but haven't taken note where - they exist in several places.

In March, 2014 a couple local Shake Shacks were offering them as toppings.

Mad Fox Brewery: 

Old Glory: 

Oh! I'm making this too hard on myself!

Jan 24, 2013 - "Fried Pickles Everywhere: An Eater Guide" on dc.eater.com

Please use the link for better and more complete information; if it's broken in the future (like several links up above were), here's a table of contents: The Pinch, Scion, Standard, The Wonderland Ballroom, Southside 815, DC9, Del Ray Pizzeria, Continental Modern Pool Lounge, Tune Inn Restaurant & Bar, Spider Kelly's, Old Glory, Boundary Stone Public House, DC-3.

I also randomly stumbled across Il Castello in Gordonsville, VA: 

I just spent an inordinately long time on this thread, considering it's 3:30 AM. 

[Destruya]

Freddy's is/was offering them (not sure if it's a permanent menu staple now), but as a substitute for a side you don't get many.  Alamo fries the spears mozzarella-stick style, but I've found that's a horrible way to do it, since hot, greasy frickles are manageable in chip form, but the spears retain a tremendous amount of heat from the frier, so biting into a fried pickle spear can be akin to biting into semi-gelatinous pickle innards.

Honestly, though - Glory Days Grill does good frickles, and they give you a decent amount of them, too.  The *rest* of their menu might be kind of boilerplate, but their frickles are good.

[Genevieve]

Clare and Don's has pickle chips too (have only been there a few times since they moved out of Arlington - we were regulars before - but they were always good in the past).

[DaveO]

Yesterday at Earl's in Arlington I had a sandwich with fried pickle chips.  Its on their June menu, one of the rotating "Fab Four".  The monthly sandwiches show on the first page of the website.  Their regular menu includes the Cuban Club, which does have fried pickle chips...and wouldn't you know it, both sandwiches are quite good,  June's featured sandwich, the Black and Blue Bird is slightly messy with BBQ sauce.  (I've also gotten to the kim chi sandwich this month, similarly good---and I'll probably get to the salmon and tuna salad specials later)

[cheezepowder]

13 hours ago, Destruya said:

Freddy's is/was offering them (not sure if it's a permanent menu staple now), but as a substitute for a side you don't get many.  Alamo fries the spears mozzarella-stick style, but I've found that's a horrible way to do it, since hot, greasy frickles are manageable in chip form, but the spears retain a tremendous amount of heat from the frier, so biting into a fried pickle spear can be akin to biting into semi-gelatinous pickle innards.

Honestly, though - Glory Days Grill does good frickles, and they give you a decent amount of them, too.  The *rest* of their menu might be kind of boilerplate, but their frickles are good.

Citizen Burger in Clarendon has fried pickle spears, but I agree that fried spears are inferior to fried slices.

[ktmoomau]

I always want to like frickles, my in-laws love them and always get them at Citizen Burger in cville (funny enough we go to that location a lot and have never been to the Clarendon location) and other places.  I just can't get into them.  I want pickles to be crisp and fresh, or pungent and I think the frying just ruins what I want a pickle to be.  But I am VERY picky about pickles.  I do agree though slices are FAR superior to spears, I often won't even touch a fried spear.