bw77 wrote:Redhot Ranch has great fries, but as far as the best-my vote still goes to Wiener and Still Champion. Just done perfectly.

Agreed. They're better than Edzo's, too. Don't make me choose between their burgers, but WaSC wins the fries.

abe_froeman wrote:

bw77 wrote:Redhot Ranch has great fries, but as far as the best-my vote still goes to Wiener and Still Champion. Just done perfectly.

Agreed. They're better than Edzo's, too. Don't make me choose between their burgers, but WaSC wins the fries.

With apologies to Gus, Eddie, Redhot Ranch and Maude's Liquor Bar (who all make great fries), the best fries in the city are served at Scofflaw. However, there isn't always a burger on the menu there and I've never seen a hot dog on their menu.

=R=

Scofflaw
3201 W Armitage
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 252-9700

I tried the fries at Scofflaws last week. They were OK mainly because of the pimento aioli dipping sauce. Without the sauce they're average at best, not to mention they cost $4.00. At the Red Hot Ranch I get a double dog and tremendous fries for the same price.

jay2021 wrote:I tried the fries at Scofflaws last week. They were OK mainly because of the pimento aioli dipping sauce. Without the sauce they're average at best, not to mention they cost $4.00. At the Red Hot Ranch I get a double dog and tremendous fries for the same price.

The fries, which are wrapped up with the dogs, are always soggy at Redhot Ranch. No such fries could ever be my favorites, though, they do have nice flavor.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

jay2021 wrote:I tried the fries at Scofflaws last week. They were OK mainly because of the pimento aioli dipping sauce. Without the sauce they're average at best, not to mention they cost $4.00. At the Red Hot Ranch I get a double dog and tremendous fries for the same price.

The fries, which are wrapped up with the dogs, are always soggy at Redhot Ranch. No such fries could ever be my favorites, though, they do have nice flavor.

=R=

I've only ever eaten in or outside on the picnic tables, in which case the fries are never wrapped up for more than 10 seconds! They are up there in my list of favorite fries in the city along with Bad Apple. Scofflaw fries are really good, but don't quite make my best of list. I like a more intense potato flavor in my fries than what Scofflaw provides.

LAIKOM I agree with you 100% Places like Jimmys and Genes and Judes tend to be a little soggy but I've never heard the Ranch fries described that way.
Also, whenever I stop at the Ranch the fries are cooked to order and if anything are on the crispy side. You are correct about the fries at Scofflaws. Without the dipping sauce I found them to be weak on flavor.

jay2021 wrote: I tried the fries at Scofflaws last week. They were OK mainly because of the pimento aioli dipping sauce. Without the sauce they're average at best, not to mention they cost $4.00. At the Red Hot Ranch I get a double dog and tremendous fries for the same price.

Tying up this loose end, here is the Red Hot Ranch double dog with the french fries.

Red Hot Ranch on Ashland and Barry opening tomorrow. It looks like the place will have a decent amount of seating.
Pepsi products with a self serve fountain machine.

jay2021 wrote:...with a self serve fountain machine.

about time!

Was driving by the new Ashland location and saw the neon on (even though the lot wasn't plowed) so I pulled in and made a Redhot Ranch Burger my first meal out in 2014. Fresh balls of beef are smashed down on a flattop and come in single and double ($5 tax incl.) form. Fresh cut fries come with them. The namesake burger is topped with Special Sauce, Lettuce, Tomato and Onion or you can get whatever you want on one amongst those and the hot dog topping options. As mentioned no sliced pickles and that's what I felt was missing. With them they'd be near the top of their category as far as the area goes. Still a great bang to buck ratio. The burgers are joined by their top notch hot dogs and very respectable fried shrimps. Open until midnight daily and 5am on Fri. and Sat.


Redhot Ranch Double Cheeseburger

Redhot Ranch
3055 N. Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60657

I happened to drive by this place a few days ago and made a mental note about it, with no urgency attached--which, I realize now, for the first time ever, upon seeing your post and photo, Da Beef, is because I am less excited about hot dog opportunities than I am about cheeseburger opportunities. A stop at this Redhot Ranch location has just increased in urgency for me.

That is a beautiful cheeseburger. How much snow are we supposed to get in the next 12 hours??

hours of operation correction from Da Beef's thread. Owner said they would be open till 4 am during the week and 5 am weekends
What a great picture Da Beef

Also my first meal of '14! Forget all the ramen, artisinal stuff and Eataly (great as it is), RHR Ashland is by far the most relevant opening for the JeffB clan in some time. Double-double clone, double dog, shrimp w/ hot and superior fries are about as good as fast food gets, and open all night long. I want to try the fries animal style, since they have the stuff.

The days of driving all the hell the way down Damen to eat at Phils are over for me. This was also my first eat out meal of 2014, and I couldnt be happier. Who knew that the Dona Torta closing would turn out to not be so bad after all. Excellent double cheeseburger and incredible price. The fries could have probably used another minute or so in the fryer but other than that no complaints at all.

Welcome to the neighborhood Red Hot Ranch!!

Commbrkdwn wrote:The fries could have probably used another minute or so in the fryer but other than that no complaints at all.

Welcome to the neighborhood Red Hot Ranch!!

I always ask for my fries well done at RHR (and most other places as well). That usually does the trick.

Just had lunch at the new RHR. I kind of wish they did their own thing with the burger instead of trying to copy In N Out. It's a good burger, and an excellent value, but the entire time it's hard to no think, "Well this is just an In N Out clone". Whole onion slices instead of the chopped onion used on the dogs would help cement the In N Out illusion and pickles would be a welcome addition as mentioned above. The bun used was S. Rosen's, which held up OK to the grease. It was also a little weird to see the cold items (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sauce) sitting out on a table at room temp instead of in a cooled station.

I also had a dog, which of course did not disappoint. I'll definitely be back, but next time I'll stick to the dogs, or a burger w/onion and mustard.

stevez wrote:

Commbrkdwn wrote:The fries could have probably used another minute or so in the fryer but other than that no complaints at all.

Welcome to the neighborhood Red Hot Ranch!!

I always ask for my fries well done at RHR (and most other places as well). That usually does the trick.

Me too, always.

Grilled onions are diced and what you'd expect on Animal Style. Ask for them.

I don't get my burgers animal style at In N Out. Onions are sliced and what I'd expect on a regular burger at In N Out. It's just my preference, seems if they're admittedly trying to duplicate In N Out, might as well go the full nine when it comes to the onion.

I agree and saw them using diced onions for both when I was there. Maybe not everyone is fully trained yet. One of the owners was there patiently instructing the teenager manning the counter on my visit, which was the first or secnd day they were in business. Considering that, it was absurdly good. Just returned from SoCal and can confirm we are better off with fries that are not trying to be In N Out.

My second visit to the Red Hot Ranch on Ashland proved to be just as good as my first. I really appreciate their ability to
consistently put out a great product. I spoke to the owner about the slice of raw onion for the Red Hot Ranch burger and he told me they were going to use the diced for all burgers. It seems the slice of raw onion causes things to slide a bit on the single cheeseburger making the sandwich a little harder to eat. As far as the fries go, the Red Hot Ranch has some of the best in the city. I could never understsand how In N Out goes through the motions with the huge potato cutter on
display for everyone to see and then serve a very disappointing product.

Had lunch there today. Steady stream of people going through on a Sunday afternoon. We tried the polish, the redhot burger, and the shrimp. All were excellent, especially the fresh cut fries. Shrimp were hot in the inside and crunchy on the outside -- great breaded texture. They smash down the burgers on the grill, resulting in a crispy exterior to the beef. Natural casing on the polish had a great snap to it. Give it a shot if you haven't yet, its hard not to like this place.

I visited the Ashland location today too - in fact, if you can believe it, I had never visited RHR before today.

Loved it! I had the RHR cheeseburger, sans tomato. This reminded me a lot of the In-N-Out burger I've come to love, but I actually preferred Red Hot Ranch's version. Just a great burger and I'm a sucker for a Thousand Island-type sauce on a burger (yes, grew up loving the Big Mac).

Fries were also great. I didn't order them extra crispy and they were plenty crisp for me. They reminded me a lot of the fries I get at Bob-O's (perhaps slightly less crisp) and they were perfectly and evenly seasoned with nice, large crystals of salt. I'd say they were a little more crisp than what I usually get at Gene & Jude's.

Finally, the shrimp. I'll start by saying that this cornmeal breading is not my preferred breading, but that's a personal preference. And I might prefer a little lemon, maybe some tartar sauce, maybe a horseradish-laden cocktail sauce. But again, purely personal preferences. And that's where my complaints end. The breading was not too heavy in my opinion, and the shrimp were beautifully fried, tender and not at all too chewy. Most impressive though was the flavor of the shrimp - if you told me they had just been caught fresh, I wouldn't question you.

One more thing I really enjoyed about my visit was the service - very friendly, asking me how I liked everything, saying "I hope to see you again soon" . . . I love walking out of a restaurant where instead of them mechanically saying "have a good day" or even just ignoring me, I actually feel like my business and enjoyment are very important to them.

I can't wait to return.

If you love 1000 on burgers, you should do an LA burger crawl. Can't get away from the stuff there, and SoCal is the birthplace of the Big Mac and In N Out. The shrimp are typical Chicago shrimp joint style: I'd think they were putting on airs if they offered anything but hot or mild.

I like it that RHR sticks to a particular ancient Chicago fast food aesthetic that happens to be one that I love - depression dogs and fried shrimp. The California-ish burgers don't upset the tableau for me: corner burger stands in LA like Jay's (RIP) and Irv's have pretty much the same DNA.

BR wrote:I visited the Ashland location today too - in fact, if you can believe it, I had never visited RHR before today.

Loved it! I had the RHR cheeseburger, sans tomato. This reminded me a lot of the In-N-Out burger I've come to love, but I actually preferred Red Hot Ranch's version. Just a great burger and I'm a sucker for a Thousand Island-type sauce on a burger (yes, grew up loving the Big Mac).

I agree - the burger (mine was also without tomato) was easily one of the best I've ever had. It easily trumped both of the burgers I had during a recent South Side crawl (those photos coming soon...) at Schoop's and Top Notch.

Granted, it is a slightly different style, but even just from the basics of texture, doneness, beefy flavor, ratio of toppings to meat to cheese, etc - all were excellent.

What are the hours of the Lakeview location? Sorry if it has already been posted.

same hours as Ranch on Western open 10:30 am daily
close 4am Sun thru Thurs 5am Fri and Sat

Went to Ashland Redhot Ranch with a gluten free friend.

Triple with cheese stacked on fries. Never has no bun looked so damn good!



I went with a classic double and a half lb of shrimp.



Friendly, fast, clean, comfortable seating, delicious.

Redhot Ranch Ashland, count me a fan!

jay2021 wrote:I spoke to the owner about the slice of raw onion for the Red Hot Ranch burger and he told me they were going to use the diced for all burgers. It seems the slice of raw onion causes things to slide a bit on the single cheeseburger making the sandwich a little harder to eat.

Had a double cheeseburger on Sunday and thought it was great (and cheap!). As for the onions, I actually preferred the diced, because I felt like there was an even distribution in each bite. If I go for that with slices, it ends up being way too much onion for me.

Another vote for always requesting fries well-done, just one of the many things I've learned from LTH.