Ask the Critic: When the chips are down...

​Last week in Ask the Critic, I was trying to help out a buddy (and frequent Cafe Society commenter) who was looking for a place to get some real Hong Kong-style roast goose -- but either no one who frequents this little corner of the blogosphere knows where to find the stuff, or there's really no place in Denver to get it (which is always possible). Either way, it wasn't a good week for the Ask the Critic.

So this week, I've got a question that has lots of answers and is sure to inspire some scrapping. It came from another friend (and occasional dining commando) who asked: "Why do restaurant potato chips always have to suck?"

Simple and to the point, right? Yes, I have a technical answer: because restaurants don't have access to the special varieties of high-starch, low-sugar "chipping" potatoes that the potato chip manufacturers do, and nor do they have the long, shallow, variable-temp continuous fryers used by most of the major manufacturers and so are forced to do theirs kettle-style in single-temp kitchen fryers that are generally too hot. But still, I'm sure some restaurants out there have overcome these technical limitations. Which one serves the town's best house-made potato chips?

Personally, I like the potato chips at LoHi SteakBar. Although I like Lay's out of the bag better, LoHi's are good -- even if that primarily has to do with the blue cheese fondue they're served with.

All other contenders are gladly considered, though, so put your answers (or complaints, or random screeds) in the comments section below.