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Is the 34-inch curly-cut potato discovered in Orchard Park last week truly the Lord of the Fries?
Angelo Turco would like to present a challenger to the throne.
When Angelo Turco read about two guys nominating their 34-inch french fry as the world's largest, he "chuckled a little bit."
Not even 3 feet?
At his business, Louie's Foot Long Hot Dogs, curly cue french fries that size are as common as ketchup, he said.
"That's nothing," Turco said. "Ours can be 8 feet, 10 feet long."
John Benbenek and Ryan Vedder drew the attention of news media earlier this week after announcing they had discovered a world-record fry while having lunch at Taffy's in Orchard Park. After an Internet search that suggested the record was 26 inches, they started making plans and alerting reporters.
They pitched their spud strip for an appearance on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, but a Tonight Show publicist said Tuesday they haven't been scheduled.
But Benbenek and Vedder went to eBay and are auctioning "The World's Largest French Fry," described in the listing as 32 inches long.
The bidding had reached $20.50 by Tuesday afternoon.
Bidders were offered the chance to buy it immediately for $10,000.
Turco at Louie's offered some insight into why the bidding was so low.
"Really, not even three feet?" Turco said. "To see them talking about a 3-foot french fry, it's sort of a nonissue with us."
Turco is the son of Louis Turco, who opened his hot dog stand off Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda in the 1950s. Turco said his father invented the curly fry and patented a rotary fry cutter that makes long potato strings from the biggest commercially available potatoes, called 40-count bakers.
Louis Turco, who is retired, still comes in to cut the french fries.
"He's the original, and he's still doing it," his son said.
He acknowledged that cutting the potato into a single long fry is only half the battle. You still have to get it into the fryer, and out again, without breaking it. But Louie's does it, he said.
"We were the first to make the curly cue fry," he said. "We are the originator."
