French Fries in New Orleans

7 restaurants in New Orleans list french fries on their menus. The cheapest is Joey K's at $4.00. The typical price across town is $5.99, and the dearest we found is $8.00 at The Bell, so the two ends of the list are $4.00 apart, which is 100% more for the same dish. Of the 7 kitchens listed, 1 charges more than a dollar under the typical price, 4 sit within a dollar of it and 2 charge more than a dollar over.

We track french fries in 498 other areas and compare them all on french fries across United States. The typical price there runs $6.49 at the median, so New Orleans is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 344 of the 498. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.00 at Big Tony's Pizza II in Chicago, IL, and the highest best price is $7.50 in Seaford, NY. The nearest area with it is Metairie, about 12 mi away, where the best price is $4.00.

Where is the cheapest french fries in New Orleans? Joey K's, at $4.00 on 3001 Magazine Street. The same dish reaches $8.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $4.00.

What should french fries cost here? About $5.99 is the typical price across the 7 kitchens in New Orleans that list it. Of the ones listed above, 1 is more than a dollar below that and 2 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Metairie, about 12 mi away, where the best price is $4.00. That is the same as the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.