tiffin unboxed

The Best Onion Rings

I love onion rings. When you love certain things, usually even a bad version of it is still pretty good.

However, rings that I can live without have the following qualities:

• too heavily breaded
• soggy
• too greasy
• the onion slides out with the first bite  

Recently I had to pass on a whole plate of rings battered with Cap'n Crunch cereal, because the extreme sweetness with the cereal did not work (even though that was one of my favorite cereals in childhood, along with Lucky Charms).

For me, and many others, one set of onion rings rise above all in L.A. - the House Made Onion Rings at Akasha. Coated with rice flour and served in a cone with smoked paprika aioli and housemade ketchup, they never fail to satisfy the palate.

Recently, after a movie with a couple of friends, we stopped by at Short Order LA. I had to leave early for another engagement, but managed to try their Shallot Rings.

Shallots seem to take the taste factor up a notch even from onions. The batter appears to be corn meal in these mini rings that come as tasty and light as possible, as well as perfectly seasoned and crispy.


Throwing in a several at a time into my mouth, it reminded me of the Sopranos finale, the "communion onion ring" scene at the diner. This little bowl for $4 during happy hour felt bottomless even with 4 of us.

Photo courtesy of FastFoodCritic.com review at this link

In a pinch, my favorite less fancy onion rings are undoubtedly the rings at Popeye's Louisiana Chicken. You get 6 of them for $1.99. They are battered rather than breaded and zesty, with a great choice of dipping sauces (not that they need anything).

Although I avoid fast food and the onion rings cannot be found at all branches, I do get tempted to stop when I pass by a Popeye's location. If served right after frying, they taste homemade.

Update:

One of the reasons I love to continue blogging is the sharing of information. After tweeting this post, a friend gave me another onion ring suggestion. And it definitely deserves to be added to the list.

Eden Burger Bar's onion rings are lightly battered and perfectly seasoned. A home run!