One suggestion was the Filling Station, located in Comstock Park. According to legend, and as relayed to me, they used a legendary recipe for their onion rings derived from Mr. Fables, a defunct local chain that went under when I was five. I ventured forth on a clear-skied Saturday, eager to taste a piece of living onion ring history, and to delve deeper into the rich culinary lore that surrounds the noble dish.
Here's a review of onion rings from the Filling Station. Thank you to Sola Cepa super-fan Patrick O. for accompanying me.
Presentation and Appearance: 4/5
The onion rings arrived harmoniously heaped, stacked in a golden brown tower, in a green-and-blue striped cardboard container. Interestingly, this container was itself atop a traditional checkered paper, which was itself atop a plastic basket. The successive layers of presentation may have been a subconscious ode to the layers of the onion, a significance which merits further investigation.
The stacked pile of onion rings made for an appealing dish, as did the almost perfectly uniform hue of the batter, on the lighter side of golden brown. I have deducted some points for a major outlier shoved in the bottom of the basket, an overdone half ring that was fried to oblivion and back.
Beyond this, the onions seemed to be of a uniform cut and size, both in circumference and, more importantly, in the thickness of the onion interior. They are clearly hand-battered, but perhaps with a small lack of care, as the batter expanded like a porous nightmare from beyond the confines of the ring.
Taste: 3.5/5
As might be expected from the Codex of Allium, which holds the Mr. Fables recipe supposedly maintained by the Filling Station to be unique for its batter, the batter is the highlight of flavor for these rings. It is satisfyingly well-seasoned, and somewhat dry. It avoids the deluge of grease and onion juices that so many onion rings fall prey to, while maintaining a certain crispiness of batter.
The onion flavor, however, does fall a little short. I suspect that these onion rings were made with a sweeter onion variety than may be the norm (perhaps, like Russ', the sweet Spanish onion). Consequently, the onion taste is inconsistently present. When it's there, it provides a taste that is simultaneously pervasive and mild, without being overpowering in any regard.
Other bites proved to have little to no flavor in the onion interior, and all I was left with was a mouthful of creamy batter, seasoned with the bitter taste of disappointment.
Texture: 4.5/5
Unlike the taste, these onion rings deliver handily in the quality of texture. The batter is neither overly soft nor hard and crunchy, but sits comfortably between the two extremes. The batter is crispy and fresh, soft enough to deliver a buttery sensation, but stable enough to ensure almost no slippage or shedding throughout my meal. Indeed, the integrity of these onion rings is a marvel, and in large part thanks to the quality of the batter, though it was applied more than a little haphazardly.
The onions which form the basis of the ring, while lacking a bit in flavor, are cooked excellently. Like the batter, they avoid the extremes of soggy mush and raw earthiness.
A substantive flaw can only be found in the outlier onion ring, chopped in half and overdone, which ruined the texture of both batter and onion. Beyond that, the texture was top-notch.
Value: 4.5/5
$3.65 buys one a massive basket of onion rings, of substantial historical importance. While there are a couple outliers, and they are somewhat lackluster in terms of onion flavor, you definitely get your money's worth with these.
Total: 16.5/20
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