This longtime downtown Columbia restaurant won The State’s french fry poll. Check it out
The king of fries has been crowned in the Midlands.
Drake’s Duck-In, a longtime fixture of Main Street in downtown Columbia, came out on top in The State’s 2025 French Fry Poll. The paper recently asked readers to choose their favorite restaurant for fries out of a list of 17 places from across the Midlands.
The poll ran on The State’s website for a week, and more than 15,000 votes were eventually cast. The contest turned into a showdown between Drake’s and second place finisher Rush’s, which recently made waves when it changed its style of fries from straight cut to crinkle cut. Ultimately, Drake’s finished first, gathering 49% of the votes, while Rush’s came in second with 38% of the votes. Longtime Five Points favorite Goat’s finished in third place.
The fry poll win for Drake’s comes about a year after the restaurant made significant changes to its space on at 1544 Main St. The storefront itself was gutted and completely remodeled, ushering in a modern look with nods to the past. And its menu was overhauled with new items, including smash burgers, cold beer and expanded breakfast offerings.
And one major change came with the french fries. With its overhaul, Drake’s went from using frozen fries to fresh cut.
“One of the big talking points we’ve had from longtime customers is our french fries,” Drake’s co-owner Daniel Boan told The State. “We did make a change that we think is a vast improvement. They are hand-cut everyday, in the kitchen. Every order, every french fry order, is cooked to order. We just have a much better product now and it’s been really popular. People love the fries.”
Drake’s has been in Columbia, under one format or another for more than a century. It has been at 1544 Main St., focusing on fried chicken and sandwiches, since the mid-90s.
Boan said he appreciates the deep love many longtime regulars have for the business, and admits that some have pined for the fries Drake’s used to sell. However, he noted the hand-cut fries have earned their own legion of fans.
“While some people have some nostalgia for the old fries and the old everything, we think our changes to the fries have made a big difference in terms of the quality we are putting out,” Boan noted.
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 12:04 PM.
