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Onion rings
Circling the city for a fried favorite
BY NINA MACLAUGHLIN

At their best, onion rings radiate from the plate. When they’re done right, a warm and golden glow rises from the rings. The salty, crisp batter, the slick onion punch — they’re a heap of halos, and eating them can be sublime. But not all onion rings reach celestial status. During a recent visit to a new Central Square joint, the onion rings had the circumference of CDs, covered with mealy batter an inch thick. The onion slabs inside were tepid at best, and when one slipped out of its porridge-y husk, it resembled those slimy beasties that live in realms without light. This, of course, is the worst-case scenario for onion rings. What follows, on the other hand, are five champions, all establishments that assert their onion-ring eminence.

Angelina’s Pizza & Subs, tucked into Teele Square, looks like your basic pizza parlor — the nondescript place common to every neighborhood — but it excels at everything it does. Especially onion rings, of the large, crisp, and thick variety. The golden bracelets of delight come in a brown-paper bag, and grease never soaks the tote.

While the sports-bar frattitude of Brother Jimmy’s BBQ is something we tend to avoid, its version of onion rings draws us back to this House of Blues replacement time after time. The onion straws, which look like a mound of crispy noodles atop what seems like a bottomless bucket, have huge onion bite and are salty to the point of debauchery. By far the best around.

In the South End, Tim’s Tavern is famous for its burgers, and rightly so. But don’t let the meat eclipse the rings, because they rule as well — and are well worth skipping the fries for. Like Tim’s, Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage has a reputation for burgers, but its onion rings also attract attention. They’re thinner, not necessarily circular, and lightly battered, so that the actual onion is the star of the show, rather than a supporting player.

RF O’Sullivan’s, another place with burger clout, serves up big, battery rings to accompany its mile-high patties. Like Tim’s, it’s a no-frills place, serving beer, burgers, and our favorite vegetable: onion rings.

Available for $2.25 (small) and $2.75 (large) at Angelina’s Pizza & Subs, 230 Holland Street, in Somerville, (617) 776-1240; for $5.95 at Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, 96 Winthrop Street, in Cambridge, (617) 547-RIBS; for $3 at Tim’s Tavern, 329 Columbus Avenue, in Boston, (617) 437-6898; for $4.50 (small) and $5.75 (large) at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, 1246 Mass Ave, in Cambridge, (617) 354-6559; and for $3.95 at RF O’Sullivan’s, 282 Beacon Street, in Somerville, (617) 492-7773.


Issue Date: February 25 - March 3, 2005
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