Life in Manteca 17: Who has the best fries in Manteca? Restaurant and business reviews

I overheard someone on the train say, Del Taco has the best fries in Manteca.  I had never even thought of Del Taco as a fry place, so I had to try them out, and they are very good.  The are crinkly cut fries.  They maintain their taste after they are cold, and taste good microwaved.  I have also eaten Wendy's fries this week.  They are better than before, natural cut fries.  The have bits of peeling on them.  Bur the order I had today was too salty.  In and Out tout fresh cut fries, and they are fresh.  However they see overcooked which makes them crispy on the outside, and mushy! on the inside.  McDonalds fries I enjoy, although the are also plenty salty.  However the do not stand up to being good when they are cold, and they do not taste good microwaved.  A&W are just standard frozen fries.  Nothing to write home about.  However the have the salt about right.  So as far as these fast food chains, the ranking, in my humble opinion is: Del Taco, Wendy's, McDonalds, A&W, In 'N Out.  If someone knows of some other fries I should be trying, please let me know.  I am sure their are more fries that could be in this race.

We have visited a couple of the fast food Chinese restaurants in town, and I realize there are a few more to visit.  We previously visited the Panda Express, which did not get a very good reaction.  Sheri brought take-out home from **^New China Restaurant which is located close to the Save mart on Yosemite Ave.  I cannot say much for the price as I didn’t do the purchase.  However I think their food is passable.  There sweet and sour pork lacked vegetables, but did have a few onions and carrots at the bottom.  Their fried rice was a hit.  The beef broccoli I did not try as I avoid cooked broccoli.  I do know that the left over portion stayed in the fridge until it was thrown away.  However everything else was eaten, and it serviced more than one meal with leftovers.  They had some deal for egg rolls, and Sheri also brought home lots of Chinese cookies which are always fun.

By my self I visited **^Chinese 4 Less which is part of Food 4 Less.  I had the two entrée meal $5.88.  They piled on the chow-mein and the fried rice.  I had sweet and sour pork and teriyaki chicken.  Their sweet and sour was just breaded pork with sweet sauce poured on top.  The teriyaki Chicken was more adventurous with onions and peppers.

They really gave large portions, as if they were fattening me up for a slaughter.  Fortunately I was able to save about half for the next day’s lunch at work. 

A couple of local business I have been to, also make like more exciting in Manteca.  The first is the **^Book Exchange.  This is on Main Street.  It is not exactly an exchange, but you can recycle used books.  They will give you a credit for the used books, which can then be used towards the purchase of other books.  However the credit can only be used for up to 50 percent of the purchase price, therefore it isn’t actually an exchange.  I did find a nice book about the John Powell exploration of the Colorado River area. 

The other store is much more exciting, the ****Carneceria Mexican (butcher shop) on Yosemite Ave near Manteca High School.  I actually visited there before we moved here, but returned with the intent of getting some carne asada.  We haven’t tried the carne yet as we are waiting for Charity to visit in a week as it is her favorite.  I also discovered they have tamales for sale in the mornings.  I am headed there this Saturday to get some for my lunch.  They offer mostly products from Mexico, (I asked about Argentine specialties) but they have good prices on mariscos (seafood) and carne (meat).