20 Unique Tater Tot Dishes In The US

Like many a classic comfort food, from french fries to doughnuts, tater tots have gotten a culinary glow up as of late. Engrained in kitschy Americana and often relegated to cafeteria memories of yore, the humble tot is experiencing a crispy renaissance on menus across the country as chefs seek to elevate and evolve one of the most nostalgic snacks to ever hit the plate. Suffice things have come a long way since the tater tot's true origins as an invention to reduce food waste.

Nowadays, tater tots come in shapes, styles, and flavors. From potato to more lustrous fare like taro and from a simple side dish to super-sized snacks like "tater kegs," even sandwiches, burgers, and tacos are now using tots as crispy fillings. And much like other forms of the versatile potato, chefs are using distinct techniques while preparing tots — infusing them with smoke, stuffing them with Brie, and heaping them with everything from bonito flakes to duck poutine. This is a new golden age for the all-American tater tot.

There's something that pairs so well between tiki drinks and tater tots. As two genres rooted in playful flavors, eccentric presentation, and an innate sense of comfort. This might explain why some of America's best tiki bars employ quirky tater tot riffs as a go-to snack. Case in point: Tiki TNT, a soaring warehouse-style tiki bar on the Wharf in Washington, D.C., where the snack-centric menu is just as crafty as its cocktails.

In addition to a melange of bracing beverages, many of which utilize rum from Thrashers Rum Distillery next door, the edible offerings skew playful Polynesian, with teriyaki-splashed tiki wings, coconut shrimp, and fried calamari topped with furikake. Then there are the Tiki Tots, a bowl of crispy goodness layered with mango-studded "tiki de gallo," cilantro, smoked Gouda cheese, and TNT sauce, a kind of aïoli made with adobo spices, ketchup, and roasted garlic.

For a deeply immersive drinking experience, it doesn't get much more so than Tiki Tatsu-Ya in Austin. A nautical venture from the folks behind Ramen Tatsu-Ya next door, this kind of transportive, awe-inspiring tiki bar comes with billowing smoke, jungle sound effects, volcanic art installations, walls that look like sea caves, and mini waterfalls. As with the over-the-top tropical cocktails and ambiance, the "munchies" on the food menu are just as dazzling and fun.

Along with jackfruit kushikatsu, mango on the half shell, and mushroom musubi, this includes a colorful twist on tots in the form of Taro Tots. Using taro, a root vegetable stems native to Southeast Asia that's known for its purple hue, the tots achieve a vibrant color that looks more like a blueberry pie than your typical tots. Served in perfect cubes, they arrive with a fermented coconut ranch dipping sauce flecked with nori and togarashi for a condiment that delves deeper than ketchup.

When iconic comfort foods collide, foodie dreams are made. Like taco-inspired pizza, decadent fusions make some of the most exciting menu creations. And speaking of excitement, it doesn't get much more thrilling than a platter of hot dog-inspired tater tots. In Rhode Island, a state with its own underrated style of regional hot dog, you can find Ogie's Trailer Park doing just that — serving up tater tots alongside wieners that include mustard, meat sauce, and onions.

At this retro-inspired bar and restaurant, which sports funky trailer park decor and an on-site eatery called Granny Boo's Kitchen, folks can sample all kinds of hearty snacks equally as funky as the facade. This includes a variety of inventive tots, like the All The Way tots inspired by a recipe for Rhode Island-style wieners. Here, the tots come heaped with meaty chili, diced white onions, mustard, and cheese, for a dish that tastes equal parts chili cheese fries and hot dog.

Not all surf and turf is lobster and steak. Or meat at all. At Cabra, a stunning Los Angeles rooftop restaurant from celebrated chef Stephanie Izard and Chicago-based Boka Restaurant Group, a particular tater tot dish is out to prove that potatoes make for tasty "turf" on all their own.

On the sharable menu, where small plates come loaded with big and bold flavors, the Tuna & Tots are a combo that exemplifies Cabra's ethos of playful Peruvian fare. The Tuna & Tots pairing showcases sushi-grade Pacific yellowfin tuna as the star, seasoned with the likes of sesame, kewpie, aji panca (a kind of fruity Peruvian chile), scallions, and tamari, before getting topped with shio kombu crunch, a medley of plantain chips, fried quinoa, fried garlic, lime powder, and aji amarillo powder. Oh, and an array of golden-brown housemade tater tots for an earthy contrast. The perfect salty counterpoint to the spicy tuna is finished with a garnish of pickled red onions, scallions, cilantro, and sweet and salty This Little Goat Went to Tokyo sauce.

If there's one genre of restaurant that knows how to perfect potatoes, it's a steakhouse. Almost as well known for the spuds as the beef, steakhouses are hallowed ground for all things mashed, twice-baked, and au gratin. You can't overlook the humble tot, a once-casual snack that's getting a huge upgrade at places like RPM Steak. No wonder one of the best steakhouses in Chicago is well-versed in tater-tot artistry.

Applying the same dutiful diligence to its sides and starches as it does its superlative steaks, sourced from the most reputable purveyors, ranches, and farms on Earth, the signature RPM Hash Browns are a thing of glory. Don't expect the type of hash browns found in most diners; this stunning side is prepared and presented like tater tots. It's the same texture as a hash brown, wherein shredded potatoes are cooked until crispy and crunchy, but they're formed into cubes and fried until golden, served with a side of horseradish cream for a high-end, steakhouse-caliber riff.

From its iconic supper clubs, beer culture, and abundant cheeses, Wisconsin is loaded with foodie lore and comfort food at every turn. This is particularly evident in the food and drinks of Milwaukee, where one can find a melting pot of crave-worthy sensations. One local innovator putting its stamp on Wisco tradition is a food truck called Tots on the Street, where the resident specialty is all manner of stuffed oversized tots.

Larger than your typical tot to be filled with everything from sausage and egg to gyro meat and chicken parmesan, these tots are a meal unto themselves. As the truck roves, bringing crispy munchies to the masses, it's an apt way to experience a new twist on tater traditions. This being Wisconsin, where cheese curds are a rite of passage, one of the standout menu staples are the cheese curd tots, which feature ooey-gooey locally sourced cheese curds enrobed in fried spuds so crunchy and crisp that the texture is more akin to latkes.

Gastropubs, in all their meaty inventions and beer-friendly noshing, are prime turf for new takes on tater tots — especially if said gastropub is a contemporary Korean-American version combining unexpected flavors and ingredients across a menu of reinvented comforts. Such is par for the course at Nowon, where craft soju and Korean beers are perfectly matched with snacks like charred lamb skewers, truffle rice cakes, and gochujang-spiced fried chicken. Then there are the tots, which are so irresistible and sensational that they earn the menu moniker "Extraordinary Tots."

Exhibiting potato's natural penchant for sweet and savory, the tots come in two varieties: honey butter and curry-spiced. The former is a singular standout, presented more like an ice cream sundae than your typical tots, as the honey-kissed spuds are topped with warm honey butter melting down into each nook and cranny. For something a little lighter, the curried version swaps out the butter for a punch of fragrant spice, but both are tots that more than live up to their "extraordinary" name.

It's a taste of the Southwest in the heart of East Nashville at Redheaded Stranger, a neoteric and funky taqueria specializing in all things green chile, brisket, and breakfast tacos. With a menu that includes tacos, burritos, green chile cheeseburgers, and quesadillas, it's also an easy vibe for tater tots to blend in and lend some crunch. Indeed, the menu from chef Bryan Lee Weaver features tater tots in many forms.

Inspired by breakfast tacos found throughout the Southwest, the menu here features breakfast tacos that use tater tots instead of standard spuds. Like the bacon taco with tater tots, scrambled egg, and cheddar, or the meat-free tater tot taco with jalapeño crema, red hatch chiles, and American cheese. The breakfast burrito follows suit with scrambled eggs, chorizo, pork, hatch green chile sauce, and tater tots. Or, if you'd rather skip the tortillas, consider totchos with queso, black beans, jalapeño, pickled red onion, and sour cream.

Vices come in all forms in Las Vegas — even the tater tots. A world-famous adult playground teeming with neon-lit casinos, larger-than-life resorts, and over-the-top restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, seemingly everything is decadent and indulgent in Sin City. It's a sentiment that also applies to tater tots, as at Stack Restaurant and Bar inside The Mirage, where the famed side dish is just as "adult" as everything else in this debaucherous entertainment mecca.

While many tater tots peddle some childhood nostalgia, these take a decidedly grown-up approach. Offered as a side dish, along with meaty menu heavy-hitters like porterhouse steak and double-cut pork chops, the Adult Tots are super-sized versions that come stuffed with Brie and bacon. Looking more like fancy mozzarella sticks, the fried potato morsels serve closer to arancini, oozing with melted, smoky bits of pork and cheese in each sinful bite.

Aside from the obvious french fry, if there's one crispy potato snack worthy of icon status alongside tater tots, it's the almighty latke. Equally crunchy, golden-brown, and well matched with all manner of sauces and seasonings, the Jewish potato pancake only makes perfect sense for the tot treatment, and it was only a matter of time before the two combined into one superstar snack. That's exactly what happens at Yangban Society, a modern Korean-American restaurant and bodega-style super — the vibrant vision of chefs Katianna and John Hong.

Here, the chefs pay homage to Katianna's Jewish upbringing in upstate New York by serving a latke-inspired spin on tots. They're twice-fried and tossed in housemade roasted garlic butter, then finished with a dusting of chopped dill and scallions. In true latke form, the extra-crispy tots are presented with applesauce and whipped crème fraîche with dill oil for dipping.