At top, John Gonzalez, a writer from MLive.com’s “Michigan’s Best” team, earlier this week holds up a bag of french fries from Beef-A-Roo in Marquette. The restaurant was recently chosen as having the best fries in the Upper Peninsula through an online poll hosted by MLive. Restaurant owner Cami LaFayette said the secret to the fries is the seasoning, which hasn’t changed since her family took over the business nearly 50 years ago. Above, left, Gonzalez samples the fries. Above, right, fellow Mlive writer Amy Sherman, left, Gonzalez, center and LaFayette sample some of the restaurant’s fare Monday. (Journal photos by Ryan Jarvi)

MARQUETTE — The family-owned fast food restaurant Beef-A-Roo in Marquette was voted as having the best french fries in the Upper Peninsula through an online reader poll organized by the media group Mlive.com.

MLive’s “Michigan’s Best” team, made up of writers John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman, have organized several similar online polls, asking readers to vote for a variety of their favorites, including Bloody Marys, pizzas and burgers.

The surveys are broken up into various regions of the state, and the duo is making official stops at poll-winning restaurants to taste test the fries and choose their favorites.

Gonzalez and Sherman on Monday visited the Marquette Beef-A-Roo, located at 1090 S. Front St.

“These guys are doing fast food, but they’re family-owned places that’s doing it,” Sherman said. “What a great alternative to going to a mass market McDonald’s or Arby’s when you can come to a Beef-A-Roo … across different markets in the U.P. and have their version of home cooking made by a local family, which I think is pretty great.”

Cami LaFayette, owner of the Marquette Beef-A-Roo, said her family took ownership of the business nearly 50 years ago. There are two other Beef-A-Roo restaurants in the U.P., one in Negaunee and another in Iron River.

“We’ve been here for 47 years, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in the area has eaten here, and now maybe since we have this recognition … maybe we’ll get some new customers,” she said.

The Beef-A-Roo in Marquette was chosen in the online poll as having the best french fries in the U.P. category, receiving about 22.7 percent of votes cast. Second place, with 17.1 percent, went to The Antlers in Sault Ste. Marie, while Vango’s Pizza and Cocktail Lounge in Marquette took third with 9.8 percent.

“We had over 1,000 votes overall, just for the U.P., which is one of our top polls,” Gonzalez said.

Other popular items at Beef-A-Roo include the shaved beef sandwich and burgers, LaFayette said, but what makes the fries at Beef-A-Roo stand out is the seasoning that’s used, which is purchased from a company in north Detroit.

“We’ve switched potatoes many times, but we’ve never changed the seasoning,” she said, adding that the seasoning is also sold by the bag at the restaurants.

“People use it on chicken, steaks, I mean whatever you’re going to use a seasoning salt on, just put some of that on instead,” LaFayette said.

During a steady lunch hour, LaFayette said her Beef-A-Roo goes through nearly 70 pounds of french fries, which are delivered frozen, and then half-cooked in advance and finished when ordered, due to the time constraints of being a fast food restaurant.

“We make nothing in this building before it is ordered,” she said. “This is how we’ve done it since day one, since my parents … bought it 47 years ago. We make nothing ahead; nothing sits under a light ever.”

Sherman said the No. 1 vote-getter in the entire poll statewide was HopCat, which in Michigan has restaurants in Ann Arbor, Detroit, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Royal Oak.

“Whether they’ll be the best or not, it doesn’t matter because every search we do we start from scratch,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if they got thousands and thousands of votes, … it’s whatever tastes the best to us, and so we’ll see how they compare to everyone else.”

Sherman said MLive readers enjoy articles that feature the U.P., and encouraged readers to email suggestions that might be included in future “Michigan’s Best” searches.

“We are always looking for stories about the U.P., so if people want to send us their favorite places to eat, or drink, or hike, or swim or kayak, we want to know those things,” she said.

Sherman can be reached at asherma2@mlive.com, and Gonzalez can be reached at gonzo@mlive.com.

Ryan Jarvi can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 270. His email address is rjarvi@miningjournal.net.