Here are the Round 1 results of our Kansas City french fry bracket

Wow, Kansas City — you really know your french fries.

After tallying more than 3,000 votes, we’re ready to reveal the sizzling Round 1 results of our monthlong March Madness-inspired french fry tournament.

The interactive bracket featured 16 restaurants divided into four fry categories: Diner-style, Barbecue, Upscale American and Fancy French.

Town Topic and Winstead’s — two Kansas City burger institutions famous for their fries — dominated the Diner-style category and will face off in Round 2. Town Topic sizzled its competition with 72 percent of the popular vote; Winstead’s won with 55 percent.

[Round 2: Click here to cast your votes]

In the Barbecue category, Joe’s Kansas City and Arthur Bryant’s smoked the competition and will go fry-to-fry in Round 2. Joe’s Kansas City won a whopping 77 percent of the popular vote, and Arthur Bryant’s took 63 percent.

The winners of the Upscale American category were BRGR Kitchen + Bar, which won 66 percent of the popular vote, and Westside Local, which barely beat out Blanc Burgers + Bottles with 55 percent of the vote.

The Fancy French category also yielded a close game. The Westport Champagne bar Ça Va edged out French restaurant Charisse with 55 percent of the popular vote. In Round 2, Ça Va will face Beer Kitchen, which won 69 percent of the vote in Round 1.

Which of these Elite Eight restaurants will win big in Round 2? That’s up to you. Cast your vote by 9 a.m. Monday, March 13. We’ll follow up with results every week until March 29, when we’ll announce the ultimate winner.

Don’t see your favorite fry spot on our bracket? We’re also accepting write-in votes via email at chowtownfeedback@kcstar.com.

During Round 1, dozens of readers wrote in to recommend more than 20 restaurants that didn’t make our bracket. The top three most-recommended restaurants were Rosedale Bar-B-Q, 600 Southwest Blvd. in Kansas City, Kan.; HopCat, 401 Westport Road; and Five Guys, a burger chain with locations in Kansas City, Kansas City, Kan., Overland Park, Mission, Olathe, Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty and Lawrence.

Note: We didn’t include HopCat or Five Guys because they’re not locally owned. As for Rosedale Bar-B-Q, they serve crinkle-cut fries, and our bracket is strictly shoestrings and matchsticks.

Reader Renee Bernhardt of Leawood emailed us to say she has tried 14 of the 16 french fries in our bracket, and Rosedale beats them all.

“They have a thick, crunchy outside and (are) tender inside,” she wrote. “Give them a try!”

We’ll see you at Rosedale, Renee.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Here are the Round 1 results of our Kansas City french fry bracket."