One culprit in vanishing varieties of French fries is Sysco. To increase efficiency and lower costs, they push their standard, straight, plain fry over all others. I get it from an economic perspective, but basically every other fry option is better, and it makes me sad.
Same. But so long as the menu is clear about what you are going to get, everyone can choose the one they prefer.
To give you an idea of how many varieties of french fries there are, take a look at this website, which list the ones available from J. R. Simplot Company, a supplier of french fries to the food service industry. They offer over a hundred options.
You like potato and I like potato
You like tomato and I like tomato
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto
Let’s call the whole thing offBut oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And oh, if we ever part
Then that might break my heart
Potato lovers forever!
I’m in the “Steak Fries are plank shaped, not wedge-shaped” school of thought. The hot bar at the Publix grocery store sells “potato wedges” that are just too thick. They seem to be a fourth or fifth of a potato, sliced lengthwise. They are too thick to be crispy, but too small to enjoy as a baked potato.
I’ve been disappointed with potato wedges that aren’t cooked in the middle.
They need parboiling first to partially cook and then fried or roasted.
Probably the closest thing (but not quite the same) to good steak fries would be UK-style chips.
Small baked potatoes can be great, too.
Take some fingerling potatoes, cut them into quarters, rub a bit of olive oil, place them on a sheet pan, apply salt and rosemary, and put in a medium-temperature oven for a few hours. They won’t be fries, exactly, but they will be delicious.
All this talk of potatoes reminds me of my dear old mother: we found some recipe in the 70s for home made “potato chips” which came out more like disc-shaped french fries. Slice the potato into discs, cook them in oil.
Maybe we got a recipe for English-style “chips” or we didn’t do it correctly. I can’t say. They weren’t chips, but they were good! And we made them often.
The first couple include Simplot Beef Tallow & Formed. I wonder what the & Formed means. Are they those extruded mashed potato fries>
The snack bar at my university had those, 1980 or so! I remember them as being particularly good, wonder if I still would?
I always get an earworm when I see the title of this thread.
Where have all the steak fries gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the steak fries gone?
Long time ago
Down someone’s gullet, every one
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
That would be my educated guess, having worked in the food industry. McCain’s “Smiles,” which are eternally popular among little kids, are exactly that.
The horror. The Horror!
Where have all the digested gone?
turned to poop every one
Where has all the poop gone?
Gone to potato fields every one
This wasn’t the war metaphor we asked for, but maybe it’s the war metaphor we needed. 
Steak fries like the OP is talking about were always my favorite. Flat but thick with fluffy potato inside. They are the best. And they are right, they do seem less common now that I think about it.
I don’t know this for sure but I suspect the answer is Sysco Foods. Like every other industry in America restaurant distribution is becoming a monopoly as Sysco buys them all up so restaurants everywhere are slowly all becoming very similar.
It could also just be changes in tastes but I do love me some steak fries.
Denny’s still has steak fries but they’re not referred to as such.
Denny’s says they are “Wavy Cut French Fries”.