Chip Review of the day…..

Lay’s – Pico de Gallo

Rating: ©©-3/4 chips  (tolerable)

Comments:

Lay’s Pico de Gallo flavored potato chips are apparently the brainchild of one of their employees, Samuel Oliveros.  Well, kudos to you Mr. Oliveros that is pretty darn cool!!

What is Pico de Gallo (for those of you out there who possibly do not know):

Pico de gallo, is finely chopped red tomatoes, white onions and green chiles.  Imagine, a roughly chopped, fresh salsa.  Literally translated, pico de gallo means ‘the rooster’s beak’, and according to Wikipedia, the dish was given that name because originally people ate it by pinching pieces between their thumb and forefinger (like the beak of a rooster).  Pico de gallo’s colors – red, white and green – represent the colors of the Mexican flag.

So, in essence, pico de gallo is a fresh, roughly chopped, salsa, and what is salsa normally consumed with?  Chips of course!  But, not just any chips, tortilla chips – not potato chips!!  Which poses the question, why would Lay’s opt to use a potato chip as the canvas for delivering their new “salsa” flavor?  Well, we’re not quite sure if we can answer that question, but two questions we do plan to answer are: 1) do the chips in deed taste like pico de gallo? 2) does the pico de gallo flavor go well with potato chip?

First of all, we are sorry to say, but these Lay’s do not taste anything like any fresh pico de gallo that we have ever tasted.  Good pico de gallo tastes of fresh tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and often cilantro.  The ample layer of seasoning we taste on these chips actually made us think of some sweet and tangy ketchup flavored potato chips!  And, to be completely honest, we have never really tasted any “tomato” flavored powder that reminds us of fresh, real tomatoes.  Tomato powder, in general, tastes much more like over cooked, and reduced tomatoes that have released so many natural sugars.  The seasoning blend also included a handful of many other salty background seasonings that certainly added a lot of flavor, but also took the pico de gallo flavor in a completely opposite direction than what we know as clean and simple pico de gallo.  Lastly, what the heck is sour cream doing included amongst these ingredients!?!  Where does that fit in?  Why is it there?!  We have no answers for that one!

And, secondly, we can’t technically answer whether or not pico de gallo flavors go well with potato chips, since in this case the seasoning did not taste anything like pico de gallo.  However, if we had to speculate, we would suspect that pico de gallo would not jive with potato chips the way that it does so naturally with rustic, hearty and sturdy corn tortilla chips.  Corn tortilla chips are a proven solid backdrop for scooping up deliciously fresh pico de gallo, and they also deliver an earthy, corn counterbalance that successfully combats the three flavors and colors of pico de gallo.

So sorry Sam, maybe we are judging these chips a little too harshly, and maybe we had some preconceived notions of what pico de gallo flavors should taste like; however, none of that changes the fact that despite the great flavor idea, the execution was not successful!  Sam, we’re thinking you should have sold the idea to Doritos!!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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