Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips (lip-smacking)
Alright, we’ve been rethinking things a little bit around here regarding waffle cut potato chips. Up until now most of us at Chip Review have always been an adversary of the uniquely cut chips; more specifically a kettle cooked waffle cut chip. We’ve said:
“...too much fryable surface area – we get the idea, it’s new, it’s different – and, we appreciate the effort, but give us some crinkle cut any day! The potato chips’ aerated waffle texture adds a weird kettle cooked super-crunch that is somehow not too dense, and not too hard…
“They are unique, that is certain, and we appreciate that. However, they feel more like a challenge for our mouths, than something to sit back and enjoy! The double sliced, criss-cross technique results in more fry-able potato chip surface area, producing an extremely crunchy potato chip. Imagine thick cut kettle chips gone wild! We like our teeth, we need our teeth! If you love crunchy chips, then these may be right up your alley.”
BUT! As we look back through all of our ratings and reviews for Waffle or Lattice Cut style potato chips, we’ve noticed that the majority of the chips have very good ratings. Are we waffle cut closet people?! Maybe we are! Maybe… that additional surface area that we do not enjoy due to super-crunch, also provides more area for seasoning adhesion – which we love? We’re guessing, in the end, we are going to have to accept our love-hate relationship with these waffle cut chips.
Barbeque and Ranch. Do you see that? Barbeque and ranch together in one bag of chips! Believe it or not, this combination is extremely rare. In fact, we could only find one example of ever trying it before, and just like with these chips, we thought they were lip-smacking! First thing that comes to mind to describe the bbq ranch flavor combo would be TANGY. Tangy ranch sour cream notes mixed with tangy-sweet tomato and vinegar flavors. Tangy, tangy, tangy, and delicious!! The ranch flavor half is what pops off first. A touch of creamy sour cream, with a dash of those supporting flavors of garlic, onion, red bell pepper, and black pepper. We really, really love the tangy tartness of this seasoning; which appears to be the result of a combination of sour cream, lactic acid, citric acid and apple cider vinegar. That’s a whole lot of tangy tongue tingling, if you ask us! The barbeque seasoning is there too, but does definitely play second fiddle to the ranch. A sweet and smoky pairing, rests in the background and supports the ranch notes perfectly!!
Plain and simple, the bbq ranch chips taste like both flavors, and the combination of both. It works!! It works so well that we think more brands should give it a whirl! We can hope.
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Discovered at Jewell Osco; Westchester, Illinois
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Chip Review 