Rating: ©©-3/4 chips (tolerable)
You’ve had’em. They’ve had’em. We’ve all had’em… Those generically seasoned, ubiquitous kettle cooked potato chips that come with so many sandwiches, at so many different restaurants! The seasoning blend, and chip quality, may vary slightly from time to time, but for the most part they all pretty much taste the same, and they all pretty much do the job they are meant to do. Which would be to add a salty and crunchy accompaniment to the real star of the meal, not to be a chip that you enjoy on its own.
When we first grabbed the bag of Old Dutch Crunch’s newest flavor – Bistro Blend – we really didn’t know what we were dealing with. We’re assuming that by the red, white, & blue color theme of the bag, along with the inclusion of stars across the top of the bag that these chips are sporting some sort of 4th of July theme. Maybe they were some limited edition? We just don’t know. Bistro Blend… what the heck is that?? A little front bag investigating (aka reading), we noticed that in the blue box right below the flavor name, was written Savory Mix of Garden Grown Spices. Again, what the heck is that?!? It wasn’t until we rotated the bag 180 degrees that we finally found the answer we were looking for: These delicious chips are served across the Upper Midwest in restaurants. In other words, these are those generically seasoned, sandwich extensions that we mentioned in our opening paragraph.
Before we contemplate, or complain, about why Old Dutch would even package these chips for resale, lets first take care of the crunchy details. The chips deliver that safe combination of a little sweet (sugar & dehydrated onion/garlic), a little heat (some sort of chili pepper – cayenne?), a little smoke (paprika, gives it color too), and of course a good coating of salt. The combination melds together fine, but in the end is sort bland, like an unconvincing BBQ chip. The chips themselves encompass a lighter golden orange hue, and as with all of Old Dutch’s – Dutch Crunch line of kettle cooked potato chips, these chips are semi-thick, sturdy and really crunchy! They are a very fine example of what we feel is the textbook definition of kettle cooked potato chips. In the end, you know what these chips taste like? Yep, you’re right, like those “bistro blend…” kettle chips that come with your sandwich at your local grill!!
In the end, we just don’t quite understand why Old Dutch felt the need to offer these chips for retail sale. Sure, we’ll crunch on them if we find them sitting out in the a bowl, or if they arrived on our plate with our sandwich, but we would not ever crave these chips, or go out and buy another bag. There are far too many more interesting and delicious chips already out there on the market, including Old Dutch’s other Dutch Crunch flavors, for us to waste any more time with these “Bistro Blends”!!
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Discovered at Kwik Trip; Plymouth, Minnesota
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Chip Review 