REVIEW: Trader Joe’s – Sriracha Lattice Cut Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

As we snatched that bright red, hopefully promising, bag of kettle cooked potato chips from off the store shelf we paused for a second, and realized that it had been quite a long time between Trader Joe’s visits.  Which made us sad.  Shame on us Chip Review.  SHAME ON US!  Luckily, TJ’s delicious Sriracha chips turned our frowns upside down, and made us happy!

You know how we know that it has been a long time since our last TJ’s visit?  Well, this visit was our first time seeing the lattice cut sriracha flavored potato chips (and it’s not like we somehow over looked the bold, electric-red bag of sriracha flavored chips).  And we know that they have been available for a while now as they were SPOTTED over two months ago on The Impulsive Buy, and very positively reviewed nearly just as long ago by What’s Good at Trader Joe’s?

First of all, can we just point out the ferocious looking creature who appears as though it is about to smash a giant stack of lattice cut potato chips.  According to our younger chip reviewers this creature is obviously a dragon cat; and apparently there are plenty of examples of this out there on the internets!  Quite frankly, we don’t get it.  We don’t understand the correlation between the uber popular Thai hot sauce, and the winged feline?!?  Now, if TJ’s would have gone with a cat rooster, or a rooster dragon, now that is something we would associate with sriracha!  But what do we know, maybe dragon cats are popular in Thailand?

Trader Joe’s Sriracha Lattice Cut Kettle Cooked Potato Chips are lip-smackingly tasty…..but we feel like we may have already told you that….last year!  Okay, while technically we are reviewing them for the very first time, we sort of feel like we reviewed, and praised, these chips last year, only they were called Ghost Pepper Lattice Cut Kettle Cooked Potato Chips…  Yes, we know that those were different chips (at least we are supposed to think they were), but hear us out here!

Touch of sweet, good dash of salt, lots of vegetal and fruity chili pepper notes, and we love-love-loved the splash of tangy vinegar and citric acid.  Of course there is some onion and garlic are in there (mandatory in every seasoning it seems)….That’s right, we said it, there is a touch of heat that alludes to the threat of tongue burning heat but never really gets anywhere near it.  In fact, the heat doesn’t even really build after many repeat visits to the delicious chip bag!  That is not to say that there is no heat whatsoever because there is a bit of tongue tickle, just nothing to the extent that we would have expected from the ghost pepper!

The above italics were taken straight from our Ghost Pepper review, however for the the most part, a large portion of these descriptions could be used to describe Trader Joe’s Sriracha chips.  We would be willing to bet A LOT of $$$ that TJ’s did not start from scratch with their sriracha recipe, and much of the inspiration for derived from the ghost pepper recipe!  Is this a bad thing?  Certainly not, especially when the ghost pepper chips were so lip-smacking!!

Overall, we liked these sriracha chips quite a bit.  If you like sriracha hot sauce, and you like crispy potato chips, then you would certainly like these.  Sriracha may not yet be as popular of a flavor as say nacho cheese, or barbeque, but it is sure making a run for it, and as far as the dozen or so sriracha flavored chips we have tried thus far, these are definitely somewhere in the top 5!

These are our thoughts, agree or disagree, make sure to let us know!

Chips discovered at Trader Joes; La Grange, Illinois

Trader Joe’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: GimMe Chips – Wasabi Seaweed Rice Chips

Rating: ©©-3/4 chips  (tolerable)

If you are looking for a more detailed description of who and what GimMe Chips are, then please see our original review of their Teriyaki flavored chips located right over here.

However, if you are simply looking for the quick and simple low down on these wasabi flavored seaweed rice chips, please continue reading.

Wasabi + seaweed + rice = winning flavor combination for a very long time.

However (you knew there was going to be a however), GimMe Chips wasabi flavored seaweed rice chips somehow in our opinion do not knock this one out of the park.

Plain and simple, the seaweed flavor is too prominent for our paletes, and dominates the usually powerful wasabi flavor.

It’s not that we don’t taste any wasabi, because we do; and it tastes like the same old burning nasal punch as it always does.  However, despite wasabi’s undeniably powerful presence, somehow the seaweed still steals the show (and like we’ve said before, we don’t love licking the bottom of the ocean!).

The chips themselves had a strong, hearty crunch, with a grainy mouth texture.

So, if you are a big fan of that seaweed ocean flavor, and you also like getting your sushi maki on, then you may very well like these chips and we suggest you give them a try for yourselves.

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

Chips provided to Chip Review from Gimme Chips for review.

Gimme Chips Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

RATING: Wausome Wafers Cheese Crisps – Hug & Kiss Colby / Swiss

Rating: ©©©© chips (lip-smacking)

Crisps provided to Chip Review by Wausome Wafers for review

Wausome Foods Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Uncle Ray’s – Smokey Chipotle & Jack Cheese Potato Chips

Rating: ©©-1/4 chips  (almost not tolerable)

Chipotle & Jack Cheese…..hmmm, pretty sure that is a new flavor combination for us.

We’ve tried chipotle paired with a lot of different flavors, everything from ranch, to lime, to crema (ewww!), but never with Jack Cheese.

Well, it appears as though Uncle Ray may have a bit of a heavy hand with the salt when it comes to these chips.  And by “may have”, we mean that we are fairly certain, that these are the saltiest chips we have tried in the last year, or two!

Salty, salty, S-A-L-T-Y!!!

We actually, almost, sort of like them, but fear for our lips becoming chapped, or our bodies becoming completely dehydrated, if we eat more than a few.  No joke, we are stopping.

The chips flavor does include some smoke, some salty cheese, a little chile heat, and of course salt.

The potato chips are semi-crunchy, wide rippled, and practically devoid of any recognizable potato flavor from  beyond the salty seasoning.

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

Discovered at Shell Gas Station; Burr Ridge, Illinois

Uncle Ray’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Rachel’s – Sriracha Sour Cream Gourmet Kettle Chips

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

Wow Rachel, been a long time.  And what’s this…you’ve changed your look, haven’t you?  Well, just wanted to let you know that we like what you’ve done with your style!

Rachel’s New! Sriracha Sour Cream Kettle Chips are really pretty tasty!

We have tried quite a few different Sriracha flavored chips and popcorn over the past few years, but these kettle chips mark our very first sour cream and sriracha combination.

Quick flavor opinion = winning combination!

The sriracha seasoning blend – red hot chili pepper, vinegar, garlic – is tasty and accurate!

The sour cream flavor aspect adds a delicious layer of smooth and creamy tongue tang.

The overall flavor combination is very savory, and simply very delicious!

Rachel’s “Gourmet” Kettle Chips are medium thick, and substantially crunchy.

As always we would love to hear what you think.  Let us know.

Chips graciously provided to Chip Review from TurkeyBucket for review

Rachel’s Kettle Chips Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

RATING: Metro Deli – Jalapeño Cheddar Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Terra Celery Root – Aged Cheese

Rating: ©-1/4 chips  (return to sender)

WOW!  These real vegetable chips are easily….. E-ZAH-LEE, by a large landslide, the most unique, and challenging chips that we have tried in a long time!  We’re talking more weird than Chicken and Waffle flavored potato chips, or White Chocolate Peppermint flavored potato crisps, or Thick Juicy Steak and Horseradish, or Thai Coconut Curry flavored popcorn.  Yep, Terra’s Aged Cheese flavored Celery Root Chips (yes, we said Celery Root Chips) are a first of a kind, both perplexing, and off-putting, and as much as we respect them, we just can’t quite stomach them.

First of all, can we take one second and discuss the image of the chips on the front of the bag.  Take a good look at them, and tell us what you see.  Aren’t they beautiful?  Doesn’t it sort of look like the chips have been piled up in such a way that they resemble a plant?  We’ve decided that it looks like either an exotic mushroom, or something from the bottom of the ocean.

Let’s move onto shape and texture next.  These celery root chips are extremely thinly cut.  Almost paper thin.  Lots of different sizes and wiggles and folds, all with a burnt-orange, sunset hue.  On the surface everything seems pretty normal, no red flags, but then we pop the first chip into our mouths and….are these chips CHEWY?!?  We aren’t kidding, literally chewy.  No crunch, no crispy to them at all.  We bit down, and the semi-soft celery root chip folds in upon itself, and then your teeth begin working on these chewy chips!  Unlike anything we have ever tried.  And believe it or not but the texture isn’t necessarily off putting to many of us (we’re pretty sure that it may be to the majority of people), but really just peculiar and different and unexpected.

As for the flavor, well first and foremost these chips really do taste like celery root!  And celery root tastes very much like celery, with a dash of parsley thrown in.  So, celery root chips that taste like celery, we are off to a weird start.  And then Terra, sticking with their strategy of weirdness, decides to season these new chips with what else…..aged cheese.  That’s right, now our mouths are tasting stinky, sort of sweet and bitter and tangy seasoning mingling with celery and parsley.  All we can say is that in our opinion the combination is really off-putting, and barring on disgusting.  We did not like this flavor in the least.

In the end, we recognize Terra’s willingness to push the boundaries and deliver something completely unique to the industry, but we are more than certain that all we want to do with this delivery is return it to sender!

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

Discovered at World Market; Willowbrook, IL

Terra Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list