REVIEW: Dimo’s – Truffle Butter Popcorn

Rating: ©-1/2 – ©©©©-1/2 chips  (return to sender to lip-smacking – depending)

Just the other day we stumbled upon this popcorn while actually trying to grab a few slices of pizza.  That’s right, Dimo’s is much better known for their huge selection of pizza by the slice.  But, because we also do what we do, we had to grab a bag of this New! Truffle Butter Popcorn.

It was one of those busy days so we grabbed a handful of slices for the road and just planned on warming them up at the HQ.  We’ve pretty much perfected the re-heat of pizza at Chip Review.  Pizza stone under the broiler for 20 minutes, turn off broiler, place room temp pizza directly on stone, heat for 5 minutes – crispy crust, warmed toppings, melty cheese – perfection.

While we waited for pizza stone to get piping hot we thought we would give Dimo’s New! Truffle Butter Popcorn a taste.  We tore open the cute brown paper bag to see that the popcorn also was coated with some herbs and what appeared to be parmesan cheese.  We popped a few kernels int our mouths to discover that the popcorn was completely stale and soggy.  Practically inedible.  We all looked around at each other to confirm the disappointment.  Yep, unanimous.  But then, almost also as simultaneously we all looked towards the over.  Could this popcorn be save?!  We spread it out onto a baking sheet and threw it into the piping hot oven on the rack below the pizza stone….

A couple of minutes passed, we grabbed the sheet pan from the oven and set it on top of the stove.  We could hear the butter on the popcorn crackling and sizzling.  The popcorn looked alive again.  We let it cool for as long as we could wait and then we dug in.  A transformation miracle!  The popcorn was once again fresh, and crispy, and delicious!!

You may or may not have noticed above that we had given Dimo’s popcorn two different ratings, and now you know the reason why.  One was based on the popcorn directly out of the cute, but useless (as far as freshness goes), brown paper bag; and another rating for after we had baked the popcorn for a few minutes.  We’re pretty sure that we have never done this before, but we thought, what the heck – we had also never bought truffle butter flavored popcorn from a pizza slice joint in Wicker Park before……

As for the flavoring of the popcorn, it was really delicious.  Dimo’s popcorn definitely exuded more aromatic truffle essence than any other truffle flavored popcorns we have tried.  Coupled with the rich butter, and salty cheese, the popcorn really is fantastic (after it is warmed up).

Popcorn discovered at Dimo’s Pizza; Wicker Park-Chicago, Illinois

Dimo’s Pizza Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Meijer – Honey Butter Potato Chips

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

It was just days ago that we told you how we usually try to refrain from reviewing, what we refer to as, “generic” grocery store lines of chips (but we just couldn’t help ourselves with 365’s Tamarind Baked Naan Chips).  But, that every once in a while those “generic” brands give us something so special, so delicious, that we just HAVE TO review them!  Well, in this case that something happens to be so WEIRD, or UNIQUE, that we just feel inclined to review them!

That’s right, your eyes do not deceive you, those are in fact HONEY BUTTER flavored potato chips to our left! We’re not even going to question whether or not you have ever tried honey butter.  If you are sitting at your computer right now, reading a review for some potato chips, and yet have never tried honey butter on anything, anywhere, you are not living!  Stop what you are doing, find some popovers, or cornbread, or whatever, and slather them up with some butter mixed with honey!  Get your honey butter on immediately!!

Okay, before we delve into our review of Meijer’s Honey Butter flavored potato chips it is certainly worth mentioning that nearly one year ago Mr. Junk Food Guy himself reviewed, and enlightened us with, THE HONEY BUTTER flavored chips – Calbee Honey Butter Flavored Potato Chips!  From what we read in JFG’s review, Calbee’s honey butter flavored chips are a worldwide phenomenon, that all started in Korea, which now has inspired honey butter flavored followers worldwide…..that being said, we have in fact only seen this one other thus far…..but still, a follower!

Meijer’s Honey Butter flavored potato chips tow a very, very thin line between being deliciously unique, and tasty, or being artificially over-sweet, and putrid.  That line can easily sway, or snap, from one chip to the next depending upon your own personal experience with the flavor.  In other words, even we ourselves were torn between loving and hating these chips! They are certainly sweet, coated with a heavy dusting of honey powder.  The sweetness interplays with the salt level very well.  As for the “buttery” aspect, well it conjured instant thoughts of Herr’s Fire Roasted Sweet Corn chips; in other words, some of the most disgusting chips that we have ever tried.  However, this time we did not find the fake buttery flavor nearly as gross on these potato chips as we did on Herr’s.  Whether that is due to slight flavor variances, or if we simply accept this flavor combination more so than the other – who knows?!?  What we do know is that in the end we decided (based on the completely empty bag lying in front of us), that our lip-smacking love for these chips outweighed our disgust.

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

Chips discovered at….where else – Meijer; Bolingbrook, Illinois

Meijer Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: T.G.I. Friday’s – Sweet & Spicy Happy Hour Snack Mix

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

It is about that time, right?

We can only imagine how this over-the-top, disjointed “happy hour snack mix” came to exist.

Dude 1: Hey man, do you have anything we could crunch on with these ice cold brewskies?

Dude 2: Not sure…let me check the cupboards.  Oh yeah, let’s see here…..looks like I’ve got butter toffee peanuts, wasabi peas, roasted almonds, pecans, cashews, some rice crackers, and cajun corn sticks…..oh yeah, and apparently honey mustard pretzels.  What would you like?

Dude 1: Well, it is happy hour, so everything! Mixed together!

And as they say….the rest is history.

Not too much to say about these.  TGI Friday’s has taken a lot, and we do mean A LOT, of high quality products we know and love, and combined them into one sweet & spicy mess of a snack mix.  Despite the weird combination of disconnected crunchy pieces, it somehow all works!!  The wasabi peas are certainly the most dominantly flavor profile, but most of the other mix ingredients play off of the unmistakable nasal heat just fine.  The variety of nuts provide a good level of mouth fat and textural difference, and the pretzels are there to bring everything home, and probably to soak up the beer!

Mix discovered at 7-eleven; Burr Ridge, Illinois

TGI Friday’s Snacks Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Doritos – Butter Soy Sauce (Japan)

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

As we taste, and review, more and more of these chips from Japan, we are beginning to wonder – more and more – if we actually have been told the correct flavor translation?!

Plain and simple, we do not know Japanese, and we are taking the eBay seller’s word for the translation of these chips.

Case in point, take a close look at the Doritos bag to the left.  The small oval picture seems to contain some grilled corn on the cob, with a pad of butter drizzled in what actually looks like caramel to us.  But, according to our eBay seller Market Tokyo this flavor is actually Butter Soy Sauce?!

So, that’s what we had to go with….

Is butter and soy sauce a common or authentic combination in Japan?  We’re not really sure about that, but it must be a delicious combination nonetheless when the New York Times dedicates an entire article to it.

As for these Doritos, well, they are pretty darn tasty.  Certainly a unique chip flavor combination that we have never tried before.

The chips sort of taste like buttered popcorn to us.  Very salty buttered popcorn.

Frankly, we expected a lot more prominent soy flavors, but really all we taste is salt and butter, combined with Doritos corn tortilla chips.

Well, there you have it.  Anyone else out there tried them yet?  Thoughts?  As always we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree.  Let us know.

Chips purchased from market_tokyo on ebay.

Frito Lay – Doritos Japan Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

25 Chips to Christmas….

#20

Alaska Chip Co. – Theatre Style Buttered Popcorn – & – Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn

Original Reviews Here and Here

What does it mean when a self proclaimed ‘Chip Company’ makes better popcorn than most self proclaimed ‘Popcorn Companies’??  Who knows!  But more importantly, WHO EVEN CARES!!

RATING: Coney Island Classics – Butter Me Up Bliss Kettle Corn With Himalayan Pink Salt

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

Popcorn discovered at Marshalls; Lombard, Illinois

Coney Isand Classics Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: World Market Presents – Truffle Butter (a frighteningly delicious movie theater popcorn)

Rating: ©©© chips  (notable)

We have to hand it to World Market, they sure know how to market for the holidays, and with some pretty witty packaging!

Upon opening World Market’s clear bag of popcorn (yes clear, we said witty packaging, not quality), the truffle and butter aromas were terrifyingly upfront, and undeniable.  Even scarier (demonstrated by the Bride of Frankenstein’s face expression) was just how frighteningly fake both the butter and truffle flavors were!  Seriously!!  Almost sickeningly so…

And yet, the popcorn is very eatable, sort of addicting, and hard to stop munching on.  Weird, rich and sweet butter cream mingles with an earthy, and pungent aroma.  The popcorn is certainly not lacking in flavor like other truffle flavor snacks we have tried, but then again, it doesn’t taste as authentic as some either.

Also worth noting is the inclusion of MUSHROOM JUICE CONCENTRATE among the ingredients.  What else can we say?!?  We’ll just leave this review with that!

Popcorn discovered at World Market; Oak Brook, Illinois

World Market Official Website

As always 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

©©©©© – “A” list