BIJOU-REVIEW: Pelican Bay Trading Company – White Cheddar Cheese Popcorn

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

We crossed paths with this popcorn while visiting St. Louis a couple of weeks back.

That’s right, just some random bag of white cheddar cheese popcorn named after a famous prison…. we kid.  Named after a bay in California (we assume).

Honestly, we can’t find anything about this popcorn on the internet…

The popcorn itself was pretty good.

Full sturdy body to the popcorn.  Not your super light and crispy.  These kernels had some meat and chew to them.

The white cheddar cheese seasoning was both white, and tasted sufficiently like cheddar cheese powder; so, win-win.

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

Popcorn discovered at Quik Trip; Clayton, Missouri

Cannot determine an official website….

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Paqui Tortilla Chips – Nacho Cheese Especial

Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips  (lip-smacking)

By now we’re guessing – NO! We’re hoping!! – that most of you chip lovers out there are familiar with Paqui Tortilla Chips.  (If you are not, we are in fact slightly judging you and letting you know that you should be flying out the door right now to try them!)

Their most recent, insanely spicy, venture has been all over the Twitter-sphere!  You may have heard about it, the #OneChipChallenge?

Somehow, Paqui’s Nacho Cheese Especial chips snuck onto the chip market, and we didn’t even realize that we had never reviewed them.

And as usual, these Paqui chips are lip-smacking!

Take this next statement as you will, but these chips taste an awful lot like the classic Doritos Nacho Cheese chips, in the best ways possible.

Same deliciously cheesy seasoning, only with maybe a touch more zing. 

Extremely light, crispy, airy, and flaky corn tortilla chips.  But, to top it off, also with some real corn flavor depth.

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

Chips discovered at 7-eleven; Addison, Illinois

Paqui Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: 7 Select – Smoked Gouda Kettle Style Potato Chips

Rating: ©-3/4 chips  (return to sender)

We picked up 7 Select’s Smoked Gouda Cheese Kettle Style Potato Chips on a recent stop at….. That’s right, you guessed it 7-Eleven.

What we wish we could say was that at a recent stop to 7-Eleven we happily did not pick up a bag of 7 Select’s Smoked Gouda Cheese Kettle Style Potato Chips….

Because these chips are B – A – D…..  Bad!

Similar to 7 Select’s Maple Bacon Potato Chips the chips suffer, actually fail, from an extremely heavy hand of salt.

Any thoughts of smoked Gouda cheese upon tossing a chip into the chompar are quickly obliterated by the true flavor of these chips – ocean water.

Maybe, just maybe, there is a hint of smoke flavor somewhere off in the distance.

The kettle chips themselves are decent enough, and certainly do their job – that is if there job is technically salt delivery.

Medium-thick cut, Solid crunch, but no potato flavor.

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

Discovered at 7-Eleven, Burr Ridge, Illinois

7-Eleven Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Poppin Popcorn – Texas Cheddar Habanero Popcorn

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips (lip-smacking)

We are all familiar with the occasional school fundraiser. Either the local kid stops by the Chip Review headquarters and asks us to buy a wreath, or a candle, to help pay for his trip to Mount Rushmore, or a coworker brings their kid’s fundraiser pamphlet into the office and simply plunks it on your desk to avoid the awkwardness of them asking you to buy some of their kid’s crappy treats to help their school afford the new football field.

Well, as you have probably guessed it, we scored this popcorn through a local fundraiser, and believe it or not, it was almost worth its over-inflated fundraiser price!

Now, we are fairly certain that this is no Non-GMO popcorn (NNGMO).  As the popcorn itself is HUGE!

As for the Texas Cheddar Habanero seasoning, well that is definitely the star of the show.

Ultra cheesy!  A tangy and salty cheddar cheese powder liberally coated every single kernel.

Poppin Popcorn was not joking about the habanero aspect, as this stuff did in fact bring the heat on the tail end.  We couldn’t actually taste any habanero, but we could feel it.

Most tasters agreed that this stuff was lip-smacking, and overall it tasted like an extra spicy cheddar buffalo seasoning – which paired very well with popcorn.

So, the next time your co-worker approaches you with their kid’s fundraiser packet let this be known that inside those pages there may in fact be a hidden gem that is practically worth the price!

Popcorn purchased from a school fundraiser

Poppin Popcorn Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Cheetos – Avocado Cheese (Japan)

Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips  (lip-smacking)

We sometimes wonder here at Chip Review if the Japanese population looks at our snack flavors – our Doritos Cool Ranch, our Cheetos Flamin’ Hot, and our Pringles Sour Cream & Onion – and thinks to themselves, wow, now those are those some REALLY WEIRD flavors….!?

Well, we’re betting that the same will be thought of these Avocado & Cheese flavored Cheetos here in our country!

Okay, we know what you are thinking “has Chip Review lost their minds?!? How could avocado cheese flavored Cheetos possibly be good??”  And, for many of you out there, these may in fact not taste very good.  But! There would be no denying that they are unique, and in a weird sorta way, we really dug them.

First of all, are avocados naturally sweet…?  No?  Are certain cheese?!?  We didn’t think so.  Which make us wonder where all of the sweetness is coming from because it is far and away the most predominant flavor on these Cheetos.  What the heck is that about?  Anyhoo, some of the tasters weren’t thrilled with the sweetness, but for those of us who did enjoy it, we really liked it.

Next came the salty-sort of funky-layer that may in fact be cheese, or at least some seasoning meant to represent a cheese flavor.  The seasoning also seems to encompass some sort of Worcestershire-Umami flavor layer.  Avocado? Who knows. There is a rich fatty smooth layer, but can’t quite say that we hit that vegetable layer.

At this point, some tasters began to declare these THE WORST CHEETOS EVER!

In other words, again, we repeat, these are not for everyone, but if you like your Cheetos flavored with sugar, Worcestershire, and tangy salt, well then, these may be for you!

Sorry everyone, hate us if you must (like the way some of our tasters hated these), but to some of us, these really are uniquely delicious!

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

BIJOU-REVIEW: G.H. Cretors – Chile Jalapeño White Cheddar Organic Popped Corn

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

We certainly would not consider ourselves pessimists here at Chip Review, but upon opening G.H.’s bag of popcorn to the left, we would also certainly call this bag more than half empty with popcorn, or should we say not nearly half full.

In G.H. Cretors’ defense , we’re sure that there is some sort of logistical transport reasoning behind their bag-to-popcorn-to-air ratio, but quite frankly we found this bag’s fill level pretty disappointing.

Luckily the bag was filled with some pretty tasty popcorn!

Large white fluffy popcorn kernels, coated in a savory, slightly funky, white cheddar cheese powder.

Despite the mention of two types of spicy ingredients – both generic “chile pepper”, in addition to jalapeño – we really didn’t get very much chile flavor, or heat from the popcorn.

The white cheddar cheese seasoning did a fairly good job of making up for the lack of heat.  A rich, and creamy, and tangy white cheese powder that sufficiently coated the popcorn.

Is this the greatest popcorn?  No.  Is it more than adequately eatable?  Yes.

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

Popcorn discovered at Whole Foods; Elmhurst, Illinois

G.H. Cretors Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

RATING: Lay’s Kettle Cooked Limited Edition Flavor – Spicy Chili & Cheese Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

As we thought to ourselves “Lay’s All New Limited Edition Spicy Chili & Cheese Kettle Cooked Potato Chips are a pretty darn tasty addition to the L.K.C. line-up….and yet, at the same time…..also very familiar.”

Apparently, a little bit too familiar.  A few minutes of Chip Review research and we discovered that a couple of years back we tasted and rated (but no review) Lay’s Kettle Cooked Spicy Cayenne & Cheese Potato Chips, or in other words, what we’re guessing were the SAME EXACT CHIPS!!  We can’t verify the accuracy of this statement for, but if we could locate the  Cayenne & Cheese list of ingredients we’re more than certain they would look exactly like THESE.  We mean come’on, both bags are using the SAME EXACT INGREDIENT PIC!  Bunch of kettle cooked, heavily seasoned potato chips, with a large block of white cheese, and a couple of red chili/cayenne peppers sitting directly in front.

So, long story short, we’ve eaten these chips before.  That being said, technically we did not review them the first go around, so we will take this time to scribe a few descriptive details regarding their flavor.

Lay’s Spicy Chili & Cheese seasoning is not lacking in flavor.  To more or less quote the great Junk Food Guy, these taste a lot like Spicy Nacho Cheese flavored Doritos did a bit too much mingling with Ruffles Sour Cream & Cheddar chips.  In other words, the seasoning has plenty of salty and tangy cheese flavor, a decent enough dash of chili pepper heat, and a surprisingly tasty splash of tart sour cream.  The flavor combo has been used plenty of times before, but that does not make it any less tasty.

All in all, tasty “NEW” limited RE-edition of Lay’s.  We’ll enjoy them while they last.

Chips discovered at Walmart; Villa Park, Illinois

Lay’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list