Cheese

REVIEW: Lesser Evil Chia Crisps – Super Savoury, Totally Greek Feta and Black Olive Baked Black Bean Chips

/ duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Lesser Evil Chia Crisps - Feta and Black Olive

Comments:

Now that’s a mouthful! And we’re not talking about the crisp-chips themselves!!  No, we are referring to the over-the-top, ultra descriptive, adjective laden packaging above!  As fellow abusers of the written word, we of course understand the importance of accurately illustrated communication, but when you start to use SO MANY descriptions to describe your crisps or chips, we begin to think that you are overcompensating for something!  Little flavor syndrome perhaps?!?

Luckily for all of us, Lesser Evil is actually very truthful, and quite accurate, with their verbiage.  Their Feta and Black Olive Chia Chips are definitely super savoury, totally Greek, and taste like black olives and feta cheese!  Although Lesser Evil is a bit deceptive by calling them ‘Chia Crisps’, when in fact the crisps are predominantly black bean based; but obviously ‘chia’ is the more trendy, “super food” ingredient these days, so they just want to showcase the fact that the crisps do indeed have chia in them!

The richly dark brown crisps are very thin and perfectly circular, with slightly rounded over edges, reminiscent of a Frisbee disc.  Their texture is crispy but definitely a touch dry, and dense.  They work perfectly fine as a healthier crunchy snack alternative, but they do not evoke any of the same rich, fatty, and satisfying mouth texture that traditionally fried potato and tortilla chips do.  We appreciate what they are offering, but wouldn’t ever choose these over “normal” chips for any reason.

The seasoning blend invokes many of those classically Greek flavors, and tastes unlike any other combo we have enjoyed before.  In fact, the most impressive aspect would be the simple fact that no other olive flavored chips (crisps) have ever really tasted so much like real olives!  Combined with a heavy white dusting of Feta cheese, and the mini discs are packed to the brim with briny, salty, rich and savoury notes!  If you like olives, and are on the lookout for healthier, flavorful snacks, then look no further than Lesser Evil’s Chia Crisps!

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

Discovered at T.J.Maxx; Lincoln Park – Chicago, Illinois

Lesser Evil Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Chex Chips – Cheddar Jalapeno

/ duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©-1/2 chips  (tolerable)

Chex Chips - Cheddar Jalapeno

Comments:

Most of us here at Chip Review are from the generation raised on homemade Chex Mix!  Not the Chex Mix that kids these days are growing up with, but the kind that was so deliciously saturated with unctuous amounts of butter and Worcestershire sauce, that it took the mix pieces forever to crisp back up again in the oven.  The O.M. – Original Mix!  Absolutely delicious!  Granted, many of us referred to this “classical” delicious mix as Doo Dads, rather than Chex Mix, however, that’s another story.

So, what exactly are Chex Chips?  Well, lets imagine that someone took all of the Chex pieces out of the Chex Mix, and this same someone then took each of those pieces and placed them under that laser from ‘Honey I Shrunk The Kids.  Not knowing how to accurately use the machine, rather than shrink the pieces they used the laser to enlarge the Chex pieces into giant-jumbo Chex pieces!  So large in fact, that they could be classified as Chex Chips!!

According to the Chex folks, if “unique is what you seek.  You’re about to experience a multigrain chip like no other.  A bigger, puffier version of the Chex square. You’ll love that unique pattern in a light and crunchy chip.”  In our opinion, the Chex Chips are not much different than most other puffed, or popped, multigrain chips currently on the market today.   They are airy, crisp, light, with a slightly melt-able texture, reminiscent of a good corn puff.  However, we think that Jack over at The Impulsive Buy said it best in his review of the chips that “the texture of Chex Chips is a wonderfully effective hybrid somewhere between the puffiness of Bugles and the crispiness of the late (and well missed) Doritos 3D. Much less flimsy than their breakfast cereal brethren.”

Unfortunately, these particular criss-crossed Chex Chips are not nearly as tasty as the Caramelized Onion flavor we  tasted before them.  It just seemed like from the very get to that the seasoning blend had some unusual flavor quality to it.  The cheddar jalapeno flavor definitely had a more peppery ratio than it did cheddar cheese.  In fact, the cheddar cheese aspect almost seemed muted, or at the very least, a timid afterthought when compared to the extra peppery jalapeno chile flavor.  We can’t even seem to pinpoint exactly what it is, but this flavor combo just do not work as well with the Chex Chips as the other two flavors that we have tried.

We don’t have anything else to say about that.  We are still more than happy to welcome Chex to the chip game, but we just plan on sticking with the Caramelized Onion 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

Chex Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list