REVIEW: Neal Brothers Foods – Extremely Tasty Spicy Srirachup Kettle Chips

October 26, 2016October 25, 2016 / duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips (lip-smacking)

For many of you out there, we’re willing to go out on a limb and guess that your all-time favorite, red colored condiment, is the same as it was when you were a child. You know what we are talking about, that french fry dipping, meat loaf topping, red squeeze bottle filled with that sweet, smooth paste from your past, as well as your present.

For a certain one of us here at Chip Review, ketchup was never a staple of his childhood. In fact, he wouldn’t touch the stuff, or any red sauce for that matter. Let’s put it this way, he never even tried PIZZA until he was TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD!!?? And yes, he now knows that this was one of his life’s biggest mistakes, and he has been trying to make up for it ever since.

Okay, so what’s the point? Well, now that he does enjoy red colored condiments and sauces of all types, he has realized that he hates ketchup with a passion. To him, ketchup just seems like a horribly sweet, candy colored condiment, most likely designed to get children to consume vegetables. Fortunately for him, ketchup flavored chips for the most part are usually rather tasty. And just FYI, overall our favorite red colored condiment here at Chip Review is Original Tabasco (okay reddish), but Huy Fong’s Sriracha, and all of its versatility, ain’t too shabby either.

Which brings us to the review at hand – Neal Brothers Spicy Srirachup Kettle Chips. That’s right. Sriracha and Ketchup flavored potato chips!! You know what that means don’t you? The best of both worlds! Sriracha for those of us who like a mildly sweet, definitely tangy, garlic heavy, decently spicy, Thai chili hot sauce; and ketchup for those of us who still like to eat as if we are 5 years old….just kidding! Ketchup for those of us who like a sweet-salty-tomato-y sauce that we have been enjoying for years and years.

Earlier this week we told you about Neal Brothers lip-smacking Montreal Steak Spice kettle chips, and we are happy to report that their Spicy Srirachup kettle chips are lip-smacking as well! We wouldn’t say that they are quite as dynamically delicious as the Montreal Steak Spice, but we could also see a lot of people liking the Sriracha Ketchup even more.

First and foremost, the chips are tangy, tangy, tangy. Lots of acid or vinegar, which sounds about right as both of the red condiments do have a tang to them. Next, we tasted a good dose of sriracha’s garlic and ketchup’s tomato. Lastly, a decent level of chili heat came creeping in and rounded the whole flavor combo out. We were very thankful and pleased that the seasoning stayed away from ketchup’s too sweet aspect.

Once again Neal Brothers’ medium-thick cut, extra crunchy, not greasy at all, kettle cooked potato chips pair nicely with their seasoning.

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 by Neal Brothers for review

Neal Brothers Foods Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Nathan’s Famous – Classic Hot Dog Potato Chips

September 3, 2016September 2, 2016 / duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips (lip-smacking)

If you really want to know what these new Nathan’s Classic Hot Dog Flavor Potato Chips taste like just run on down to your local dog joint and ask for a dog with the classic Nathan’s condiment combo of ketchup, mustard, and relish. And from what we taste, maybe heavy on the mustard. If you are fans of hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, and relish, then you are going to love these chips! Well, that is as long as you are also fans of fried, sliced potatoes, better known as – CHIPS!!

If you are like us, then maybe you first became acquainted with Nathan’s and their famous hot dogs through a decades old eating contest that became a worldwide phenomenon when a certain small, Japanese, professional food eater completely obliterated the competition in, and along with it, everything we thought we knew about competitive food eating!! In 2001, Takeru Kobayashi consumed 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes! This doubled what anyone previously had ever consumed in a Nathan’s contest. People became fascinated by this small Japanese guy who could eat more dogs than anyone else. And as they say, the rest was history.

Getting back to Nathan’s Hot Dog flavored potato chips…. First of all, they are instantly recognizable as Hot Dog flavored chips. There is no doubt about what the seasoning tastes like. A little salty-smoky, a good helping of pungent yellow mustard, a touch of sweet ketchup, and some background notes of tangy relish. That being said, we of course knew what these chips were prior to eating them. If we would have blind taste tested them would we have gotten the same results? We can’t be sure, but we think that we may just have.

Do we actually taste meat? No, not necessarily. But do you ever really taste hot dog meat flavor when you put any condiments onto it? For the most part the dog is there for texture and substance. FYI – we did not get any real hot dog texture with these chips – THANKS GOODNESS!!!!

The potato chips themselves were quite tasty as well. Light and crispy, thinner cut, slightly greasy, in a good way, potato chips.

Our only real gripe with Nathan’s Classic Hot Dog Flavor Potato Chips is that they do not remind us of the dogs we are used to in the Chicago area. The Chicago Depression dogs or char dogs that we love! They are missing a few of our favorite key components (ie. pickles, raw onions, sport peppers & celery salt). Once you’ve tried one of these, there is no going back to just ketchup, mustard and relish!

Those are our thoughts. Let us know what you think below.

Chips provided to Chip Review by Nathan’s Famous for review

Nathan’s Famous Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Mr. Snaki – Maczugi (Ketchup)

March 28, 2016March 27, 2016 / duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©© chips (Notable)

OH NO IT’S BIG SCARY MR. SNAKI! AND HE HAS KETCHUP!!!

Okay, so we have tried one other snack from this Mr. Snaki in the past, and we’ll admit that there’s a possibility, just maybe, that we did not do as much research as we probably should have prior to posting. See, we assumed that Oczaki was the name of the snack flavor – Peanut. But, as it turns out, with this newest snack we have discovered that Mr. Snaki’s Maczugi does not describe the flavor of Ketchup, but rather translates into the English word “club”. Which we are assuming is meant to describe the shape of the snack that Mr. Snaki is so angrily charging us with. Which would mean that the other Mr. Snaki – Oczaki – snack that we have tried actually describes the puff ball eyes…our apologies for any confusion. We need to sharpen up on our Polish.

First, the positive: It is undeniable that these taste like ketchup. Sweet, sweet tomato, with the slightest hint of vinegar. In fact, it is uncanny how much these taste exactly like ketchup (in other words, if you are a ketchup hater like some of us here at Chip Review, don’t say we didn’t warn you!).

As for Mr. Snaki’s crunchy corn clubs, well, they are not as accurately amazing as their seasoning. These Maczugi are very dense. For a split second they hint at delivering Cheetos’ light, and airy, and crispy texture, but instead they simply offer a very solid crunch, that then fades into a weirdly heavy, sort of chewy, mouth texture. They certainly do not melt away like most of the delicious corn crunchies, or puffs, that we enjoy here in the U.S.

So, if you are a big fan of ketchup flavored snacks then you may very well like these, but we’re going to keep searching and see what else this black, furry-face, Mr. Snaki has to offer.

Discovered at Lassak Market & Deli; Willowbrook, IL

Mr. Snaki’s Official Webite

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

RATING: Roundy’s – All Dressed Up Potato Chips

May 29, 2015May 30, 2015 / duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips (lip-smacking)

We don’t typically review or rate generic grocery store brands but this flavor was so unique and so delicious (apparently, a very popular Canadian flavor), that we just had to rate them. Plain and simple, we would describe these as ultra-vinegary, sweet and salty, ketchup chips!

Chips discovered at Mariano’s; Westchester, IL

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Goldbaum’s – Snap Stix Let’s Get Saucy Tangy Ketchup!

January 10, 2015January 10, 2015 / duthow / Leave a comment

Goldbaum’s Snap Stix just might be the perfect crunchy snack for kids. First of all, kids love to snack, these are a snack – check. The Snap Stix are on the healthier end of the snack spectrum, parent approved – check, check. Kids love fun and interactive things to snack on, such as long, skinny, crunchy, potato Stix – check, check, check. And from what we know, most kids really, really love ketchup – CHECK!

Oh, we must say that these are quite ingenious!! What’s more classic than fries and ketchup? It is a time tested and proven combination. Personally some of us at Chip Review actually despise ketchup. Just can’t stand it!. However, being the professionals that we are, we are able to put our grievances aside, and certainly recognize a great idea, and product, when we see (TASTE) one!!

Back to that classic combination of fries and ketchup. The sweet and tangy tomato ketchup mingles with the snappy potato (fry shaped) Stix very well – as it should. The seasoning is on the lighter side, and could probably benefit from a little more salt, but it definitely, without a doubt, provokes thoughts of a slightly sweet, and tangy ketchup. The potato Snap Stix are light, crispy, and addictive. Before we knew it, half the bag had disappeared, and our stomachs didn’t even feel a dent. The Snap Stix had a hole running through them lengthwise, like a tube, probably adding to the light, crispiness.

Plain and simple, these are fun and easy to eat. Who wouldn’t enjoy eating these?! Heck, even those of us who don’t like ketchup, enjoyed crunching on these!

As always, these are our thoughts. Agree or disagree, make sure to let us know.

Stix provided to Chip Review by Goldbaum’s for review

Goldbaum’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)