BIJOU-REVIEW: Lay’s Stax – Hot’n Spicy Barbecue

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

These are just plain old delightfully eatable.

Nothing mind blowing, and nothing out of the ordinary. Just exactly what Lay’s said they should be, and what we were expecting they would be.

The barbecue half of the flavor equation stuck to a traditional sweet recipe that was heavy on the brown sugar and molasses, while also providing just enough tomato powder to drive home that BBQ essence.

As for the Hot’n Spicy half, well it’s certainly nothing that is going to have you reaching for milk, or even wiping a drip of sweat from your brow, but it is present in both chipotle chile pepper (also providing that smoky background note), and red pepper extracts.

Quick couple of questions for you out there:

1. Why does it seem like chip companies feel it necessary to always use two adjectives to describe their chips?  More importantly, in instances where those two adjectives are the practically, if not, exactly same??  Is it simply to reiterate something?
2.    And what is with the multitude of different spellings for the word: BBQ, Bar-B-Q, Barbecue, Barbeque??  Is there actually an original one, or a correct one?

As always, these are our thoughts, along with the thoughts of another, and we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Stax discovered at Walmart; Villa Park, Illinois

Lay’s Stax Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Pringles Exclusive Flavor! – Cheesy Quesadilla

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

Sorry Walgreens!!  But, you can go ahead and chock up one more abysmal addition to Walgreens/Pringles Exclusive Flavor line-up!  Further solidifying Walgreen’s last place position among all Pringles Exclusive Flavor holders.

Personally, we here at Chip Review enjoy our quesadillas the good old fashioned way, solo de queso.  Maybe, if we are feeling spunky, we’ll add some sliced jalapeños, or crunchy chicharrón in there, along with some cilantro of course; but for the most part, we love them al naturale – cheese with more CHEESE.

Soooo, that being said, you can only imagine our surprise, and ultimately our disappointment, to find that the single most significant ingredient in a quesadilla (see paragraph above) was completely missing from the list of ingredients on this new Pringles flavor called Cheesy Quesadilla.

Yep, that’s right, NO CHEESE!  In other words Pringles is 100% lying to us by calling this flavor “Cheesy Quesadilla”.  To make matters worse it appears that Pringles has just taken a mish-mash of different seasonings, ie. tomato powder, garlic powder, sugar, MSG, buttermilk, onion powder, and sour cream; plus then a handful of other tough to pronounce ingredients that probably really drive home how completely un-cheesy these Cheesy Quesadilla Pringles really are!

We’re just going to leave you with that.  We’re not going to tell you a single thing about what these new exclusive Pringles actually taste like (*hint: they do not taste anything like any cheesy quesadillas that we have ever eaten).

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

Discovered at Walgreens; Hillside, Illinois

Pringles Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Buck Wild – Chocolate Banana Snack Mix

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

Okay, we really didn’t mean to judge a book by its cover, or in this case a snack mix by its flavor, but we’ll admit it, our initial thoughts regarding this stuff had bad idea written all over it!  No seriously, small letters, right there in the bottom left hand corner of the bag.  Oh, you’re actually looking for it?  What’s that, you still can’t find it??  Well, you just keep looking, and we’ll just continue on.

Buck Wild’s Chocolate Banana Mix includes: Banana Chips, Chocolate Granola, Pretzel Sticks, and Little Chocolate (what they are calling) Cookies.

Are you thinking that this is an odd mix combination?  Well, we are way ahead of you!  But, we’re happy to tell you that the combination of textures and flavors actually works really well!

Right away our mouths recognized the classic sweet and salty juxtaposition.  Certainly more sweet than salt, but the deeper we dug into the bag, the more salty the combo became.

None of the four ingredients were really anything special on their own, but to be completely honest, each time we crunched on a handful of the pieces our mouths were deliciously intrigued.

So, we are here to tell you, don’t judge a mix by its flavor!

P.S., we just noticed the other day that you can actually pick up a bag of this mix at Starbucks locations now.  We’re thinking coffee may go very well with this odd sweet and salty combination.

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

Mix provided to Chip Review by Buck Wild for review

Buck Wild Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Cabana – Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips

Rating: ©©-3/4 chips  (tolerable)

Don’t you just hate it when your first impression becomes obliterated by your last?  Complete 180.  Well, that’s what we’ve got here.

Everything started out just perfectly as we reached in to grab a few of Cabana’s thin and large potato chips.  They delivered a perfectly light crisp, with loads of real potato flavor.

But, when it came to the sour cream and onion seasoning, well, that’s when things made a turn for the worse.

Strong punch of pungent onion, with a salty sour splash of cream, but then…what’s that…..sweet sugar?!  An uncomprimisingly sweet layer that completely throws the classic flavor combination out of whack!  Sweet & Sour Cream & Onion?  Doesn’t have a nice ring to it, and nor do we love it!

Weird and off-putting.  We’re going to stay away from these ones.

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Art’s & Mary’s – Hot ‘N Zesty Jalapeño Home Style Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©©© chips  (“A” list)

It has probably been over a decade ago now since we first, and last, crossed crunchy paths with the legendary – (that’s right legendary, in our books at least, if you’ve tried them, then probably yours as well) – Art’s & Mary’s Hot ‘N Zesty Jalapeño Home Style Potato Chips.  Honestly, we were sort of anxiously worried to taste these chips again.  Maybe our memory from ten years ago isn’t all it is cracked up to be, and A&M’s chips aren’t really that great…  Or, maybe our personal tastes have simply changed so much that chips that we once loved, no longer register as great any longer…

Well, by the good grace of J&V, we here at Chip Review are beyond ecstatic to report that A&M’s Jalapeño chips are not only just as amazingly fantastic as we remember them being a decade ago, but they may in fact be even better!!  It only took the crunch of one chip for us to confirm and re-solidify Art’s & Mary’s position on Chip Review’s Top 5 Jalapeño Flavored Chip of all-time.

Art’s & Mary’s Homestyle, aka Kettle Cooked, Tater Chips are probably the perfect example of what we want in kettle cooked potato chips.  Medium-thickness, really rigid, perfectly crunchy, a tad toothsome, and altogether fantastic.  But, as perfect as the chips themselves are, our most favorite aspect of these chips is the jalapeño seasoning.  And we are not just talking about the chili heat that these deliver, although that they most certainly do!  No, we are also talking about the depth, and complexity, and cohesiveness that this seasoning recipe resonates using a combination of jalapeño, garlic, onion, and citric acid!

We could go on and on about what makes these chips great, but, let’s just say that we looooove them!  They are easily some of our all-time favorites.  If you ever find yourself driving through Doo-Dah, Kansas, we suggest you make a bit stop at the local grocery store and pick yourself up a bag or two of these fantastic chips.  In fact, while you are there grab us a few bags as well please!!

Chips provided to Chip Review by J & V for review

Art’s & Mary’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Buck Wild – Roasted Garlic Popcorn

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

Time to go BUCK WILD again!
There’s no denying it, that is just fun to say.

A few weeks ago we reviewed Buck Wild’s Chipotle Cheddar Popcorn, and thought it was pretty good, fortunately the Roasted Garlic is even better.

Do you like garlic?  Okay.  But, do you like lots and lots of garlic?  You do?  Perfect, you may pass.

Here’s one of those flavors where there is no question about, or denying of, what flavor is being represented.  The popcorn tastes like roasted garlic – plain and simple.

But….there’s always a “but” right?  But, the flavor depths do not stop at roasted garlic alone.  There also appears to be this somewhat creamy, and certainly rich, flavor layer that according to the list on the back is none other than popcorn’s best friend – BUTTER.

The Buck Wild popcorn kernels are irregular with some big, and some little, some uniformly round, while others were oddly shaped.  The kernels had a solid body delivering a toothsome bite, while still providing a light and crispy freshness.

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

Buck Wild Popcorn provided to Chip Review by Buck Wild for review

Buck Wild Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: The Little Kernel – Pink Himalayan Salt Mini Popcorn

Rating: ©©© chips  (tolerable)

What a cute little colonel kernel.  Waiving his cute little flavor flag, on his cute pink bag.

And you know what?  The popcorn itself is actually cute and little.  The bright white miniature kernels are probably one half the size of a traditional popcorn kernel.

But, really we don’t get it.  Or, let’s just say we aren’t falling for the kernel’s cute little smile, and cute little kernels.

The mini popcorn just seems like one more gimmick to trick us into buying another new product on the market.

The popcorn itself is alright, but nothing special. Light and crispy kernels, with a hint of olive oil flavor, but definitely lacking in salt content.  We would have really liked more seasoning.

Getting back to that “we don’t get it” mentioned above.  Popcorn is already a snack where a handful of it can be picked up and tossed into your chomper.  So, why would it be necessary, or for any reason practical, to make it any smaller?  It is not as if you are taking kettle cooked potato chips, and making them miniature so we can cram an entire handful into our chip eaters, rather than grabbing one or a couple of chips and crunching them.  In other words – we just don’t get it.

Popcorn discovered at Mariano’s; Westchester, Illinois

The Little Kernel Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list