REVIEW: Chef’s Shoppe – Wasabi & Soy Popcorn

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

What do we have here?  Yep, that’s right, another unique, startling and lip-smacking flavor from everyone’s favorite Warrenville Popcorn Store – Chef’s Shoppe!  In case you are unfamiliar with this great specialty cooking and food store (which would mean you haven’t read our reviews for their other fantastic flavors – Sriracha-Cheese and Spicy Beer Cheese – shame on you!), this shop also makes some of the best popcorn around!!  Edwardsville is the third oldest city in the state of Illinois.  And although technically a city in southwestern Illinois, Edwardsville is considered a part of the greater metro area of St. Louis.  So, we’re not sure if Edwardsville citizens cheer for the Blackhawks or the Blues, but we’re guessing that regardless of sports team loyalty, all Edwardsville-ians love themselves some Chef’s Shoppe popcorn!

So, how did this gourmet kitchen store get into the popcorn game?  According to the Chef Shoppe legend, and we have no reason to question it:

In May 2012 the Chef’s Shoppe expanded again, taking over the 2,500 square foot space adjacent to the existing business and adding popcorn.  But they didn’t start small – offering over 70 flavors of popcorn every day, the Chef’s Shoppe entered the popcorn scene in a big way. Scott, having officially retired after 32 years with AT&T the year before, is the head “popologist”.  With the help of his merry band of popping and coating specialists they turn out hundreds of gallons of popcorn every week.  ALL are made fresh in house – ALL are available to taste before you buy – ALL are so delicious that picking just one is nearly impossible.

Right from the get go, a potent blast of wasabi sets the flavor tone for this lip-smacking popcorn.  That undeniable wasabi burn clears the nasal passageway, and then lingers there for a while.  Not really sure if we can actually pinpoint any soy in the mix, but then again it is sort of tough with the barrage of wasabi slapping taste buds around!  The real kicker, or curve ball, in this flavor combination is the inclusion of white cheddar cheese. This cheese powder adds a dynamic facet to the flavor that is really unlike anything we have tasted before.  It sort of smooths out, or mellows, the wasabi just a little bit, but still allows the green root to do its intended job.

Not sure if we have brought this up before, but we love the Chef’s Shoppe technique for applying seasoning. Somehow they are able to cake the popcorn kernels with an almost wet slathering of seasoning that delivers this richness to the popcorn that our mouths enjoy very much!

In the end it is probably fair to say that we appreciate this flavor more than we actually loved eating it. It is certainly not a flavor of popcorn that we would want to sit down and enjoy a big bowl, or even a bag of.  This wasabi & soy is meant to be sampled, and maybe grazed upon in passing, but not eaten by the handful.  Either way, count us impressed by Chef’s Shoppe once again!

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

Popcorn provided to Chip Review by J & V for review

Chef’s Shoppe Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Hot-Headz – Chipotle Mustard Mildly Spiced Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©©-3/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

What flavor are these?

Are these Chicago Dog flavored?!?

Oh, Chipotle Mustard…huh?  Well, that is a unique new one, but I’m going to stand by my Chicago Dog flavor because that’s even more unique, and sounds delicious too, right?!?  Who’s with me?  (says one Chip Review taster as we sample Hot-Headz Chipotle Mustard Mild Chilli Chips)

Honestly, after we tasted a few more chips and thought about it for a minute, Chicago Dog flavor was not too far off from what these lip-smacking potato chips actually taste like.  You get a tiny touch of the hot dog meaty essence from the smoke of the chipotle chile.  There’s a good punch of chile heat, coming from a combination of the chipotle, and its un-smoked sibling the jalapeño chiles; both together providing the ample mouth burn that typically accompanies the sport peppers (pickled serranos) that come on a Chicago Dog.  Okay, so there may be no tomato, or celery salt, but there is actually a sprinkling of onion powder, so we can check that ingredient off the list as well.  And lastly, there is of course the star of the show (for these chips at least), a whole bunch of hot dog’s favorite yellow condiment MUSTARD!  So, maybe it is a little bit of a stretch to compare Hot-Headz chips to what we, and Anthony Bourdain call the best hot dogs in the country, but for those of us who know our Chi Dogs, the comparison is undeniable!!

Hot-Headz refers to the Chipotle Mustard flavor as the mildly spiced one within their potato chip line-up, but we’ll be the first to tell you that some of our tasters were feeling the burn from this “mild heat!”  First, the chips get you with a nice slap of that nasal-ly mustard burn.  Then, slowly but surely the chipotle (along with it’s unsmoked,  green, more vegetal version, the jalapeño) creeps up the back of the throat, and the tongue, and burns just a little…then a little more…and then, by the end, a good decent amount!  Heat seekers would not be floored by these chips, but they should at least acknowledge the heat, and even more importantly, they should appreciate the fantastic flavor!

The potato chips themselves are solid as well.  A little more toothsome than a “typical” kettle cooked potato chip.  And they don’t have that extra crispy-crisp to them, but more of a decently crispy crunch. Golden hue in color from the peanut oil, with a fairly nuetral potato canvas, perfect for flavor delivery!

Overall, just some really great chips from Hot-Heads!  Zingy, pungent, spicy, and a very flavorful combo!!  Now the question is, should we even try to attempt the chips they call Inferno Habanero?!?!

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 Hot-Headz for review

Hot-Headz Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Pringles Exclusive Flavor! – White Cheddar & Black Pepper

Rating: ©-1/2 chips  (return to sender)

We’re sorry Target, but we just have to say it, as far as Pringles Exclusive Flavors are concerned, you got stuck with the worst of the bunch (thus far at least)!  Seriously, it is one thing to have one good flavor, and one bad flavor, but for both of your Exclusive Flavors to ultimately be less than stellar is just, well, disappointing!!

We have to admit we were pretty excited for these as the cheddar & pepper combination is not one we have seen very much of.  In fact the only other example we can find would be Lay’s Kettle Cooked Lattice Cut’s version, which we thought were lip-smacking!

So, what went wrong Pringles?!?

First of all, other than a tiny black dot here, and an even tinier black dot there, the black pepper aspect of these Pringles is practically nonexistent.  Seriously, some of our tasters could not taste any (nor see any) at all, while others said that they did catch little hints of the slightly spicy and fragrant spice.  This black pepper seasoning was not reminiscent of Pringles regular Salt & Pepper Crisps.  Strike 1.

Even worse than the black pepper facet, was the seasoning combination used to represent the white cheddar cheese!  In one word – Eeewww!  Actually, three words – eeewww, yuck, eewww!!  The seasoning just tastes off.  Apparently, the combination of cheddar cheese, buttermilk, nonfat milk, sugar and citric acid does not sit well with our palates!!  First, a shock of sour hits the tongue, then a creamy-milky wave coats the mouth, and then finally at the tail end we actually taste something recognizable as cheddar cheese powder.  It is almost impressive how weird these taste!  Not our favorite Pringles to say the least.

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

Discovered at Target; Hillside, Illinois

Pringles Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Funyuns – Steakhouse Onion

Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips  (notable)

Rip open this bag and let the crunchy goodness of Funyuns Steakhouse Onion Flavored Rings make all your onion blossom dreams come true. Your taste buds will have no choice but to say, “THANK YOU!” Crunchy Rings of AWESOMENESS (these words are from the back of the Steakhouse Onion Funyuns bag)

Do we share this in this enthusiasm?

Maybe a little bit…

We’ll just get it out of the way and say that these are pretty good, and certainly not lacking in the flavor department.  The corn meal puffed onion rings are as crunchy as they ever are, BUT to be completely honest our “onion blossom dreams” have not come true (especially since our onion blossom dreams always include rainbows, pots of gold, and the occasional unicorn!!).

We just don’t really see the purpose of this flavor?!?  They taste very similar to original Funyuns with a sprinkling of muddled, generic seasoning on them.  Again, they are not bad, but they are unnecessary.  We simply feel like the only real reason for making a new version of a classic should be if you could enhance it in some way, or at the very least make such a difference that you can barely recognize the original  – neither of those two are apparent here!  The Steakhouse Onion seasoning basically just adds further onion flavor, a dash of garlic, traces of tomato, and a tiny smooch of heat on the finish.

If we had a choice, we would pick the Original Funyuns over these every time.  And, if we had another choice, we would pick both the Flamin’ Hot and Chile Limon versions over the Originals, probably because we really like both of them, but also because they provide an enhanced version of the Original!!  With the Funyuns Flamin’ version they were bright red, tangy & spicy, and with the Chile Limon, Funyuns took our taste buds on an exciting roller coaster of flavor that we had never ridden (eaten) before!

FUNYUNS – we are all for you giving us new flavors to try, but we want them to be just that – NEW!!  Not onion flavored onion rings!

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

Discovered at Walmart; Darien, Illinois

Funyuns Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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BIJOU-REVIEW: Lundberg Rice Chips – Smoky Maple

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

We spotted these intriguingly flavored ‘Smoky Maple’ rice chips just the other day while perusing the new Whole Foods in the neighborhood.

As soon as we tasted these thoughts of Kettle Brand’s Maple Bacon Potato Chips came flooding in, and come to think of it, ‘Smoky Maple’ would have been a much more appropriate flavor name for their chips as well!

Not sure if Lundberg’s Smoky Maple seasoning was simply better than Kettle Brand’s, or if this seasoning just worked better with the rice chips?  The kicker was probably the fact that these chips weren’t trying to proclaim bacon flavor, but rather just let us know that they had been kissed with a hint of smoke.  Combine that with a good splash of sweetness, and yep, smoky maple is what we tasted.

Overall, pretty darn tasty chips.  They had that usual grainy rice texture and consistency.  More body and chew then your typical tortilla chip.

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

Chips discovered at Whole Foods; Elmhurst, Illinois

Lundberg Family Farms Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Rocky Mountain Popcorn Sinfully Thin – SuperPop Popcorn (Herb & Spice with Kale & Pomegranate)

Rating: ©©© chips  (notable)

Herb, and spice, and kale, and pomegranate…huh???  Does that flavor combination sound appealing?!  And, even more importantly, does the combo sound appealing on popcorn?!?  Unusual?  Yes. Intriguing?  Sure!  Appealing?  Not so much!!

But wait, just when we thought this popcorn couldn’t possibly get any weirder, the flavor plot thickens.  A quick glance at the ingredients list on the back of the bag and we learn that this “SuperPop” flavor actually includes even more than the front of the bag initially reveals. Let’s see here, beyond the kale and pomegranate there is of course both garlic and onion (prerequisites for every seasoning since the beginning of time), as well as, dill, rosemary and celery seeds!! That’s right, just when we thought this flavor was weird enough already, it got weirder!!  We are 100% sure that it is safe for us to say that this is the only kale-pomegranate-garlic-onion-dill-rosemary-celery seed popcorn that we have ever, and will ever try!

Initial thoughts, no big surprise, we don’t like it!  The flavor just doesn’t jive with our taste buds.  Lets break it down.  The rosemary is very apparent right away, and then there is sort of a sour fruity note (pomegranate we assume) that encapsulates the palate. The garlic is also very apparent and seemed really out of place at first.  Not sure if we could actually taste any of the little green kale flecks scattered all over the kernels (but, regardless of actual taste, they did make us feel like we were eating healthy, so they did their presumed job).

As we continued our struggle of examining this popcorn something changed somewhere along the line.  Slowly, but steadily, the seasoning actually began to grow on us.  And, believe it or not, but by the time we reached the bottom the bag, we may have even said that we were practically enjoying this popcorn!  What happened?  Why did our opinion change?  We aren’t exactly sure.  Maybe our taste buds were so perplexed that they simply gave in!!  Please do understand that this flavor probably wouldn’t appeal to most, but there was just something about it that sort of worked on a really, really weird level.

As always we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree.  Let us know.

Popcorn discovered at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport

Rocky Mountain Popcorn Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Keogh’s – Atlantic Sea Salt & Irish Cider Vinegar Potato Crisps

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips (lip-smacking)

FIELD: Abbeyville

VARIETY: Lady Claire

COOKED BY: Gregor

We have never seen this before, at least we don’t think we have??  Plus, we didn’t notice it on the first bag of Keogh’s delicious Shamrock and Sour Cream Crisps we tried earlier this year, but apparently on each bag of Keogh’s Potato Crisps they inform us of where the potatoes we are crunching on were grown, what variety they are, and even who cooked them for us!  If that isn’t attention to detail, and just plain old cute, we don’t know what is.

For those of you who by chance did not read our first review, here is a little back story on this wonderful potato crisp company:

Keogh’s Farm is a family owned and run potato growing and crisping business based in North County Dublin, an area famous for producing Ireland’s finest potatoes.  Keogh’s has been farming the rich fertile lands in this area for over 200 years and have recently set up a “crisping house” on the farm…now producing Ireland’s only “hand cooked on the farm” artisan potato crisps.

Launched in 2012 to celebrate St Patricks Day, Keogh’s Shamrock and Sour Cream potato crisps combine the delicious tangy taste of Sour Cream with the freshness of traditional Irish Shamrock. Our Shamrock is grown in Ballinskelligs Co. Kerry by Livingshamrock. This area also produces the fresh Irish Shamrock which is presented to the American president on St Patrick’s Day! www.keoghs.ie

These are delicious salt & vinegar chips, sorry crisps.  But, they are very different from what we typically know and recognize as salt & vinegar flavored chips here in the U.S.  Here in the states, chips companies seem to usually go with the shock value vinegar flavor, over any attempt at giving us true vinegar flavor.  They like to slap our taste buds right across their flavor cheeks with a tongue tingling citric acid sour bang-bang-boom-pow!  All that being said, this country’s chip consumers must love it, because those companies just keep seasoning those salt & vinegar chips the same way!  Or, is it that they simply know nothing else?!  Have they never tasted salt & vinegar chips that actually taste like real vinegar?

Either way, let us get back to the point.  Keogh’s Atlantic Sea Salt & Irish Cider Vinegar Potato Crisps taste like they have been dipped in rich and tangy vinegar, and would be a great example to try for anyone who has never tasted vinegar chips that actually taste like vinegar!

Here’s an observation….salt and vinegar chips from other countries (countries other than the USA), tend to lean on a sweeter, tangy vinegar flavor than our country.  The good ole U.S. of A. likes to slap our taste buds right across the cheeks with a tangy-sour bang-bang, boom-pow!! Chips made in the U.S. like to use sooooo much acid that our tongues feel abused afterwards!!  Keogh’s seasoning is fantastic!  It encompasses a certain richness, a funk, a level of real sweet and tangy vinegar flavor that just tastes authentic, and delivers none of that acidic, tongue numbing!  Apparently, this delicious seasoning was developed by using dried cider vinegar, dried malt vinegar, and dried malt vinegar!! Three types of REAL vinegar – dried – meaning condensed and enhanced, and then sprinkled all over the tasty potato crisps!

Speaking of Keogh’s potato crisps… they are nothing short of lip-smacking themselves!  Varying sizes of rustic, skin on, bright yellow hued fried potato slices!  Medium thick, with good potato flavor, and a crispy kettle cooked consistency!  Maybe a little greasy, but nothing that hinders their clean and neutral flavor!  We would welcome these fantastic Irish crisps anytime stateside!!

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

Crisps provided to Chip Review by Keogh’s for review

Keogh’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

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©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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