Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips (notable)
Chips discovered at Mariano’s; Westchester, Illinois
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Style / Type
Chip Review’s Honorable Mentions – 2016
25 Chips to Christmas – 10 Honorable Mentions
These chips nearly made our Top 25 of the Year, and deserve some recognition too!! (alphabetical order)
“If there is one thing we want you to take away from this review it is that these chips are savory. SUPER-DUPER SAVORY.”
“…leave it to a small town Minnesota gas station to surprise us with these ‘new’ (to us at least) Hot and Spicy Fries! And to that, all we really have to say is ‘Chip lovers start your fry chompin’ engines!!’”
“While these chips may include (although we cannot confirm) many of the same spices found in Old Bay… they also include a touch of heat to spice things up, and a good dash of tangy cheese powder to smooth things out. In other words, they improve upon the iconic East Coast seasoning!”
Ikea – Potatischips Satade (Salted Potato Chips) & Potatischips GRÄDDFIL LÖK (Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips)
“It seems like so many people who shop at Ikea always make a stop at the cafeteria for a bit, but we will be making a decision to grab a bag of these prior to our future shopping excursions!”
“The Sweet Chilli & Irish Red Pepper seasoning is fantastic! Love, love, love the addition of ginger and coriander, and also what appears to be licorice root – all adding flavor notes that are uncommon in most seasoning combos.”
Lieber’s – Barbecue Potato Chips
“Having been in this game for quite some time now, we can tell you that it is a very rare occurrence when we grab a $1 dollar buyout special bag of chips on the way up to the cash register and it turns out that those chips are actually tasty.”
Meijer – Grilled Pineapple and Jalapeño Potato Chips
“Who knew that grilled pineapple and jalapeño worked well together?? Well, apparently anyone who has enjoyed one of these pizzas. Or, anyone who loves some good al pastor tacos with some spicy jalapeños in there, that’s who.”
Rachel’s – Sriracha Sour Cream Gourmet Kettle Chips
“Wow Rachel, been a long time. And what’s this…you’ve changed your look, haven’t you? Well, just wanted to let you know that we like what you’ve done with your style!”
Ten Acre – The Day Sweet and Sour Became Friends Hand Cooked Crisps
“Probably the best way that we can describe this seasoning to you would be picture a salt & vinegar chip crossed paths with a ranch flavored chip who had brushed up next to a BBQ flavored chip.”
Uncle Ray’s – Roasted Garlic Potato Chips
“We can really appreciate the simplicity of these potato chips. There is not one shred of doubt regarding what the intention of these chips really is. Plain and simple, garlic flavored potato chips.”
**Chip Review’s Top 25 list of the Year consists of chips that we tasted and reviewed during the 2016 calendar year for the first time. The chips are not necessarily new to the industry, but they were new to Chip Review in 2016!
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RATING: Neal Brothers Foods – Extremely Tasty Maple Bacon Kettle Chips
Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips (notable)
Chips provided to Chip Review by Neal Brothers for review
Neal Brothers Foods Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
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BIJOU-REVIEW: Perri – Thai Rings (Oriental Spice Flavor)
Rating: ©©-3/4 chips (tolerable)
Yep, that’s right, these unusual Thai Rings are another unusual snack from the box full of different chips, and chip like snacks, that we were sent from our new friends at MunchPak.
And wouldn’t you know it, they of course hail from none other than…..that’s right….
Ireland!?! Really?
Well, that may just explain why they did not really taste anything reminiscent of actual Thai flavors.
Not that the snack rings were bad necessarily, they just did not taste anything like the best Thai food, or Thai chips, that we have tried over the years.
The rings sort of reminded us of a smaller, and denser, version of Funyuns. Easy to pop a few in and crunch’em down.
The seasoning though, was just pretty generic. A lot of sweet, mingling with a bit of indistinguishable chili heat.
Thai Rings provided to Chip Review by MunchPak for review
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
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BIJOU-REVIEW: Pretzel Crisps Limited Batch – Bacon Habanero
Rating: ©©©© chips (lip-smacking)
We have wanted to try these new Pretzel Crisps ever since The Impulsive Buy spotted them on Safeway shelves some four months ago….
We mean come’on – BACON & HABANERO?!?! Yes & Yes – Please!!
In fact, these aren’t the first bacon habanero flavored chips that we have tried. Last year Late July’s lip-smacking tortilla chips wowed us.
Let’s hope that this flavor combo becomes a new standard among all chip companies – because there could be nothing wrong with that!
Smokey, salty, delicious bacon essence exudes from the Pretzel Crisps.
The flavor is sort of reminiscent of barbeque seasoning, and we are surprised to see that Pretzel Crisps has never offered the classic flavor as an option….
Unfortunately, similar to Late July’s chips, these Pretzel Crisps suffer from a case of no-habanero-flavor-idous. Maybe, just maybe, we get a little bit of the chili flavor deep behind the bacon, and there is a subtle burn when all is said and done.
But really, this seasoning is all about the bacon.
The crisps are tasty, and salty bacon flavor works well with the pretzels (not quite as well as Late July’s corn-ful tortilla chips), but we still really wish that we could taste some habanero!
Another welcome addition to Pretzel Crisps’ line-up.
Crisps discovered at Jewel Osco; Westmont, Illinois
Pretzel Crisps Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
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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
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BIJOU-REVIEW: The Better Chip – Radish Chia Tortilla Chips
Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips (notable)
Do not adjust your dial, or screen….
It is true, your eyes are not deceiving you….
These are in fact RADISH flavored chip!
Now, we’ve been in the chip game a long, long time, but this is definitely a new first. Sure, there have been plenty of other weird flavors out there; we’re looking at you beet, and cappuccino, and feijoada, and marmite, but radish is right up there with the weirdest of them!
Unfortunately, we have tasted much better chips from The Better Chip company.
Now, these are not bad tortilla chips by any means. They deliver a rustic, course ground corn tortilla texture that mingles with the little nutty pop of the chia seeds.
They also provided a perfectly ample amount of salt and garlic seasoning.
What the chips did not do was exude any sort of radish AT ALL! Nada! Nunca!! Nothin’!!!
To say that we were disappointed by these would be absolutely correct. We were really hoping to taste some pungently spicy radish flavored tortilla chips. Alas, we will just have to wait for some better chips to actually do that!
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Discovered at Byerly’s; St. Cloud, Minnesota
The Better Chip Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Chip Review 