REVIEW: Hometown Bagel – Chicago Style Jalapeño Bagel Chips

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

We’ve been wanting, and meaning (OK, yearning) to try these Bagel Chips for a long, long time, but for one reason or another, just hadn’t gotten around to finally making the purchase – UNTIL NOW.

Chicago may not be known (by many of you ) as a “bagel city”, but don’t let your unawareness fool you.  Of course, Chicago may not be as well known as New York City or Montreal, but we do have a bit of a bagel renaissance, or movement, going on in the Windy City right now as we write this!  Superb bagel spots like Reno, Brobagel, Craft and Great American Bagel Bakery are firing up some exquisite examples of the chewy bread specimens!

So, what happens when Hometown Bagel decides to take some of those delicious bagels, slice them into thin bite size disks, toasts them, and scatters them with just enough salt to solidify their chip declaration?  Well, plain and simple, some lip-smacking bagel chips!

The Chicago Style Bagel Chips are very minimal, and concise with their ingredients – jalapeño, salt, bagel, which results in simple, but delicious flavors!  If you are like us, then you’ve probably enjoyed a jalapeno bagel (or five, or ten) from time to time.  We simply love the way that the small pieces of jalapeño are scattered throughout the bagel body, adding those spicy, and slightly vegetal notes to excite our taste buds!  Well, these bagel chips deliver those same flavors, only in a slightly tamed down, crunchier and saltier version.

The chips themselves are roughly two, maybe three, inches in diameter, which begs the question, what tiny little bagels is Hometown Bagel using for these chips??  And, probably our only problem with them is that despite their relatively thin bagel chip cut, when we tried to eat a lot of them in one sitting, their bready essence was just too dense and heavy.  Certainly not as light and crispy as typical potato or corn chips.  In other words, we couldn’t snack on as many of them as we would have liked to!!

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

Discovered at Pete’s Market Fresh; Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois

Hometown Bagel Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

25 Chips to Christmas….

#17

The Original Saratoga Chips – Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Potato Chips

Original Review Here

Oh Mr. Crum, we are just happy that you were crabby, and that you decided to slice those potatoes paper thin, and fry’em up into crunch potato slices!!  Well, we’re glad that only the product caught on, and the old description didn’t stick, otherwise we would have had to call ourselves – Crunch Potato Slices Review!!

REVIEW: Trader Joe’s – Kettle Popped Sweet & Salty Whole Grain Popcorn Chips with Chia Seeds, Flax Seeds, Whole Quinoa & Sunflower Seeds

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

Well, if that isn’t the longest snack title in the history of the snack universe then we don’t know what we are snalking (snack talking) about!!

Similar to Trader Joe’s other relatively recently released chips (South African Style Seasoning), these chips are sporting a sleek jet-black packaging; (proving one thing for certain – that if we see a new salty snack at Trader Joe’s, and it comes in a shiny black bag, then we are all over that like ornaments on a Christmas Tree).  Seriously though, could Trader Joe’s possibly fit any more words, with any more different fonts, onto this packaging?!?  Actually, it does look like there is a tiny bit of room  under the swoosh directly below sunflower seeds…

The kettle popped popcorn chips remind us a lot more of those good old fashioned puffed rice cakes, than most of today’s more popular popped chips.  You know the ones that parents of the 80’s tucked into their kids’ lunchboxes?  But before any of you shrug your face in disgust at those crumbly, styrofoam textured discs, we simply meant that Trader Joe’s popcorn chips seem a lot more like they are pieces of popcorn that have been pressed and formed together to make a thin rustic chip, rather that somehow poppped in a magical hyperbaric chip champer!

Visually, these chips are quite interesting.  Extremely grainy.  We could actually see the flax and sunflower seeds scattered throughout the mostly yellow popcorn discs.  We can only assume that the quinoa has actually been pulverized and mixed into the chips somewhere because otherwise those little grains would be breaking some teeth!  The addition of those different grains and seeds (besides for their heath benefits) adds a nice textural variance with lots of little crunchies, and at the same time, adding some delicious nutty background notes.  The sea salt and cane sugar dusting is ample enough to exude that classic kettle corn sweet and salty pairing.  Weirdly though, both of those white seasonings have been so finely ground that it looked more like the chips had been sprinkled with confectioner sugar or dandruff, than normal salt and cane sugar.

Overall, these are quite impressive, and certainly delicious.  Another fine example of Trader Joe’s unique selection of salty (and sweet) snacks!

These are our thoughts, agree or disagree, make sure to let us know!

Chips discovered at Trader Joes; La Grange, Illinois

Trader Joe’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

RATING: Mello’s – Chicago Style Cheezy Caramel Popcorn Mix

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips (notable)

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Cobs – Cheddar Cheese Popcorn

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

We often joke around these parts that we should maybe change our name to Popcorn Review due to all of the popcorn we review.  Well, that’s not going to happen.  First of all that sounds like a lot of work, and like our friend Mike always used to say “effort given is energy wasted.”  And more importantly Popcorn Review doesn’t have a good ring to it.  Four syllables just seems like one too many.  We could shorten it to Pop Review, but then people may think we review sodas?!  Nope, we are going to stick with what works, and remain Chip Review until there are no more chips to review (or popcorn for that matter!).

We’re pretty sure that Cobs Popcorn is the first snack that we’ve ever reviewed from way down under.  And if these cheddar cheese kernels are any indication of the amazing quality coming out of Australia, then we may just have to take a snacking voyage to the sunburnt country!!

Our very first stop on that voyage would be to pick up another bag or ten of Cobs Natural Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, because it is truly fantastic.  Like we’ve already made mention, we taste A LOT of popcorn around here, and this Aussie treasure is up there among the best!  In fact, Cobs cheddar cheese may very well make our Top 5 short list of popcorn, and probably our end of year, best of 2014 too….do we hear a new list in the works (stay tuned!)?!

Cobs all natural popcorn kernels are on the smaller end of the spectrum, with a deliciously simple, sort of burnt-nutty essence to them.  They remind us of the popcorn that dad used to make at the hunting shack on top of the stove, the old school way!  The rustic kernels pair perfectly with Cobs lighter dusting of salty cheddar cheese.  The orange-ish colored seasoning has a nice tang to it, but does not distract from the true star of the show – which would be Cobs delectably all-natural kernels!!

Plain and simple, this popcorn is truly Cob-tastic!!  Or, as Cobs apparently likes to call it – COBSMACKING!  Purely Cobsmacking!  I’m Cobsmacked!  Cobsmack me now!  Naturally Cobsmacking!  And….Cobsmacking-ly good!!!

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

Popcorn discovered at World Market; Oak Brook, Illinois

Cobs Popcorn Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: RW Garcia Tortatos – Original

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

Who the heck is RW Garcia you ask? Well, apparently RW Garcia is a family owned and operated artisan maker of high quality organic and all natural corn-based snacks that was founded in 1982!  Nineteen eighty-two?!?  That’s a long time in crunchy chip years!

Lucky for us, and lucky for you, RW and CR’s (Chip Review’s) snacking paths have finally crossed, and it just so happen that it is at the salty intersection of corn and potato! What the hey-who-huh?!   That’s right, we’re talking about Tortatos (the un’apostrophe’d contraction of tortillas and potatoes)!  Has a better ring to it than Potillas doesn’t it?

Tortatos chips are the miraculous fusion of red potato and white corn.  The hybrid chips have a very unique texture, that reminds us much more of a tortilla chip than a potato chip.  In fact, if we are being really technical here, we would probably describe these more appropriately as a potato crisp and tortilla chip combo due to their inclusion of potato flakes as opposed to fried slices of potato (which is what we use to define a potato chip).

The chips have a slightly soft, yet dense and hearty crunch.  Toothsome, some would say.  The Tortatos are oval in shape, and mostly off-white in color, with what appears to be a light toasty char to the chip.  The chips deliver on the promise of a lovely rustic potato and corn flavor.  They would work great for scooping whatever your favorite dip is, or as we prefer them, a la natural!

RW Garcia has really created something unique and delicious here.  Could corn and potato chip hybrids be the next big thing?  Is Frito Lay already plotting their own version of Potillas?  Probably not.  While we really appreciate what RW Garcia has introduced into the chip game, Tortatos probably won’t be revolutionizing the game anytime soon.  So don’t you worry, if you are a traditionalist your potato and tortilla chips are still safe for now!

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

Tortatos provided to Chip Review by RW Garcia for review

RW Garcia’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

RATING: Mello’s Gourmet – Hot Cheese & Creamy Caramel Popcorn Mix

Rating: ©©©-1/2 chips (notable)

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list