BIJOU-REVIEW: Miss Vickie’s – Lime & Black Pepper Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

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

Aren’t Miss Vickie’s available here in the U.S.?  Yeah, we’re positive they are, but apparently Miss Vickie’s is actually a Canadian chip company that just so happened to be acquired by Frito Lay a few years back.  In other words, Frito Lay does offer a certain few of Miss Vickie’s kettle cooked potato chips throughout the U.S., but for the most part Miss Vickie’s offers their large flavor line-up in Canada.

We have tried a number of Miss Vickie’s chips over the years, but it is safe to say that these are certainly our most favorite of the bunch!

All at once salty, creamy, sour and even a touch spicy, the combination of lime and black pepper is not a flavor combo we see very often.

The black pepper is very fragrant, and permeates the nostrils; actually delivering a spicy tickle to the mouth that we don’t normally get from just black pepper.

The lime aspect doesn’t necessarily taste anything like the real green citrus fruit but more like that fake, overly acidic, tongue punch we’ve come to expect from salt and vinegar chips….and don’t get us wrong, that is not a bad thing, we often crave that flavor.

Miss Vickie’s medium-thin kettle cooked potato chips are delightfully crispy, with just a touch of greasy.

In case you were interested in a little backstory on The Real Miss Vickie.

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 JK – acquired in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Miss Vickie’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

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©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Ruffles – Poutine

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

Poutine, EH?

We are not going to consider for even one second that any of you out there could possibly be unfamiliar with Canada’s greatest culinary gift to the world – fries, cheese curds and gravy!

Truth be told, the Poutine Ruffles have been available since summer 2015.  The one caveat, they have remained only available in Canada!?  Meaning that for us here at Chip Review they have been that elusive white rabbit always slipping through our finger tips.

Why Ruffles?  Why would you do this to us for so long?!

Well, the day has finally came, and that elusive white rabbit, or more like white cheese curds, have found their way into chip loving arms thanks to the generosity of Chip Reviews great friend JK!

And you know what?  THESE WERE COMPLETELY WORTH THE WAIT!!  Seriously, really lip-smackingly delicious chips!  We can say without any hesitation that if this flavor was available on our local shelves, we would be spending plenty of our hard earned cash on more of them.

Now, we wouldn’t say that any of us here at Chip Review are seasoned experts when it comes to the likes of poutine, but that being said, we have tasted our fair share of versions (none more delicious than the amazing rendition at Duplex Restaurant in Minneapolis, MN).  Regarding Ruffles’ poutine flavor accuracy as compared to the real dish itself, well, let’s just say that we most definitely taste the fried potatoes (who’d have thunk it), and we also get plenty of rich and salty, beef gravy flavor; but we can’t seem to locate the cheese aspect anywhere in there.  Not even a whisper of cheese.  In Ruffles’ defense, in the actual dish the curds are more about their smooth, squeaky texture than they are about adding any flavor.  So, in that aspect, Ruffles has done a very fine job with these chips!

These may just be our most favorite Ruffles of all-time.  In fact, this means that two out of three of our favorite Ruffles of all-time happen to hail from our neighbors to the north.  And in case you were wondering those three flavors are (no, not All Dressed)  Poutine, Sour Cream ‘N Bacon, and Cheddar & Sour Cream.

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 JK – acquired in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Ruffles Canada Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Ruffles – All Dressed Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips  (notable)

FINALLY!  We have found you!! We’ve been hearing rumors about this new Ruffles flavor for some time now, and just yesterday they finally appeared on our local grocery store shelves. The funny thing is that not only did they appear at the grocery store but then when we stopped by a random gas station and wouldn’t you know it, they had them now too. Made a quick stop at the local pharmacy, sure enough, tons of new bags of Ruffles All Dressed!  We started to wonder if we were seeing things?! Was this all a dream?!?  Had we just missed them up until now?  Were these chips not even really ‘all dressed’?  WERE WE EVEN DRESSED!?!?  No longer were we worried about acquiring these illusive new Ruffles, but rather finding our clothes and rectifying this common reoccurring nightmare!  Okay, deep breath, we’re fine, we’re ‘all dressed’ and so are the chips!

These are not the first All Dressed flavored potato chips that we have tried. Granted the other brands that we have tried have all been generic private labeled grocery line brands, so in essence that would make these the first ones that we have seen or tasted from any of the “big name” chip companies.

Are you familiar with the ‘All Dressed’ flavor?!  No?  Well, according to the back of the Ruffles bag:  In America it just means that you are wearing all of your clothes. But, in Canada ‘All Dressed’ actually means delicious ridgy chips that somehow taste salty, savory, & sweet all at the same time.

There you have it.  The flavor is Canadian, we get that much.  But, we don’t really appreciate Ruffles vague and frankly uninformative description of what Canada’s delicious ‘All Dressed’ flavor really is! First of all, pretty sure (maybe we are wrong) ‘All Dressed’ does not mean delicious ridgy chips, that would just be Ruffles trying to say that their chips represent all ‘All Dressed’ chips, when in fact the best ‘All Dressed’ chips that we have ever tried were not of the ripple/wavy/ruffle variety! Secondly, what sort of flavor description is salty, savory, & sweet all at the same time? Come’on Ruffles, that’s just lazy and ambiguous – we know plenty of flavors that fall within those descriptors!

Ruffles ‘All Dressed’ seasoning is quite a bit more savory than other ‘dressed’ chips that we have tried. Rather then embracing, and highlighting, the sour vinegar tang (which we tend to like), Ruffles has opted for a more subtle flavor combination. Only a hint of vinegar really shines through. Some smoke, onion, garlic, and paprika provide those savory notes, and frankly trigger thoughts of your typical BBQ flavor.  In fact, that’s what it is, Ruffles ‘All Dressed’ chips taste a LOT like traditional BBQ flavored chips, with maybe the tiniest twist. There is also plenty of sugary sweetness to go around.  And, there is of course salt, because these are potato chips we are talking about.  So, in that aspect maybe Ruffles flavor description wasn’t completely inaccurate, the chips were salty, savory, & sweet all at the same time, but they certainly weren’t anything new to the flavor game!

As for the potato chips themselves, they were the same old Ruffles thinner rippled potato chips – classically greasy, crispy and delicious!

For another more positive review, check out Kevin’s thoughts over @ The Impulsive Buy.

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

Chips discovered at Jewell Osco; Westchester, Illinois

Ruffles Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

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©© – tolerable

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REVIEW: Ruffles – Sour Cream ‘N Bacon

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

Comments:

These Ruffles found their way to us, courtesy of Chip Review’s great friend LRH, all the way from our friendly neighbors to the North.

Sour Cream N’ Bacon? Unique flavor combination for sure.  Is this flavor combo common, or perhaps popular, in Canada?  We don’t know the answer to that one (yet), but we do know two things for sure…  First, we’ve never heard of this flavor combination before, and second, we hope it’s not the last time we do…

When we crunched into these chips we were instantly hit with a ton of smoky-meaty flavoring.  In fact, someone here at Chip Review compared the initial flavor to Bac-Os bacon bits (remember those?), and said that one taste of these chips sent them straight down memory lane.  After a few seconds our mouths did begin to detect a slight creaminess, along with hints of cheese???  Could the cheese seasoning be why these chips are colored orange?  And, what exactly cheese flavoring is doing among these ingredients, again not quite sure??  The cheese seasoning does add a smoothness to the overall flavor, but we never really got any of the sour with our cream.  Finally, the whole flavor is rounded out with a really nice touch of sweet brown sugar.  The hint of sweetness reminds us once again that we are enjoying some bacon chips!

We can say without any hesitation that we wish this flavor was available on our local shelves, but until that day comes we’re just going to have to use these chips as a good excuse to plan a trip to Canada!

By the way, these tasty meat flavored chips were so good that they secured themselves a position on Chip Review’s Top 5 Meat Flavored Chips.

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

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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