BIJOU-REVIEW: El Sabroso – Spicy Chile & Lime Flavored Potato Chips or Papas Fritas Sabor a Chile Picante y Limón

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

El Sabroso – Papas Fritas Sabor a Chile Picante y Limón

Translation: The Tasty – Spicy Chile & Lime Flavored Potato Chips

Quite frankly, that translation is spot on.  These are definitely some tasty chile and lime flavored potato chips.

These are not El Sabroso’s first attempt at the popular flavor combination of Chile y Limón, but we would say that they are their most delicious.

El Sabroso’s potato chips may actually be the most heavily seasoned chips that we have ever encountered.  They are loaded, practically caked, with a heavy dusting of ultra flavorful, bright red seasoning.

Extra tangy sour lime paired very nicely with a potently spicy red chile seasoning.

They are definitely fake-fake-fake….  There is no way anything natural in this world is this vividly red; but we can appreciate how they have committed themselves by providing the most boldly colored chips, with an equally tongue burning seasoning!

The chips themselves are no slouch either.  Medium, to medium-thin, potato chips, with an adequate potato flavor, and semi-crispy crunch.

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

Chips discovered at Shell Gas Station; Hillside, Illinois

El Sabroso Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: El Sabroso – Salt & Lime Flavored Potato Chips or Papas Fritas Sabor a Sal y Limón

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Well, hello El Sabroso!  If we had to guess we would say that this particular bag of chips is bilingual!  On the top Spanish half of the bag we’ve got El Sabroso – Papas Fritas – Sabor a Sal y Limón.  On the bottom English half of the bag we’ve got Salt & Lime Flavored – Potato Chips.  But, what about the English translation for the brand name – El Sabroso?  We don’t think that we have ever looked up what the name means, and apparently it would translate to – The Tasty or The Delicious!  Sounds like a great name to us!!

It has been quite a long time since we have tasted or reviewed any strictly LIME flavored chips.  In fact, looking back through the database we discovered that there aren’t very many solely lime flavored chips.  Tons of lime plus chile flavored chips, and plenty of lime plus some other ingredient flavored chips, but when it comes to strictly lime flavored chips we have not tried very many.

While these chips are not very significant in any texture, flavor, or form, it is their refreshing simplicity that just sat very well with us.  And, while these potato chips taste very similar to so many other artificially lime flavored chips, (translation: they taste very much like salt & vinegar seasoning, or in other words, like potato chips that have been thoroughly coated with tongue zinging, ultra-sour, citric acid), we were more than prepared, and satisfied by them.  Mingling with the heavy dose of citric acid, was a dash of real lime juice, giving us just enough of that tingling lime flavor perception.  On the tail end of the flavor, our tongues also noticed a slight hint of sweetness that was a welcome addition to help counter the citrus sour.  Although we are not typically huge fans of very thin potato chips, these papas fritas were pretty good this time.  Very thin, no real potato flavor detectable, only a slight, soft, crunch, and what we would consider a medium size chip.

Overall, these chips were really nothing special, but sometimes that is more than enough, and expectations do not need to be exceeded, but only met!

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

Chips discovered at Shell Gas Station; Hillside, Illinois

El Sabroso Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Funyuns – Chile Limón

Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips  (lip-smacking)

And what do we have here?!?  Yep, that’s right, it appears as though everyone’s favorite crunchy, onion ring snack has decided to try their own variation on the, all-too-often over done, and overused, chile & limón combination!

What is limon you ask?  Actually, we know that you probably don’t need to ask that, as the picture on the front of the bag clearly shows a cross section of a lime, and we’re pretty sure most people in the U.S. now know what a limón is.  However, in case you did ask that, a limón is in fact not the combination of a lime + a lemon, but actually the Spanish word for both lime and lemon.  In this case, and most cases when discussing chile & limón together, limón is referring to the limón verde – aka lime.

The initial smell released from the Funyuns’ bag as we ripped it open was of a deeply delicious, chile and onion combination. That rich and savory scent alone had us very excited for where these Funyuns were headed!  Luckily for you, and us, that excitement was completely justified!

In our opinion, not only are these Chile & Limón Funyuns as good as either the Original, or Flamin’ Hot versions, but actually even better, and certainly more complex.  The seasoning level varied from ring to ring, while some were heavily blanketed with a deep red dusting of powder, others were only lightly coated with a reddish sprinkling of seasoning.  The onion rings themselves were the same old crunchy, corn based, circular extruded snack, that was easy to crunch through, and sort of fun to play with!

Initially, the Funyuns flavor exhibited a surprisingly restrained subtlety, with just a light touch of some smokey chile notes, that mingled flawlessly with the salty onion flavor.  We found that the limón flavor was actually rather sporadic, but when we did find it, the tangy citrus surprise added a delicious zap of freshness.  Although the Funyuns do not initially exude very much chile heat, the spicy intensity definitely grew and grew with the more rings we crunched!

Plain and simple, Funyuns Chile & Limón are that rare snack sequel that was actually able to elevate above and beyond their tasty original snack.  They are some of the best “chips” that we have tried so far in 2014!

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

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Lay’s – Limon Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Comments:

Limon?  Que es?

Lemon?

Lime?

Or…..a combination of both?  Lime + Lemon = Limon???  That has got to be it!

Obviously, in this case, Lay’s is referring to a lime, and not a lemon.  We have come to this miraculous conclusion based on the photo (limes are green, lemons are yellow), and the declaration from the back of the bag indicating that Lay’s has added, “… the zing of real lime“.  Problem solved, we are definitely reviewing lime flavored potato chips.  You can call us Sherlock Holmes from now on….

Has anyone else out there also ran into this same issue?  You are traveling through some far away South American country, you are having an amazing time, and all you want is a lime to eat (hypothetical of course)?  However, when you ask the local farmer for un limon, he hands you a lemon instead….  You see, what we here at Chip Review have realized, through much first hand research, is that different Central and South American regions seem to only grow either just limes, or just lemons; and in both cases, the fruit is call a limon.  Confusing, YES.

Lay’s Limon Chips taste very similar to other fake lime flavored chips, meaning: they taste very much like salt & vinegar flavored chips, or in other words, like potato chips that have been thoroughly coated with tongue zinging citric acid.  However, as is the case so often with chips that are heavily doused with citric acid, these lime flavored chips, actually sort of taste like sour lime (at least a lot more than chips that are supposed to be vinegar flavored).  On the tail end of the flavor our tongues also noticed a hint of sweetness that was a welcome addition to help counter the citrus sour.

As is typical, Lay’s potato chips were far too thin for our liking.  We had to grab an entire handful to feel like we even had something to crunch on in our mouths.  Salt level was on the higher end, and we did like that!

We can’t wait until Lay’s comes out with a Limon flavored chip…….?  Oh, sorry, lemon.

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

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list