REVIEW: Herr’s – Chickie’s & Pete’s Famous Crabfries seasoned Potato Chips with White Creamy Cheese Sauce flavoring

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips (lip-smacking)

Have you ever heard of Chickie’s & Pete’s?   Oh, you have?  Well, before Herr’s Foods sent us these new potato chips, we’ll admit that we…..had not.  But, as we looked into who this Chickie and this Pete were, and what a exactly a Crabfry was, we began to realize that maybe we were the odd ones out.

If you are like us, and are looking for the entire Chickie’s & Pete’s back story you can find that right here, but basically the long story short is: smaller time Philadelphia family owned taproom eventually grows into…”8 locations across Philadelphia and New Jersey and was voted ESPN’s #1 Sports Bar on the East Coast.”

Well, that explains half of these Herr’s potato chips’ story, but what about Chickie’s & Pete’s Famous Crabfries seasoned Potato Chips with White Creamy Cheese Sauce flavoring half of the flavor equation?!? 

What are Crab Fries?  A staple at its restaurants since 1977, Chickie’s & Pete’s Famous crab fries are crinkle-cut French fries sprinkled with a secret blend of spices, served with its one-of-a-kind White Creamy Cheese Sauce for dipping.

Like all great inventions, CrabFries® have an illustrious history.

At the onset of Chickie’s & Pete’s in 1977, crabs were only served in the summer. Once the summer was over Pete needed something to do with all the leftover seasonings. So he started experimenting with different combinations on french fries. Pete would put the fries out on the bar and ask for the regulars’ feedback. “How’d you like the seasoning today?” Pete would ask. “Ahh, I liked them better yesterday” or “too tangy” the regulars would reply. Pete went through two winters of tweaking seasonings and a complimentary cheese sauce for dipping based on the regulars’ comments until one day in 1979, he just couldn’t get it any better. “It was just right!” Pete exclaimed. No matter what he did the regulars kept pointing to the recipe known and loved today as Crabfries.  For the rest of the story click here.  http://www.chickiesandpetes.com

It would be easy to simply call these chips another variation of everyone’s favorite crab seasoning “Old Bay”; and we would be somewhat right, but at the same time really wrong, and frankly unfair to these chips.  While these chips may include (although we cannot confirm) many of the same spices found in Old Bay such as mustard, paprika, celery salt, bay leaf, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, mace, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, and ginger (in other words they are extremely flavorful and heavily seasoned), but then 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!

As we enjoyed these lip-smacking, wide-rippled, Herr’s potato chips we couldn’t help but imagine enjoying some of Chickie’s & Pete’s piping hot, crinkle cut, fries with some of the same delicious seasoning!  We simply cannot imagine that this “famous” crabfry seasoning could be bad on any potato, in any form.

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 Herr’s Foods for review

Herr’s Foods Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Utz – Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

These are solid potato chips.

Looking back through our records, we noticed that we haven’t actually reviewed very many Utz chips/snacks over the years.  This has to be due to their availability in the Midwest, as Utz is an East Cost chip company.

Luckily, on a somewhat recent golfing get away, Mr. JK brought these bad boys (or should we say girls, as there is a little girl gracing the front of the bag) back with him for us here at Chip Review to taste and give our personal one-two.

Like we said, these are solid potato chips.

The cheddar & sour cream seasoning was spot on.  Tangy and salty cheddar cheese mingling with rich and creamy sour cream.  The only thing being that the seasoning was not very prominent.  To describe it as a dusting may actually be an overstatement.

However, the potato chips themselves were practically perfect.  Medium-thin cut, old school, skin-on, solid crunch, real potato chips.  Utz potato chips are fantastic.

We really hope that we are able to find more of Utz’s offering in the future.

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 for review

Utz Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Snyder’s of Hanover Sweet and Salty – S’mores Pretzel Pieces

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

Show of hands please – how many of you out there think that these new sweet & salty pretzel pieces sound good?  Or, even more importantly, how many of you out there actually believe that Snyder’s of Hanover could somehow make this pretzel-s’more combination taste delicious?  Crickets…crickets…..crickets…..

Yeah, well we can’t deny that we weren’t in the same exact boat until the first piece graced our lips and wowed our mouths!  In other words, we are beyond thrilled to inform you that Snyder’s of Hanover (SOH) has in fact somehow, some way, knocked these out of the pretzel pieces park!

To be completely honest, we couldn’t have stumbled upon SOH’s S’mores pretzel pieces at a more perfect time.  This review is coming off one of, if not, the worst SOH review (Zesty Ranch 50% Less Fat) of all-time.  Frankly, we sort of thought that Snyder’s of Hanover may have gone off the deep end and decided to pursue less fat, and poor tasting variations of their typically fantastic pretzel pieces.  Luckily SOH has pulled a complete 180 and wowed us with these odd flavored pretzels – who’d a thunk it.

Snyder’s of Hanover is no stranger to the sweet and salty game.  In fact, this is the fourth flavor from their Sweet & Salty series of pretzel pieces that we have reviewed, and we can say with certainty, that it is far and away the tastiest!

To say that these S’mores pretzel pieces really, really surprised us would be an understatement.  We’re going to tell you right off the bat that they do not necessarily taste like s’mores at all.  Nope, not at all.  So, if you are looking for some sort of truly authentic s’mores pretzel snack representation then look elsewhere.  However, if you are alright with eating some deliciously rich, sweet and salty, inauthentic s’mores flavored pretzel pieces then look no further!

What these pieces do taste like is a heavy dose of chocolaty-cocoa mingling with some rich pretzel pieces.  The marshmallow sugary-sweet aspect is pretty darn tasty.  While the experience of eating a campfire roasted marshmallow can obviously not be captured in a pretzel seasoning, we sort of do feel like we were tasting marshmallow mixed in among the chocolate.  But, two out of three main s’mores’ ingredients is all we get.  It’s very apparent that SOH has made no huge attempt at the inclusion of graham with these.  Sure, there is honey in the mix, but graham is a powerful, and very recognizable flavor – so, how the heck can you have s’mores without graham?!  In our books, you can not!  Maybe SOH was thinking that the pretzel pieces themselves were filling that void, but they just don’t quite do it for us.  Who knows, maybe if there had been some graham thrown in this flavor equation these pieces could have been “A” list perfect?!

All that being said, in the end, these are really delicious pretzel pieces.  If you like sweet and salty, and s’mores-y, than you most certainly will like these!

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

Discovered at Jewel Osco; Westchester, Illinois

Snyder’s of Hanover Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Barcel – Fuego Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

Are these chips really new?  Or, at least newer-ish?  Or, neither, and simply retain their “new” label because it intrigues consumers?

Either way, we’ve never tried them before, despite having tried a lot of Barcel’s snacks.  As far as their potato chips go, at some point in time they went from being called Papas Toreadas to just chips with a homestyle crunch.

First, and most foremost, these potato chips are ELECTRIC RED!  Not cherry red, not candy apple red.  We’re talking blindingly, deep, bright red!  We’re not exaggerating here, are you familiar with Cheetos Flamin’ Hot?  Of course you are.  They are pretty red right?  The answer to that would be NO, not when compared to these chips.  These chips blow their timid red out of the water!

As for the chips themselves they are definitely en fuego!  They are spicy – very, very spicy.  Not necessarily linger on your tongue, and throat, and slowly burn you from the inside out spicy that the hottest chile peppers will do.  But more of an instantaneous wam-bam burn, tongue zinging burn.  An acidic burn.  Somewhere far off in the flavor distance was the lightest splash of lime.  But for the most part we are simply talking about eating very spicy, bright red potato chips.

The homestyle potato chips are crispy, medium thick fried and do the crunchy trick!

Takis discovered at Walmart; Countryside, Illinois

Barcel Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

BIJOU-REVIEW: Cape Cod – Roasted Black Garlic Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

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

One word: Umami-tang-a-funk-a-licious!

That’s right, Cape Cod’s newer-ish Limited Batch kettle cooked potato chips are deliciously tangy, funky and unique.

First, let’s discuss the question that at least some of us are thinking “what is black garlic?”  Is it a varietal of garlic?  Is it old rotten garlic?

According to the world wide web: “Black garlic is a type of caramelized garlic (a Maillard reaction, not fermentation)….made by heating whole bulbs of garlic over the course of several weeks, a process that results in black cloves. The taste is sweet and syrupy with hints of balsamic vinegar or tamarind.” (wikipedia.com)

Well, we can certainly concur these chips exude notes of sweet and syrupy balsamic vinegar.  In fact, they practically deliver a sticky mouth sensation, without actually being sticky at all.

There are still hints of what we typically recognize as garlic flavor – fragrant, pungent, earthy, only without any of the usual “spicy” bite.  That heat has been converted into sweet.  Sort of like roasting garlic, only not really at all….

Plain and simple, these chips are unlike anything else on the market today.  Bravo to Cape Cod for attempting this flavor, and delivering something so funky and weird.

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

Chips discovered at Stop & Shop; West Hartford, Connecticut

Cape Cod Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

RATING: T.G.I. Friday’s – Extreme Heat Crunchy Fries

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

Chips discovered at CVS; West Hartford, Conneticut

T.G.I. Friday’s Snacks Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Brew Foods – Chipotle BBQ Corn Tortilla Chips

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

Hey dudes!  Brew Foods!!

Probably needless to say, it is fairly easy to identify who the target audience for these chips are right?  Beer drinkers… in other words, just about everyone everywhere!

According to the back of the brewski colored bag, these tortilla chip are “best paired with hoppy, fruity Pale Ales or malty, crisp Pilsners.”  Now, you must remember that our field of self proclaimed expertise is chips, not brews (although we have, and do, consume our fair share of beer, we do not claim to know very much about it).  So, we took a look at what we had in the old Chip Review ice box and pulled out a bottle of Ballast Point’s Pineapple Sculpin (described as an India Pale Ale with natural pineapple flavor).  Sort of sounds like it falls perfectly into the “hoppy, fruity Pale Ale” category right?

We’ve said it before but we will mention it again, within the past decade or so, Chipotle has become a fairly common household name, and ingredient, among the majority of us here in the United States.  Many of you may automatically conjure up visions of a football sized burrito, but the chipotles we are talking about vine ripened jalapeño chiles, that have been smoked and dried.  In other words they deliver a decent amount of heat, along with a deep smoky flavor.  And, for one reason or another, there are still many people out there pronouncing these chilis as ch-pull-tee!  Come’on people!  Say it with us now Chee-pote-ley!!

Let’s get back to the chips themselves.  Well, these corn tortilla chips are pretty darn delightfully flavorful, especially for being brand-newcomers on the market.  We devoured this entire bag in no time flat.  We may have even had to crack open another Sculpin to quench our chip induced thirst.  The seasoning blend starts out by teasing you into believing that you are tasting some good old sweeter, tomato-ful bbq chips, but then……wowsers, layers of smoky, spicy chipotle chili peppers join the party! Seriously, we don’t usually taste this much spicy heat from chipotle flavored chips, but these most certainly do bring some substantially impressive heat.

The crunchy corn tortilla chips are thinner cut, small batch, with loads of corn flavor.  The chips are light, and yet deliver a substantial toothsome chew.  Think more like fried tortillas, than tortilla chips with lots of air pockets.  Any which way we describe them, just think tasty.

In the end we can confirm that the pairing of these two delicacies (chips and beer) was a fine choice.  And, we certainly can agree that the “select savory and sweet ingredients….compliment the hop….flavors in the beer” very well!  Well done Brew Foods!!

*Disclaimer: We can also concur that the chips do not go very well with red boxed wine…..but really, how could any food compete with boxed wine….we kid.

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 Brew Foods for review

Brew Foods Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list