Seems Kind of Fancy Schmancy

Lay's Kettle Cooked Olive Oil & Herb

Saw these at the local grocery and was a bit surprised. They're not part of Lay's regular summer fun flavor promotion and I hadn't heard anything about them. Maybe there are TV commercials I'm missing because we don't watch broadcast television? Ok, even if there are commercials and I'm not seeing them, I still don't really miss them.

Anyways, this is a fine example of truth in advertising. The opened bag had a light scent of herbs. The chips weren't too salty and tasted distinctly (but not heavily) of olive oil and herbs (predominantly rosemary and thyme).

Really these were quite nice. It was a large bag, but it didn't last long.

Rating: 4/5

Not Okey-Dokey

Hunky Dorys

If anyone could truly understand how to make potato chips, you'd think it would be the Irish. I mean, Ireland and potatoes go together like bacon and eggs, death and taxes, politics and corruption. Sadly, while they may grok potato chips, they don't seem to have a clue about flavoring them.

The package had almost no scent on opening - if there was anything it was more of a smell than a scent.

The taste was equally unimpressive. A bit of salt, maybe a hint of something dairy - more cheesy than sour cream but not really anything I'd call "cheddar". There was also a faint sort of plastic flavor that I suppose could be confused with spring onion by a heavy smoker who had only two taste buds left.

Honestly, it wasn't worth finishing the tiny bag.

Rating: 2/5

SSSSMOKIN'!

Zapp's New Orleans Kettle Style Mesquite Bar-B-Que

After the amazing Voodoo Heat chips I was curious what other surprises Zapp's had in store for me. I bought the bag above from Potbelly's the next time I was there. In a way, just being "good" was kind of a let down.

The newly-opened bag had a decent barbecue scent - not too strong, and no strange notes. The chips also didn't have any significant amount of powder on them that would turn the fingers funny colors. Both of those are good signs.

The taste was pretty good. They had a nice barbecue flavor with a touch of smokiness, but not so much that it was overpowering.

On the whole, these are pretty good but easily forgotten in the sea of barbecue out there.

Rating: 4/5

Where's the beef?

Guinness Rich Chili

I picked these chips up in the British section of Jungle Jim's. I'm not sure quite what I expected, but it was probably something along the lines of the flavor of meat in a tomato and chili pepper sauce. What I really didn't expect was OVERWHELMING BEEF!!!!

I opened the package and was immediately clubbed over the head with a twelve-pound roasted brisket. The scent of beef was so strong and so accurate that I checked the package to see if it mentioned anywhere something like, "NOW WITH THREE WHOLE COWS!!!!".  Nope, no such text. Instead I disturbingly find that the chips contain no beef at all, and are in fact vegan.

With great amusement, and no small amount of trepidation, I tasted a chip. ZOMG! BEEF!!!! Almost no taste at all of tomato, chili pepper, or anything else except for an amazing amount of BEEF!!!!

The English may not have the faintest clue as to what chili tastes like, but they've been roasting BEEF for over 600 years and are experts at packing six thousand pounds of GENUINE ROAST BEEF FLAVOR (!!!!) into a tiny plastic package. Nothing I ever eat for the rest of my life will taste more like BEEF (!!!!) than these chips.  I have achieved MAX BEEF!!!!

Cindy agreed that these were very BEEF!!!! Just one chip had her making shocked faces for at least twenty minutes.  Celeste refused to try them.

Rating: 2/5

(unless you really like beef)

Natural Doesn't Always Mean Good

Lorenz Naturals Mild Paprika

I picked these up from the German section of Jungle Jim's hoping for something more interesting than the last couple of flavors. I thought maybe it'd have a bit of heat to it - after all, there's all the red color on the package and a picture of red peppers.

There wasn't much of a fragrance on opening, but I've learned that can be deceiving. This time? Nope. You know how plain tomato paste tastes right out of the can? Flat tomato and not very salty either. Maybe a hint of bitterness from bell peppers but nothing pleasant. No spiciness at all - when they say mild, they mean it!

I had to check twice to make sure I was eating the chips and not the bag.

Rating: 2/5

Not as Buffalo as the last Buffalo

Pringles XTRA-ordinary flavor Tangy Buffalo Wing

Given how awesome their Buffalo Ranch chips were, I had high expectations for these. Sadly, they didn't reach the mark. The scent on opening the package was pretty low-key, and the flavor wasn't all that impressive. There was a touch of vinegar and maybe a hint of greasy chicken, but mostly it was a very mild spice potato chip. Not bad per se, but kind of boring.

I guess the hyphen in the name was intentional. Instead of being extraordinary they're extra-ordinary.

Rating: 3/5

Pringles Misfire

Pringles Loaded Baked Potato

I've liked some of the other varieties of Pringles so I thought these would be worth a shot. Sadly, they missed the mark with this one.

They didn't have much of a noticeable smell and the color was almost like that of unflavored Pringles. That's not too much of a problem in itself, but they really failed in the flavor department.

Other than being overly salty, there wasn't much else to taste. A hint of bacon and maybe a tiny bit of cheese or sour cream ... hard to tell really.  If they were a "loaded" baked potato at a restaurant I'd expect I'd see maybe a couple imitation bacon bits, a dab of butter, and a single lonely shred of cheddar.

Everyone else in the family agreed, these were a disappointment.

Rating: 3/5