French Fry Diary 741: Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ Potato Chips

This one was written a while ago, but the chips still rock, so there you go...

I had picked these chips up for this year's Super Bowl, not realizing I hadn't written about them before.  Our Super Bowl celebration this year, our first in Florida, was just the two of us, and late in the evening.  Yes, it was quite a game, even though we watched most of it in fast forward, only hitting play for the mostly mediocre commercials, and of course the truly stunning and amazing halftime show. Lady Gaga definitely won this year's Super Bowl. 

Speaking of bowls, I got the Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ Flavored Potato Chips mainly because the Lay's Wavy are thick and perfectly ruffled for dipping.  The dip in question was slightly melted vanilla ice cream, 'cause that's just how I roll. 

Unlike other Lay's BBQ chips, the Hickory flavor isn't overseasoned, doesn't burn, or have a hot after taste.  These are sweet and tangy to which the ice cream gives an excellent contrast.  Now that I have written about them, I'll remember how much I like them and get them again.  These are darned good BBQ chips. 

French Fry Diary 730: Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ Potato Chips

I've talked about Lay's Wavy Potato Chips before, and was rather impressed, and whereas I've seen chocolate, truffle, and even mango salsa versions of the Wavy chips, I have never seen my favorite flavor, BBQ, until now.

I found a bag of Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ Potato Chips and I was pretty happy. Hickory BBQ flavor is a bit tricky, it's smoky, one would suppose from hickory wood, but mostly it has a molasses and maybe honey taste. Sounds good. Before opening the bag, I checked out the ingredients, and that was no help - "Hickory BBQ Seasoning" - just like the mystery ingredients of the Do Us A Flavor chips.

When I opened the bag the aroma was rich and sweet, I couldn't wait to dig in. Like the other Wavy Lay's, they are thick cut and excellent for dipping, especially cold stuff because of the heat of the flavor. It's a sweetness with a bit of a kick, and addictive, like all good potato chips. Thumbs up.

French Fry Diary 610: Peddler's Pantry Potato Chips

I was surprised to see these new Peddler's Pantry Potato Chips at my local Wawa, but also equally surprised to find they were locally produced by Wawa itself. I had no idea, no wonder I couldn't find a website on the interwebs.

All four varieties claim to be extra crunchy and kettle cooked. The flavors of these ninety-nine cent (Facebook gave that price, mine were thirty cents more each) two-ounce snack bags are Original with Sea Salt, Hickory Smoked Barbecue, the more exotic Smoke Dried Chipotle, and the intriguingly named Asian Fusion. At least half of them are sort of out of the box. I got one of each.

Now I love Wawa, but my expectations were low. Most store brands just don't hold up and usually quite inferior, but once again Wawa surprises. These chips are extra thick, with a substantial crunch, and the kettle cook twists and bubbling make them excellent for dipping. And the originals are the first chip in quite some time that claimed to have sea salt, but actually tasted like it.

The Hickory Smoked Barbecue are more smokey than sweet and have a bit of a burn to them, nowhere near the burn on the Smoke Dried Chipotle. These two were not favorites. The mystery flavor, Asian Fusion, doesn't really list anything more exotic than garlic, onion, and citrus. It's the garlic that jumps out and these are more or less garlic BBQ chips.

Of these four new artisan potato chips flavors from Wawa, I have to say the Sea Salt Originals are the best, and the ones I'll get again. Any way you slice it, these were a pleasant surprise.

French Fry Diary 238: Trader Joe's Baked Hickory Barbeque Potato Chips

Yeah, I was at Trader Joe's again. I know that Whole Foods might feel that I'm cheating on them, but trust me, I'll be back. Whole Foods still have the best selection of potatoes for making homemade French fries, and the best butcher shop - where else would I go for meat during barbecue season?

Speaking of barbeque, the last time I was at Trader Joe's, I picked up some chips, and by either advanced aged memory or just bad eyesight I picked up the wrong chips. I wanted the Trader Joe's Hickory Barbeque Potato Chips but instead picked up the Trader Joe's Baked Hickory Barbeque Potato Chips, and didn't find out until I got home.

I'm not fond of the baked chip, and it's not because of any kind of healthy bias either. They usually just taste bland to me, and usually also look processed like Pringles or Munchos. I was very surprised once I opened the almost-impossible-to-open bag.

First, they didn't look baked. They looked like regular chips, and they tasted like regular chips. Wow. They tasted like really good barbecue potato chips. So they have all the good stuff - low calorie, less fat, gluten free, baked - and also taste. And the best part is no crumbs at the bottom of the bag, it's all chips, and it's all good. Highly recommended.