A Potato to the Rescue

This one comes from my friend and frequent FFD contributor Dom:

"Not a quintessential French Fry Diary-esque storyline, but, one day, it could be the fries that save humanity, and not the Avengers. Click here. It's just a shame they can't 'salt' themselves."

Cool, thanks, Dom!

French Fry Diary 737: Robin Goes to Five Guys

Many folks here know my longtime friend and fellow creative Robin Renee, besides being a hell of a writer, and a terrific performer, she's also been a contributor here at French Fry Diary from time to time. She's also a vegetarian, and our collaboration on her current project Blog March 2017 indirectly to her trying Five Guys because of something I posted about President Obama digging the burger chain.

We texted back and forth after she had tried the Eagle Plaza location in Voorhees. She took lots of pictures, found the veggie sandwich just okay, but her fries were "…insanely salty."

I offered her some good advice for ordering fries at other places. Usually Five Guys doesn't count in this as they always cook them to order, but it might have helped in this situation. If you are worried about salt content, always order your French fries at fast food and other chains with no salt. First this will force them to cook a new batch, so they will be fresh and hot, and it also allows you the choice of controlling your salt intake but how much you put on yourself. It's a good tip and useful in these situations.

I of course felt bad and apologized to Robin again for making her go to yet another meat restaurant. I do this all the time without realizing it. The last time, I invited her to a steakhouse (The Pub), which luckily had a fantastic salad bar plus veggie selections. Sorry, Robin, I'm an idiot.

In her own words, "The good thing these days is that there's something veggie just about anywhere now," which is a good thing, because as I mentioned, I'm an idiot.

Please check out the Blog March, it's important. And if you feel so inclined, please join and/or donate to ACLU, vote, or register to vote if you haven't already, support People for the American Way, Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, Lambda Legal, and Public Television.

Random Tater Pics of the Day #203 and 204

These Somebody Else's Fries again come from my big sister Bobbie on a recent trip to the Hard Rock Café in Orlando, Florida. This first pic is from The Kitchen, a restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel. From Bobbie, "The Kitchen's fries were shoestring, very crunchy and didn't need any salt at all, very good."

This second pic is from the Hard Rock Café proper. Bobbie said they "were regular fries, crispy on the outside, with a great seasoning. They were the best!"

French Fry Diary 643: More Crisps from the UK via Canada

You might remember I got a wonderful gift from my big sister a few months back, who in turn got these chips from her friend Kelly in Toronto who had recently visited the UK. Here are the rest of those chips.

Walkers Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips - full name Distinctively Salt & Vinegar with Real British Vinegar - The Bride went right for them, as she really likes salt and vinegar chips. She liked them, stating, "Salt and vinegar chips are good." Ain't she cute? I asked for one, and she replied, "You're not going to like them." She was right, but not in the way that say some of the Lay's Do Us A Flavor chips were not liked. They were okay, but not my cup of tea, or um, even chips.

Speaking of Do Us A Flavor, another of the bags from Kelly was from the UK's version of the Lay's (Walkers there) contest. These potato chips, or crisps, were flavored thus: Scrumptiously Smoky Bacon with Pork from Norfolk. Wow, that's specific. When the bag was opened there was a very pleasant smoky aroma, a good sign. They were quite good, and reminded me of the chips I'd had a while back at the British Chip Shop, only better. The Bride likened them to Bacos. Thumbs up for these.

The bag o' chips, I mean crisps, are from The Real McCoy's and are advertised as 'man crisps,' thick with deep ridges full of flavor. The flavor in question is Flame Grilled Steak. Biting into them, they have more of a thick crunch than might appear from the pics. I don't really taste the steak, and neither did The Bride, but they did have a pleasant smokey flavor like the other meat chip on this review. The company also puts out Flavors like Thai Sweet Chicken and Sizzling King Prawn among others.

Again special thanks to my sister Bobbie and Kelly for sending these along.

French Fry Diary 638: Kettle Brand Oven Fries

Kettle Brand makes some incredible potato chips. Among my favorites are the Sweet & Salty, the Maple Bacon, and especially their wonderful baked Real Sliced Potatoes variety. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out they were going into the French fries business.

Kettle Brand has entered the market, just the Whole Foods Market, in my area at least, with frozen potato wedges called oven fries. What's curious is I can't seem to find any info on them on their website. I know they are also available in Roasted Garlic, Salt + Fresh Ground Pepper, Sea Salt, and Rosemary + Garlic, but I couldn't find them any trace of them online. I even asked their usually very helpful Twitter account to no avail.

I tried the Sea Salt variety. As with most Kettle Brand products, these frozen natural cut potato wedges are gluten free, all natural, no preservatives, no transfats, no GMO, no nothing but potatoes, and some other stuff, but nothing that sounds harmful. Unlike most potato wedges however, they seem to be unbattered, we'll see how that works out.

Out of the oven they were not quite what I expected. Soft and hot, but only but a little bit crispy. I guess I could have cooked them a bit longer but that wasn't the real problem. These wedges were pretty much flavorless and needed seasoning bad. Once I gave them a bit of a kick with some Mrs. Dash, and dipped them in barbeque sauce they were much better.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #135

From today's T.G.I. Fridays lunch with the brother-in-law, the Jack Daniels burger with a side of fries, natural cuts, with salt and pepper, in a clever paper sleeve. Points for presentation, the fries were okay, and the burger was awesome. Thanks for lunch, Bruce!

French Fry Diary 543: Ore-Ida Simply

This is another step in the recent bandwagon toward healthier French fries. Ore-Ida has come out with a new sub-brand of frozen French fries called Simply. The varieties include Olive Oil and Sea Salt Country Style French Fries; Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt Country Style French Fries; Olive Oil and Sea Salt Homestyle Wedges; and Roasted Garlic and Herbs Homestyle Wedges.

I was able to get hold of the first type listed above, and it's worth mentioning that both 'country style' and 'homestyle' are just fancy ways of saying natural cut, or with the skin on. On the healthy scale, these fries are gluten free, with less fat, less calories, less carbs, but unfortunately a whole lot of sodium, more than usual actually. Something to watch for the health conscious.

The 'simply' part of the product name is that the only ingredients are the ones mentioned above in the product descriptions, so the Olive Oil and Sea Salt Country Style French Fries are just that - olive oil, sea salt, and potatoes. Simply also has its own new cartoon mascot, Ore-Ida Mae, made up only of natural ingredients.

Wow. Once prepared, pun intended, they were 'simply' the worst fries I have had in quite some time. I made them per the directions and they were more than a little overdone, and the directions for other Ore-Ida products work fine in my oven. Where they weren't overdone, they were limp. I could taste neither olive oil nor sea salt in or on these natural cuts. Their most outstanding quality, I have to add, is their blandness and lack of any flavor or seasoning.

These fries were terrible. Granted, I may have just gotten a bad bag I suppose, but based on this experience, it will be quite some time before I try another Ore-Ida Simply product. Sorry, Mae.

French Fry Diary 528: Steak 'n Shake

I was more than curious about Steak 'n Shake. Over the years, I had gotten a few recommendations to try them. And when I asked you folks where I should try in the Orlando area, even more recs flooded in, twenty total. So many recommendations, but all of a certain type - you have to go, you have to try these fries, they will be great to write about. Eerily no one said they were good. No one until someone The Bride was doing charity work with on the day of our adventure, who said they were good. That's one out of twenty. Hmmm…

As we planned our vacation, and set our schedule, it was getting harder and harder to get to S'nS before we went to Port Canaveral, we might have to postpone that FFD road trip in definitely. The Bride however noticed that not only was there a Steak 'n Shake near our hotel, but they were open 24/7, maybe we could do it after all. So we snuck out in the middle of the night for a late night snack. Yep, an adventure.

I was very surprised that this was a sit down place, although they also have take out. What I expected was more in line with a Sonic Drive-In type place, but got something quite different. I was reminded of Johnny Rockets in atmosphere, very bright, but without the singing and dancing. We were greeted as we entered and had to wait to be seated - like I said, not what I expected at all. The clientele at two in the morning was a young, happy, and lively late night crowd.

I came for the fries, but they also had new seasoned fries - Parmesan cheese 'n herbs, salt 'n vinegar, and sea salt 'n cracked pepper. Yeah, S'nS is really enamored of the apostrophe and letter N thing. We went purist and just got the fries, and onion rings. As we had just had Hamburger Mary's just a few hours before, we decided on trying one of the famous steakburgers 'next time.' On the table was Steak 'n Shake's Fry 'n Steakburger Seasoning, a mixture of salt, onion, garlic, paprika, and sugar. A good peppery paprika kick when we put then on the fries.

The fries were smaller shoestrings, not quite matchstick fries, and a little overdone, so maybe a bit too crunchy. They were still pretty good. And they were even better with the above-mentioned seasoning. They were a bit addictive after that. I just wish they weren't overcooked. And the seasoning was so good we bought some to go home. Can't wait to try it at home, and not just on fries. I think it could really jazz up chicken.

When we had discussed S'nS earlier with friend Terry at Hamburger Mary's, he expressed a preference toward steak fries and their thicker cousins, which I tend to agree with. He wasn't fond of S'nS, they just weren't 'his thing.' However, I think if these fries were cooked better they could be pretty good too, thick or not. I would like to give them a second chance.

The onion rings were okay deep fried beer batter ones, that The Bride liked, but I wasn't thrilled by. To wash it all down she got a Salted Caramel Pretzel shake and I got a chocolate one. The shakes were awwwesome. They alone would worth the trip back down to Florida. Steak 'n Shake was not what I expected at all, but it was a pleasant surprise. I'd come back. Thank you all, for the unique recommendations.

French Fry Diary 515: The Myth of Friar's Nook

If you're a regular reader of French Fry Diary, you know that I have attempted to review Friar's Nook on two different occasions, only to be foiled both times by it being closed, once by rain, and once by the seasons.

This tiny quick service counter in the Magic Kingdom area of Walt Disney World has eluded me as if it knows I'm coming. It's no Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill, but it has become a white whale for me in its own right.

Dom and Cindy and their family, who have traveled with The Bride and me before to the wilds of Disney visited again in the last few weeks, and this time, Dom found Friar's Nook open, purchased their infamous homemade potato chips and even produced photographic proof that Friar's Nook does actually open from time to time.

How were they? Cindy says: "They were good but not great. They were cut very thick. Most were very (very) hard and crisp, except for a few that were oily and chewier. They were slightly too salty." Word is they should be open when we go for our vacation in less than two weeks, although I have been advised to try them around lunchtime. Hopefully they will not elude me again. Thanks, Dom and Cindy!

French Fry Diary 463: Ole Salty's Regular Salt

Next up from the Bag o' Chips, that The Bride got me for Christmas this year, a selection of rare potato chips from Anchor's Food Finds, we have the scariest bag of the bunch - Ole Salty's Regular Salt.

This is a silver bag of chips with just a label, almost as if it was astronaut food. Not even an expiration date. Folks, it does not even say 'potato chips' on the bag. The ingredients however assure me whatever it is, it's made of potatoes, soybean oil, and salt.

Ole Salty's of Rockford Illinois is a mail order only company, and this scary plain silver bag had no expiration date. Ole Salty also sells popcorn, dips, among other things, and also chips of lesser and more salt added. The packaging appears the same for that stuff. I guess it's a thing. Foil does keep sunlight out, which is not so good for chips in long exposures.

Only one thing to do. Open the bag. Not the easiest job in the world. So difficult, they could sell these things at Trader Joe's. Once open, this extra large snack-size bag yielded, as noted, a 1.25 ounce serving of chips, filling roughly the bottom third of the bag.

These chips are rather small but very crunchy, perhaps kettle cooked. Their taste is a bit of a cross between Munchos and Lays regular chips, a little greasy. Perhaps the Extra Salt might be better, because these are a little bland. For something called Ole Salty's, these chips needed salt.

French Fry Diary 454: Fries Seasoning

I found these on Amazon, believe it or not. Gourmet Fries Seasoning from Chef's Fun Foods come in four varieties - Cheesy Cheddar, Garlic Parmesan, Salt & Garlic Pepper, and Flame Grilled BBQ. Or at least those are the flavors I got. There are also Wild Buffalo, Sour Cream & Onion, Salt & Vinegar, and Ketchup - all eight terrific flavoring to add to the favorite fried food.

I got mine about six months ago, have used them quite a bit, and these thirteen ounce jars are still not only mostly full, but also very fresh. All have no fat and no MSG, and contain at least five or less calories per serving. They do require frequent shaking though as the contents tend to clump.

The labels suggest their use for potatoes, veggies, burgers, chicken, or pasta, and urged the consumer to 'be creative!' And I have been creative. A sucker for BBQ, I put that one on almost everything, well, everything except pasta, and garlic bread for which the Garlic flavors are great. I have found the Cheddar particularly good on popcorn. And of course, they are all quite good on fries. Recommended.



And just in case you've ever wanted to make tornado fries at home, Chef's Fun Foods also sells all your supplies, except for the potatoes, for that too!

French Fry Diary 419: Boulder Canyon Potato Chips

On a recent road trip I saw some potato chips I had never heard of before so I picked up some snack bags. One of them was Boulder Canyon Totally Natural Kettle Cooked Potato Chips. Yes, they are very healthy, because as we have learned in the past, the longer the name of the potato chip, the healthier they are.

Joking aside, if you've been to the Boulder Canyon website, you know what a terrifically health and environment conscious company they are. Some of their packaging is even combustible. The bag talks of their corporate support of Green Energy and American Rivers. They are very green. Also, regarding the bag, it was crazy hard to open, another sign of healthy chips, as we know from Whole Foods and Trader Joe's products.

The chips follow suit by being gluten free, cholesterol free, trans fat free, all natural, the ingredients including only potatoes, oil, and salt. That's probably also because the Totally Natural style are the regular chip, no extra seasonings or flavorings. That's a problem. While they were nicely thick, lots of crunch, good kettle shape for dipping, and not greasy at all - they were also not salted well at all. Seriously needs salt, despite what the ingredients say.

Good chip for dipping as it would take on flavor that way. I would definitely be interested in trying some of the other styles, especially the Hickory Barbeque, but these were just okay.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #59

This one comes from my friend Terry who's done more than a few guest blogs here. This is "Porterhouse steak, marinated in honey teriyaki, grilled medium rare on my George Foreman grill. Baked potato, rubbed in extra virgin olive oil and baconsalt, topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream. Dee to the lish."

French Fry Diary 404: McDonald's Around the World

While it started in the United States many decades ago, McDonald's has conquered the world, and their French fries supremacy follows them through most of the planet. In some places the McFries are known by other names, like McFritas in Portugeuse, but they are still the same great fries. It's true, the fries remain the same in much of the world, but there are exceptions, and there are some intriguing and downright bizarre serving differences.

In Mexico, you can order McPatatas (that's "McPotatoes" in Spanish), which are seasoned potato wedges served up in a cup. In Hong Kong, during New Year season, you can get twisted curly fries. Costa Rica has steak fries, and Canada of course has poutine.

In India, you can get the McAloo Tikki. This is McDonald's take on that spiced potato croquette dish featuring a breaded deep-fried patty of potatoes and peas served on a hamburger bun along with tomatoes, onions, a special vegetable sauce, and ketchup. A perfect vegetarian burger for a land where you really can't have burgers… and it's made from potatoes.

In Germany, Hong Kong, Turkey, and several other Eastern European countries, Mickey D's has, wait for it, onion rings. They are standard-sized and use whole rings of onion rather than chopped onions like the competition at Burger King.

In the Netherlands you can get a special condiment for your fries called American Sauce. It's a yellow mayo we don't have in the States. Go figure. In the UK and in India you can get curry as a dipping sauce. In Poland they have the Ruffian Sandwich which is basically a burger with a second patty that is a Hash Brown rather than beef.  In the Philippines, McDonald's seasonally offers standard curly fries, known as Twister Fries there.  Man, I wish they'd have them here - Americans are quite fond of curly fries too, ya know? 

Also in Hong Kong, you can get Shake Shake Fries, where you put your fries in a bag a la Shake N Bake with whatever you want on your fries. Think cheddar, garlic, or regional favorites - chargrill, French onion, salt and pepper, and seaweed. Yeah, seaweed. To each their own. These shaker fries are very popular throughout the Indian Ocean and South Pacific region.



For additional side orders, around the world you can also get McRice, shrimp scampi, cheese empanadas, corn, and even gazpacho.

Hungry Girl's Grin 'n Carrot Fries

From this week's Hungry Girl email newsletter, featuring "Make 'n Fake Fries," we have this recipe which uses carrots instead of potatoes.

Grin ’n Carrot Fries

1/2 of recipe: 116 calories, 1g fat, 428mg sodium, 27g carbs, 8g fiber, 13g sugars, 2.5g protein -- PointsPlus® value 0

Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb. carrots (about 8 large carrots) 1/4 tsp. coarse salt, or more to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray. Cut carrots into French-fry-shaped spears, fairly equal in size. Lay them on the sheets, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip spears. Bake until tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside, about 15 more minutes. (The thicker the fries, the longer the cook time.)

MAKES 2 SERVINGS

French Fry Diary 358: Denny's, Clifton Heights

Welcome to possibly the last Denny's on Earth, it's in Clifton Heights, PA. This was our second Denny's of the night. The first one, over by the Philly airport was closed for renovations. Going to any Denny's was actually a surprise as they seem to have left New Jersey en masse suddenly about six months to a year back.

They used to be everywhere. Then slowly they disappeared, not sure why, but they did. Maybe it was bad publicity from certain racial incidents, or maybe the bad karma from buying out Sam's, formerly Sambo's. I won't go into that, it should for just speak for itself.

The Denny's took forever to find, even with dual GPSes, but my friends Jeff, Marc, Judy, and the Dark Crystal held out and made it through the wilds of Pennsylvania after the Wings game to get here. Once there, I was overwhelmed by the menu, several pages long and full of upscale diner-y goodness. That part of the 24/7 Denny's diner hasn't changed since I'd last visited one.

Guess what I finally settled on. I know, too easy. Burger and fries. I had wanted breakfast, but I don't know when I'll ever see a Denny's again, so I wanted to get fries to review, just in case it's another decade before I see another Denny's again. My buddy Ray had actually recommended them a few months back as well, so I had to try them.

First thing I noticed was that Denny's still had the huge glasses of Coke I remembered. That's a good thing. The burger was huge which made the pitiful portion of fries even more irritating. The vertically crinkle cut fries, to add injury to insult, we're only just warm. The less than twenty fries were quite potatoey and would probably have been pretty good if they were hot. Also, you can see in the picture that they were very liberal with the salt. Others in our party got breakfast potatoes that were shredded and browned well. Burger aside (which was very good), I kinda wish I'd gotten them instead.

I was full and satisfied at the end of the meal, so that's a good thing. Conversation with good friends always makes for a good time. And that includes the conversation at the next table claiming that that Hawkeye brought nothing to the Avengers. But I wish there had been more fries, and hot fries. The Denny's rating for this venture stands at all stars for the company of friends, and most of the food, but not so much for the French fries.

French Fry Diary 314: Doghouse Burgers & Fries

I heard about Doghouse Burgers & Fries from friends. The Doghouse is located in the Voorhees Town Center, formerly the Echelon Mall. Wow. I used to work at the Echelon Mall as a teenager, and let me tell you, the only things that are the same are the location, the escalators, and the Salvation Army lady incessantly ringing her bell. I do not miss holiday retail.

Doghouse is actually outside of the mall proper, or what used to be the mall proper. It has a variety of burgers and hot dogs as well as French fries. I got a burger combo with an order of the Cajun fries, mostly because an order of regular fries was unavailable. Other types included salt and pepper, garlic and parsley, sweet potato, bacon cheese, chili cheese, and onion straws.

It's an order and sit down and wait place. The wait was long enough for me to get a good long look at the place. Very very orange, with three folks behind the counter, and a large holiday shopping lunch crowd. They were doing good business so I don't blame them for the wait.

The burger was chargrilled and perfect, but the fries while hot and a good portion were only okay. They were regular cut natural cuts, and might have been good had they just been plain. They were tossed with some spices, nothing too hot, but enough to leave an aftertaste. I didn't finish them. I think that says a lot.

The onion straws are nothing of the kind. They are out and out onion rings, big thick crunchy ones with panko bread crumb covering. Easily the best onion rings I've had in a while. These were just luscious.

On this later visit, when we got the onion 'straws', we also got a couple other kinds of fries. the salt and pepper fries, which were pretty much plain fries, with really not that much pepper and far too much salt. The garlic and parsley fries weren't bad, if you like garlic, which I do, but it's a lot of garlic. And we also got the sweet potato fries, which is why the place was recommended to me in the first place. They were rippled potato wedges, and above average, very sweet and tasty. Not better than Cool Dog Café, but still they were very good.

I'll definitely be back for the burgers, and the onion rings, but not so much for the fries. I think this is a life lesson. If you're going to subtitle your restaurant "burgers and fries," they'd better be your two strongest menu items. At Doghouse, it's one out of two, not counting misnomer onion straws.

French Fry Diary 304: The New Burger King Fries

New Burger King French Fries are coming, or perhaps I should say they are already here.

I guess they didn't want anyone to compare and contrast the old and the new fries like Wendy's did when they switched fries last year. The new fries were already in most restaurants even though they weren't supposed be introduced until December 5th.

My good friend Marni hipped me to the change so I made arrangements to check out the new fries. This was a weird experience as I haven't ordered all that many fries at BK since they changed to the Invisicoat battered shoestrings that I hate so much.

Again I was surprised to find the change had already gone through, and that no one had the old fries any more. Other than one poster advertising a free fry day later in the month, there was no promotion or fanfare about the new fries. Quite honestly I didn't even think the employees were aware of it. When I asked about it at the counter, the clerk had to get a manager and ask her. No old fries left, good riddance, on to the new ones.

The new BK French fries resemble Roy Rogers regular cut fries actually, only they still have that crappy Invisicoat coating although not as much of it. I have to say they do taste a little better, as long as they are hot. Notably once I got some of them home, they did not nuke or reheat in the oven well at all. They are good for dipping but too thick for stacking in a sandwich.

Now, according to Burger King, these new fries are low sodium (despite how salty they appear to be and taste as well), and there's nothing wrong with that, if it's true. The problem is they also claim that the coating makes them not only crisper, but also stay hotter longer, and I know for a fact that that is just not true. Things like that make me wonder how much else is true or not. But then again, it's been so long since I've had BK fries, perhaps the old ones were even worse at staying hot.

It is an improvement over the old ones, but not much of one. I am glad they didn't go the route of Wendy's and go natural cut. Everyone is doing that these days and there are just not enough regular cut fries out there. If BK was going to change their fries though, why not go back to their original shoestrings though? They are sorely missed. Well, at least if I go to Burger King now, fries are at least a possible option now.

If you want to try out the new fries for yourself, BK is offering folks a free taste on December 16th. I've told you what I think, let me know what you think.

French Fry Diary 303: P.J. Whelihan's, Medford Lakes NJ

I had only been here once before, years ago, when this particular P.J. Whelihan's was South Jersey landmark, the Settler's Inn, for a wedding reception I was late for because I got lost. But that's just how Medford Lakes is - it's easy to get lost. It's fun, and easy, and a nice drive. However this is one of those times I wished I'd gotten lost.

The P.J. Whelihan's in Medford Lakes is like a TARDIS, much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. The décor makes it look like a pub, bordering on a T.G.I.Friday's. There's a bar, big screen TVs blaring sports, decades old album flats on the walls - you get the idea.

Once I saw the menu, I was entranced. There were at least four varieties of French fries. They had Famous - old bay seasoned crinkle cuts with melted American cheese, Original - classic golden regular cuts, P.J.'s Spicy - Originals dusted with their special seasoning, Sweet Potato Fries with horseradish dipping sauce, and also Onion Rings with a Creole dipping sauce. And some of the burgers also had onion strings as a topping so they must have them as well, even though not mentioned on the menu.

I determined that I would have to come back to try the others and just get one type of the favorite fried food on this trip. I got the Originals, which turned out to be, as promised, natural cut regular cuts with salt and pepper. They looked crispy but that was just the bad dim lighting. They were in fact soggy and just barely warm. They were soft and mashed potato-ey inside, with a baked quality and while they were probably deep-fried.

On the good side, there were a variety of sauces available for the chicken wings, one of which I snagged for dipping my fries in. The Drunken BBQ sauce was infused with Guinness, and mild and interesting. Everything was great until I pulled the hair out of my basket of fries. Ick. Double ick. Triple ick. I guess I won't be coming back to try anything else on the menu... ever...

I might try a different one someday, but not this P.J.'s.

French Fry Diary 286: 365 Baked Potato Chips

On my latest trip to Whole Foods, I picked up a couple of their brand name, 365, baked style potato chips. I chose the Lightly Salted and Barbecue varieties.

The Lightly Salted Baked Potato Chips were kinda bland, with that same flat cardboard taste that I have always disliked about baked chips. Taste in baked chips is one department where Trader Joe's is the definite winner. It's almost as if these chips have no taste at all, close to, dare I say it, Communion wafers. They do have a cool uniform shape though - it's almost a Green Lantern symbol.

The Barbecue Baked Potato Chips do have some flavor, wholly due to seasoning, and also come in the weird Lantern shape. I wonder if it's a happy coincidence or a movie tie-in. The seasoning is not great barbecue seasoning but at least it is some flavor.

These are not great chips unless you are being health conscious and don't care about flavor. No transfats, and lots less fat than regular chips. Not for me, try at your own peril.