French Fry Diary 525: Utz Gourmet Medley Potato Chips

This is the first review of my 2013 vacation. The Bride arranged for us to fly first class down to Orlando, and I guess one of the perks is snacks. Not a tiny bag of peanuts, but snack bags of, well, snacks. The flight attendant brought around a tray of snacks for us to pick from. I saw the Utz name on a bag and snagged it.

The full name is Utz Natural Gourmet Medley Kettle Cooked Potato Chips, and these are chips made from three different potatoes - dark and light russets, sweet potatoes, and blue potatoes - to give the chips a festive four-colored variety. Oooh, very fancy, very gourmet.

I held onto them 'til we got off the plane and back to the hotel to try them and write about them properly. Why? We were delayed, having some bad turbulence, and holy cow, you should have seen me trying to type the above on my Nook… autocorrect, most of the time I hate you, but you saved most of the above when I was barely hitting any of the right keys.

The chips are pretty good, as Utz' kettle chips always are. The novelty here is in the color, as the taste isn't all that different except for the sweet potatoes. It is worth noting that the mixing of sweet and other potatoes give all of them a bit of a sweet scent and taste. A different treat, I liked these, good stuff.

French Fry Diary 174: Johnny Rivers' Grill & Market, Orlando International Airport

Southwest Airlines always has their gates off the beaten track no matter what airport you go to. If you arrive at any airport, be assured that Southwest will be the furthest point from where you are. In an airport like Orlando, one so big that they need a train to get you to your baggage, Southwest is pretty far from any of the malls or food courts. What is close to Southwest's gates is a place called Johnny Rivers' Grill & Market.

This is a tiny little oasis squeezed between two gates with an unimaginably tiny seating area and an even tinier 'market' where you can order and purchase stuff like sodas, candy and peach barbeque sauce. It does smell really good, specializing in Cajun fare, with delightful pictures rather than a menu. Here I was, with lots of time on my hands, and a taunting picture of golden brown steak fries overhead. So I ordered fries and a Dr. Pepper (which was odd, isn't Florida the land of Mr. Pibb?).

Ten minutes later I got a very generous portion of shoestring French fries. They were very hot as they were made to order, and they were sprinkled heavily with salt and cracked black pepper that gave them quite a kick. Not bad for an airport snack, and I would have been more than satisfied had it not been for that teasing pic of golden brown thick steak fries on the menu.

This place really has no web presence. I did find numerous bad reviews of the food at this particular location. The chef Johnny Rivers (not the Memphis Secret Agent Man from the Poor Side of Town, it should be noted) is apparently also responsible for the menus at such myriad restaurants as Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze, the Hawaiian Tropic Grill and Prime Minister Steakhouse. I guess he didn't spend much time at the airport.