French Fry Diary 673: Jessica's Do Us A Flavor 2015 Taste Testing

Guest Post by Jessica Walsh

Although the Lay’s Do Us a Flavor contest was established in 2013 (as far as I could tell), I had never participated in taste-testing or voting. Instead, I lived vicariously through Glenn and his reviews, taking his word for it. The man knows his spuds. After a winner was declared, I knew better than to complain if I disagreed since I hadn’t utilized my voting power.

This year, after reading Glenn’s lackluster review of what I assumed would be my favorite flavor, New York Reuben, I decided to get off the bench, get in the game, put my taste buds to the test and exercise my right to vote.

Like all red-blooded Americans, I have an opinion and I figured with thirty years of potato chip-eating experience, I am more than qualified to weigh in. Some gals like chocolate and sweets; this gal once considered giving her guinea pig’s salt lick a taste. I am a self-proclaimed potato chip connoisseur.

To make things more fun, however, I called on my gang of guys to help me out with the taste-testing. My husband, Mike, our friends, Rudy and Jay, and myself have 130 years of cumulative chip-eating experience. We know chips.

Some stats:

Jessica’s favorite chips: Herr’s ruffled sour cream and onion & Herr’s Boardwalk Salt & Vinegar Kettle Cooked.

Rudy’s favorite chip: Herr’s Boardwalk Salt & Vinegar Kettle Cooked (this is why we’re such good friends).

Mike’s favorite chip: Herr’s Kettle Cooked Jalapeno. (For the record, this is the only potato chip I have ever encountered that I prefer NOT to eat. I don’t believe it’s Mike’s favorite based on flavor, but on the fact that it is the only snack he can bring into the house and know it will still be there when he wants some.)

Jay’s favorite chips: Jay is an Utz guy. He goes for Grandma Utz Plain Kettle Cooked or Utz’s Kettle Cooked Smokin’ Sweet.

We are kettle-cooked people. Nothing beats that crunch. Poor Lay’s. Not one of us has a favorite among their extensive selection. Let’s see if these flavors win us over…

“Okay, gents, let’s begin!”

We started with the Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries. I read the ingredients, and what Angie Fu had to say about her flavor. I was pleased with the appearance, which greatly resembled my beloved sour cream & onion. Upon taste though, I felt they were lacking that earthy, mushroom-y flavor that truffles are known for. Rudy commented that they tasted like a spice cabinet, and that he wanted ketchup to dip them in. Angie Fu, we ain’t fuled by your finalist that fell flat.

With fungus on my mind (not literally), I told the story of the mushroom that was sad he couldn’t stay at the party. “I’m a fun-gi! I promise I won’t take up mush-room.” Rudy said the chips were at least better than my jokes.

“I don’t know,” Jay began thoughtfully. “They say wavy, but they just laid there.” Yeah, it was time to move on.

Next we tried the New York Reuben. Having all grown up near New York, we have all had MANY Reubens in our lives. The Reuben is to North Jersey what the cheesesteak is to South Jersey. Glenn never had one so he cannot be trusted on things such as this. After all, he doesn’t write for The Amazing Sandwich Diary.

I don’t know how the chemists do it, but we absolutely all agreed that these chips taste EXACTLY like a Reuben. For me, the most prominent flavor was the rye bread. I got the caraway (all the best rye breads are seeded), the tang of the Thousand Island dressing, the cheese… I only wished they were a little saltier.

The dreaded four-chips-in-one tower bite

“I wish I had a pickle to go with these,” Rudy commented. “Oh, even better would be dill pickle potato chips mixed with these chips! Or a Reuben with a side of fries,” he added as he plucked a truffle chip and a Reuben chip from the tray and popped them in his month at the same time. I promptly followed suit. Nope, not good.

Jeff Solensky, the finalist who chose this flavor, grew up in Long Island so he has credibility. But even though the Reuben chips taste exactly like they should, they’re not my favorite. If the contest was based on accuracy to title alone, they’d be the clear winner. But I don’t want my chip to taste that much like something else because it just confuses me. I rather just eat a Reuben. Sorry, Jeff.

Next up was the Kettle Cooked Greektown Gyro. I already established that we all love kettle cooked chips. These were nice and crunchy. Too bad they were also DISGUSTING! First of all, they look dirty. They’re dark and the seasoning looks like cigarette ash and dust. I was hesitant even putting it in my mouth. “That is not good,” I said after one bite.

If James Wagner is happy with the chip he came up with, then I think it is fair to say that they serve crappy gyros in Texas, a place not at all known for its Greek cuisine.

Jay actually threw his chip out, rather than finish it. Hey Lays, I betcha we CAN eat just one. Sorry James, there’s no way you’re winning the big bucks.

Little did we know we were saving the best for last. First, let me state that I have never in my life eaten Southern Biscuits & Gravy. It is my understanding that above the Mason-Dixon Line we have something called cream chipped beef served over white bread or some sort of bread that’s not a biscuit because we have bagels here. Both look unappetizing. Bread drowning in a white gelatinous goop of butter, flour, some sort of dairy product and meat drippings? Gross.

So imagine my surprise when I loved these chips! I immediately got a breakfast sausage flavor and I love breakfast sausage. I also got a hint of butter. This was such an obvious winner for me and so far beyond the others in terms of flavor. I would actually buy these chips again!

Hailey Green, I hope you win $1,000,000! I am going to spend the remainder of the voting period supporting you. When you win, please reimburse me for the Vote for Hailey pins and lawn signs I just ordered from Café Press.

I’m still not ordering that goopy mess at a diner, though.

I must sadly report that although Southern Biscuits & Gravy was my favorite flavor, it was not unanimous. Rudy adamantly and stubbornly voted for pretzel rods and salt & vinegar chips, adding that truffle would be in dead last and the remaining three were tied for third.

Jay and Mike, brothers by different mothers, chose the Reuben first, followed by the biscuits and gravy, then the truffle fries, and then the dirty disgusting gyro chips. James Wagner, GO HOME.

Lastly, we stacked all four together and put the towers in our mouths. It was pretty bad.

“It’s like a Reuben with gyro meat and a side of fries coated in sausage gravy!”

I do not recommend eating all four at once. However, I do recommend you VOTE! Remember, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem and if those Greektown Gyro Garbage chips show up on my grocery store shelves, we WILL have a problem.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #195

This one is a little more unorthodox than most of our Random Tater Pics. This is from one of last year's Philadelphia Wings' games at the Whatever-They're-Calling-It-This-Week Center, that moment when Utz Potato Chips takes over the ads inside for a few seconds...

French Fry Diary 623: Utz Wavy Baby Back Ribs Chips

I've talked before how much I love Herr's Baby Back Rib Potato Chips, or pig chips as I like to call them, before. So when I saw these - Utz Wavy Baby Back Ribs flavored crisp all natural Potato Chips (another contender for longest chip name ever), I just had to get them.

I can only really compare them to the Herr's version. These chips are thinner, and their ridges are ever so slightly smaller. The thinness, usually a Lay's trait, makes them a little less functional as dipping chips.

I have to say the flavor isn't as strong as Herr's, but I think that's a good thing. The baby back ribs seasoning flavor is still there, just very subtle. I like it. So much so that if I have a choice between pig chips - Herr's or Utz, I think I'm going for the Utz.

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 505: The Bottom of the Bag o' Chips

I'm finally there, finally at the bottom of the bag o' rare potato chips from Anchor Food Finds that The Bride got me for Christmas. Here are the last three bags.

Dirty Sweet Potato Chips - Yeah, these again, from the folks who just want to have the chips with the absolute longest name. Dirty, like Zapp's, is owned by Utz. I did not like these at all. Taste, smell, all bad, and no, they hasn't even come close to expiring.

Utz "The Crab Chip" - Speaking of Utz, other than the Herr's silver foil (however now with new packaging more reflective of Old Bay marketing), these are usually the only Maryland Old Bay seasoning chips we see up here in the Philadelphia area.

As opposed to the above mentioned Herr's, "The Crab Chip" has Chesapeake Bay Crab Seasoning instead of Old Bay. It doesn't have as much of a bite, so it's not as hot, but it does have a bit of an aftertaste. Not bad, I would get these again.

Blair's Death Rain Buffalo Wing Chips -These are truly in the rare category. Not only are they buffalo wing flavored, but they're made by a company that specializes in hot sauce, owned by another company called Extreme Food. That's why these are last. I'm afraid of these potato chips. But then again, who wouldn't be afraid of something called Death Rain chips?

All that said, they are not bad, but there is quite a bit of heat. It should be noted that these were the 'Medium' heat chips, so it could get quite a bit hotter. I'm not a big buffalo sauce guy, preferring barbeque instead so maybe that also put me off, but I have to say these kettle chips aren't bad. I could be talked into trying other Death Rain chips.

And that's it, the end of the bag o' chips. Not a bad holiday gift from The Bride. I wouldn't mind getting it again next year. Hint hint.

French Fry Diary 488: NJ DIS Meet Weekend

This past weekend The Bride and I attended the NJ DIS Meet Weekend. More details on that can be found here, but for the purposes of this blog, we're going to concentrate on the favorite fried food.

On Saturday, the events came with a lunch. The meal consisted of Caesar salad, bread, steamed mixed vegetables, baked ziti, something that might or might not have been chicken francese, and roasted red potatoes. Come on, you knew I'd get there somehow.

The potatoes were pretty good for catered hot plate potatoes. Nowhere near as good as the crunchy sizzling ones I had the night before at Applebee's. but that's beside the point, and I'll get to them in a later entry. I did notice that the kids meals with chicken tenders had crinkle cuts French fries. That's just ageism at its worst.

The conversation quickly turned toward regional differences. It started with a discussion of Tastykake, as the winner of the Krimpet eating contest was at our table. The non-Philly folks had surprisingly never heard of them.

Talk moved on to the wonders of Wawa, another local phenomenon, and then amazingly how some had never heard of Herr's potato chips. I was stunned. Herr's is the number one chip around, most space on the shelves, etc. I had forgotten how truly regional they were. They did know Utz however. Interesting.

French Fry Diary 255: Utz Honey BBQ Potato Chips

When I worked at a 9-5 office job we had an Utz delivery guy come in once a week with free chips and sometimes new test flavors. Nice guy and good memories, and good times. I like Utz a lot, they have great products.

On a recent trip to see family in Maryland I saw some Utz stuff I had never seen before, at an ice cream parlor of all places. They had crab chips (we were in Maryland after all), Carolina BBQ chips, and my favorite flavor - Honey BBQ. Guess which one I brought home.

Utz BBQ chips come in two styles - regular and with ridges, you never know what you're going to get. When I opened this bag of Utz Honey BBQ Flavored Potato Chips I got regulars not ridges, which was fine. I like the mystery.

The bad news is that they weren't that great. They had the lingering aftertaste and touch of heartburn that some barbeque chips have, and also a weird grainy quality sort of like Jack and Jill chips. They weren't horrible, I would have them again, they just weren't preferable.

French Fry Diary 236: Trader Joe's Kettle Cooked Olive Oil Potato Chips

I love Trader Joe's. They have great meats, spices, breads, veggies and fruits, the healthy stuff, and of course those chocolate covered orange jells that you must get every time you go. They are no Whole Foods, but they're good.

Last time I was in there I had a bit of the munchies and grabbed some chips. Being an upscale grocer, they don't have the usual selection of Herr's, Utz or Wise, so you have to get adventurous. I grabbed a bag of Trader Joe's Kettle Cooked Olive Oil Potato Chips.

Besides having the prerequisite gourmet long name, these were also a bit on the inexpensive side for the size bag - $1.99 for seven ounces is not bad. Unfortunately, like most gourmet long name chips, they were also almost impossible to open without a scissors. Can somebody tell me what's up with that? Seems to me being able to easily open the bag would be a plus, maybe even a selling point.

Now I'm a big fan of Spanish fries, French fries cooking in olive oil, so I was expecting a similar taste here. It doesn't come through well, which was odd as the ingredients were listed as only potatoes, olive oil and salt. They are still pretty good, if a bit greasy. They are still crispier than usual chips but the ones I got were a bit small for dipping - which they would have been good for.

All in all a good diversion and a nice snack. They are not what I would reach for first, but I wouldn't turn them away.

French Fry Diary 232: Foodies, Parx Casino

At most casinos they don't want you to eat, much less know what time it is. Their concern is getting you to gamble, nothing else. That's the reason for the quirky restaurant hours in these 24/7 casinos. They don't want you there eating, just shoveling your money into their pockets. Heck, I have spent huge chunks of my life at Harrahs in Atlantic City and still haven't been to every food place there.

Parx, the newly revamped version in Bucks County has a few places to eat, including one of my faves, Chickie's & Pete's, but since I was bored with nothing else to do (longtime readers know I don't gamble), I wanted to amuse myself by writing a FFD review - so I chose the intriguingly named Foodies. Sadly, the name was the only thing intriguing about this wannabe cafeteria.

Simply midnight snack fare was on my mind - a hot dog, small fries and, as preferred Coke was unavailable, a Pepsi. The all beef hot dog was pretty good, but then again I have been spoiled for hot dogs since the Cool Dog Café opened. The Pepsi was, well, Pepsi. And the fries were... well, let's just say it's a good thing they give you Utz potato chips with every sandwich - so I had some potato with my meal.

These grocery frozen shoestrings are freezer burned and deep-fried, perhaps too much. Most are too crunchy to eat and many are stuck together. There's too much salt and what at first I thought was pepper, on closer inspection, really put me off of these things. I don't think its black pepper - I think it's debris from the deep fryer. Thank heaven for the factory sealed snack bag of Utz.

Next time, I'm going to Chickie's & Pete's. Promise.

French Fry Diary 185: Famous Dave's Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que

Black Friday this year was spent chilling with my brother-in-law and my nephew, and before jumping into the crazy world of holiday shopping, the bro treated me to lunch at Famous Dave's. It had been some time since I'd been there and was looking forward to seeing what they had and didn't have.

Famous Dave's is a bit on the darker side of franchise restaurants like T.G.I.Fridays and Applebee's with all the stuff on the walls. It's like hunting lodge from hell décor, with bad country music and southern rock, interspersed with the occasional holiday song. Not the happiest environment, especially with ammo boxes on the wall, but the food is good.

Our waitress 'Famous' Keri happily announced that they had Pepsi products. I had noticed that the various barbeque sauces on the table were in Hank's Root Beer boxes but I was unsure if they offered it - they do. Pepsi worked though, nice and cold to counteract the hotness of the sauces.

Speaking of the sauces, after we ordered we were treated to a 'sauce tour.' A basket of homemade potato chips were served with five empty cups for sampling the five different sauces. They include: Sweet and Zesty, my personal favorite that I even have at home (Famous Dave's also sells these at supermarkets); Texas Pit, kinda hot for me; Devil Spit, this was milder than I thought it be, not bad; Rich and Sassy, was just good bbq sauce and my nephew's favorite; and Georgia Mustard, being mustard, I passed on it.

The sauce tour came with those homemade potato chips, similar to the ones at the British Chip Shop, only not hot, more like traditional potato chips. They were very crispy, but as I said, not very hot, but that's okay, they were for the sauces. I enjoyed them very much.

The burger was very good, just like a burger cooked on the grill at a summer cookout, just the way I like it. The fries that came with them were natural cut potato wedges with ripples on them, thin ones like on Utz Ripple chips as opposed to Utz Wavy chips, ya know? And they go with the fry, not against it like crinkle cuts. These ripples should allow for more crispiness, which I wish they were. Otherwise these were quite good, and the bbq sauces made them even better.

All in all, a great meal with family, and the fries were pretty good too. Thanks for lunch, Matt!