Random Tater Pic of the Day #256

Pringles around the holidays is always known for their out-there flavors, but sometimes they go a bit far, falling into odd-texture weird taste realm of Jelly Belly.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. Here's a pic of friend and sometime-contributor to French Fry Diary, expressing her concern for Pringles Sugar Cookie Potato Crisps.

Yeah, I think Pixie speaks for all of us. If we want sugar cookies, we'll have sugar cookies, and if we want potato chips, we'll have potato chips, or crisps, as Pringles calls 'em.

Stick to chips/crisps, Pringles.

French Fry Diary 685: Trader Joe's Turkey and Stuffing Seasoned Kettle Chips

When the Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer arrived at my door for November, I perused it as usual, always looking for something new and interesting, or much more rare, something I usually purchase there that's on sale. What a Thanksgiving surprise when I saw Turkey & Stuffing Kettle Potato Chips right there in the front page - touted as Thanksgiving dinner in a chip. I knew what I was getting next trip to Trader Joe's.

So after getting the Trader Joe's usuals, and being sorely disappointed they were already out of Advent calendars in mid-November, I got these unique chips home. The Flyer promised something out of science fiction, like a meal in a pill, but honestly their description sounded more like Violet's gum in Willy Wonka, right down to the gravy. This description made me a little scared to try it. No one wants to be juiced like a giant cranberry, ya know?

Much like this year's Do Us A Flavor contest entries, the ingredients include a mysterious item called 'turkey & stuffing seasoning,' but at least Trader Joe's tells us what's in that in parentheses after that. Some chemicals and fancy words, but more satisfying than just the word 'seasoning.'

Upon opening the bag (after cutting off the top, it was from Trader Joe's after all), a pleasant aroma hit me, potato chips, maybe some garlic, good stuff. As with the aforementioned contest entrants, I had The Bride try one first. She thought they were okay, getting the turkey flavor right away, with the stuffing coming cumulatively after a few more chips. No gravy running down her throat though.

I experienced much the same in this thick and crunchy kettle cooked chip. Not bad at all, these chips definitely fall into the category of other meat chips I've tried and reviewed. They're pretty good, but with that weird Jelly Belly vibe of this-shouldn't-taste-like-this. I also think, and this may be a weird reverse engineering idea, but I think they might be really good crushed up and used in stuffing. They are definitely worth a try once a year for Thanksgiving, and no Oompa Loompas in sight. Yet.

French Fry Diary 651: Herr's Cheese Waffles

Okay, we're going off the reservation a little bit here, but I think it's okay because it's a Herr's product, and Herr's makes darn good potato chips, so hang in there.

I've talked about the Jelly Belly effect here before, usually in relation to the more bizarre potato chip flavors in Lay's Do Us A Flavor contests. Jelly Bellys are jellybeans with a variety of odd flavors, many where taste and texture don't match up and don't feel right. For instance, buttered popcorn, bubble gum, and toasted marshmallow are just weird when in the form of a jellybean.

Herr's Cheese Waffles, subtitled 'zesty cheese sandwich snacks' that come in a cheddar flavor, are just such a case. They are crunchy waffle-shaped and cheese-stuff-filled treats that taste exactly like grilled cheese sandwiches. And they are damned addictive. A small snack bag was purchased for the household, and devoured in minutes. What can I say, we do like our grilled cheese around here.

French Fry Diary 604: Lay's Wavy Mango Salsa Potato Chips

Well, we're up to the third contender in Lay's 2014 Do Us A Flavor contest, and so far, no winners, hell, nothing I would vote for yet. Today I'm looking at Lay's Wavy Mango Salsa Flavored Potato Chips. It's intriguing that Lay's decided to make these Wavy, which is usually designed for dipping - because this flavor would actually make a good dip. Nice irony. Ironic or not, I just hope these taste better than the Cappuccino or the Wasabi Ginger chips.

The aroma I got when I opened the bag was interesting to say the least. Not unpleasant, but I couldn't really place it. I was expecting something a bit, oh I don't know, more citrusy. Having learned from the last two, I let The Bride try them first. She didn't spit them out or go pale, but her face said volumes. She didn't think they were as bad as the other two, and found the mango flavor disconcerting, "a potato chip shouldn't taste like that."

Again The Bride was on mark. These chips might not have smelled all that citrusy but man, did they taste like mango, and it's a fairly good taste. She compared it to Violet Beauregarde's final piece of gum in Willy Wonka. I think more in terms of Jelly Belly flavors like Buttered Popcorn or Toasted Marshmallow, where the taste feels wrong in this format. It's not bad really. This is the first bag that I've eaten more than a few chips from in this year's contest.

"Not as bad as the other two" is not a ringing endorsement, Lay's. I certainly hope the last flavor is something amazing because so far it's been nothing but disappointment.

French Fry Diary 477: More Pringles Holiday Flavors

We have talked about the Cinnamon & Sugar Potato Crisps from Pringles before. Basically they were just regular Pringles chips with a dusting of cinnamon sugar. I kinda expected the Pumpkin Pie Spice chips to be a similar gig.

As usual, in the cases of strange chip flavors, I made The Bride try one first. Her reaction was "Meh." It was just a chip with pumpkin pie spice dusted onto it. The aroma from the can was spot on, much like a scented candle, but after trying one myself, she had it right. They smell great, but I didn't care all that much for these, and as catastrophically picky an eater as I am, I like pumpkin pie.

The final flavor in the holiday trio that my big sister Bobbie got for me is rather specific - White Chocolate Peppermint. These didn't smell so great. Again, The Bride played guinea pig. Her assessment was that these were two tastes that didn't belong together, and related the experience to taking a bite of chocolate mint, then a Pringles crisp, then repeat.

I felt there were more in line with a bubble gum or buttered popcorn Jelly Belly, or faux beef made from tofu, or more appropriately, Lay's Chicken & Waffles Potato Chips - the flavors and textures just do not go well together. It feels wrong. That said however, I found the White Chocolate Peppermint much tastier and preferable to the Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Maybe Pringles will bring these out again next holiday season, or perhaps some new concoctions. Thanks, Bobbie, for getting these for me!

French Fry Diary 184: Burger King Onion Rings Flavored Snacks

I saw these at Five Below and couldn't resist. Burger King makes semi-decent onion rings so I figured I'd give them a try. At first glance, these are Burger King onion rings, but not quite. Let's be specific. These are onion rings flavored snacks, made from corn meal and formed to look sort of like Burger King onion rings.

The taste is, well, interesting. Everyone who tried them had the same sort of reaction. A few bites and then a look came over their face, and then they didn't have or want any more. It was similar to when someone eats one of the less appetizing flavors of Jelly Belly. Yum, um, ew.

Well, at least they are zero percent transfat, but then again, so are rocks. They have a blandish flavor with an extra mild kick to them, but they are nothing like real Burger King onion rings. Five Below also had snack varieties of BK's French Fries and Ketchup, and also their French Toast Sticks, but I don't think I'll be running to the store to get them any time soon.

French Fry Diary 98: Tony Luke’s, Philadelphia

This was a hard review to write, because I like Tony Luke, Jr., a lot.

Tony makes entertaining commercials, how to videos. He faced off with Bobby Flay on television and showed him up, he provided food for the folks making "Eye of the Tiger" a few years back, and of course I love his new grocery store miracle – the microwave at home cheesesteak – that actually tastes like a real cheesesteak. And that last bit is why I had to finally try the real thing. After weeks of loving the microwave version – I needed to do it for real – and while I was there, review the fries.

The night was frigid cold after watching the Philadelphia Wings lose (again) so I was glad that the area for the long line at Tony Luke’s was sheltered unlike other famous Philly cheesesteak places. It was in line however that we saw the sign. I had intended to merely try and review Tony’s fries, but this sign promised something far more exotic in the realm of the favorite fried food – “Frank Fries” - oh yeah, baby, you know we had to give those a try as well.

The cheesesteak was perfect, and the bread, which Tony always stresses is one of the most important elements, was more than perfect. I can’t rave about the roll enough. This is a damn good cheesesteak, one of the best in the city, period. The problem, unfortunately, was with the fries. As I said, I like Tony a lot, so I kinda wish this was Cheesesteak Diary, and not French Fry Diary, ya know?

The curly fries were just average, and worse than that, they were overdone. Maybe it was because they were busy (which they were, eleven o’clock on a Saturday night, and they were crazy hopping, the line filling the shelter and spilling into the street) and rushed, or maybe this is the regular state of the fries – but they really weren’t great.

The Frank Fries were... interesting. They fall into the realm of non-potato fries, so not really fries, but they were good. They sorta have that bubble gum flavor Jelly Belly vibe going on that this shouldn’t taste like this, but it’s good. They are more or less corn dog strips waaay well done with an onion ring batter texture. All in all, they weren’t bad, I’d get ‘em again.

Tony Luke’s is definitely the place to go for a cheesesteak, all aces there, but for fries... maybe not.

French Fry Diary 76: Herr’s Kansas City Prime Steak Flavor

I just saw these new Herr’s chips the other day at my local Wawa and decided I had to try them. Their full product title is Herr’s Kansas City Prime Steak Artificially Flavored Potato Chips. My first question about these is do they taste like the meat or the stuff that tastes like the meat?

Upon reading the back of the bag I learned that Herr’s tops them "with the flavor of thick and juicy steak," a bold flavor hard to find "outside of your favorite steakhouse." Interesting. How exactly does one do that?

First things first, the picture on the bag is misleading. The chips are not wide ripples but tight thin ripples, not waves but ridges in other words. Waves are better for dipping in my opinion, just saying.

The chips do in fact have an interesting taste. The pepper is strong and they do have a steak vibe, it’s just not a taste one would expect on a potato chip. It is similar to the phenomenon of Jelly Bellys that have Buttered Popcorn or Bubble Gum flavors – yeah, it’s good but there’s something weird about it in that form.

Thee are tasty and different, but maybe not on a regular basis. Well worth a try though.