French Fry Diary 677: Carolina Blue Smokehouse and Taproom

Way off the beaten path, or at least my beaten path, is the Carolina Blue Smokehouse and Taproom, all the way in Pitman NJ. I went there for a surprise birthday party for good friend, author, and current president of the South Jersey Writers' Group, Amy Holiday, so it was worth it.

Despite the outside appearance of the restaurant as a barbeque place, the food's appearance has more of a very simple Californian cuisine vibe. I got my usual, a cute little burger that was delicious, moist, and incredibly filling. I felt so stuffed after this little morsel. As a side, and also as an appetizer for the whole table, were house cut chips. Very much like the crispy thin slices in an order of fried breakfast potatoes, these were chips with just the right crisp, very good. The appetizer came with melted blue cheese crumbles that everyone loved.

While I didn't have (I know, blasphemy) the regular fries, I did get a chance to try the sweet potato fries, stylized on their menu as "SWEET! Potato Fries," dusted with a cinnamon sugar and served with vanilla cheesecake dip. These were to die for, even cold. These quite possibly some of the best sweet potato fries I've had, and I'm really not all that fond of them.

All in all, it was a great night out with friends, good friends and good discussion, and Amy was surprised, so it was all good. Thumbs up for the Carolina Blue Smokehouse and Taproom.

French Fry Diary 620: Wild Ophelia BBQ Potato Chips Chocolate Bar

This was one of the treats I was looking forward to in my Christmas present from friends Dom and Cindy this year. As you might recall, they gave me the gift of some very odd potato chips variations. One I was eager to try was this - Wild Ophelia All Natural Smokehouse BBQ Potato Chips Dark Chocolate Bar.

There are a few companies involved here in this unusual flavor combination - Wild Ophelia, Vosges, and The Billy Goat Chip Company. Supposedly it's all about connecting American farmers with chocolate. To that end we have here 70% cacao dark chocolate and Russet Burbank Potatoes mixed up in this all natural, gluten free, with no preservatives, treat.

It came in a slim fancy hard paper sleeve and was sealed in foil inside. Once opened, there was an overwhelming but good dark chocolate aroma. It's a rich dark chocolate, perhaps too rich, and like most potato chip candy bars, the chips are crushed up into tiny pieces and mixed into the chocolate.

Quite honestly the chip to chocolate ratio is quite low, but when you do bite a crunch you do get that spicy slow burn smokehouse barbecue flavor. That said, I wish there was more chip, and quite possibly a milk chocolate instead. I think this dark stuff might be too rich for my blood.

This was a nice treat, not as good as others of this type I've had, but pretty good. I'd have this again. Thank you, Dom and Cindy!

French Fry Diary 490: The Chips of West Virginia

Usually it's my friend Marni who finds the odd and out of the way potato chips for me to write about on this blog. This time, she put her boyfriend/partner/common law husband, Bob, to work for me. He was hiking in West Virginia and picked up two different bags of WV-based barbecue flavored potato chips. Surprisingly both of these regional brands I had tried before, but not these flavors.

First up were the Smokehouse BBQ potato chips from Miss Vickie's. Believe it or not, I had encountered this brand before, pretty far from West Virginia at the Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney, Orlando FL. Granted, it was a different kind of barbecue potato chip at the time, but still.

The Smokehouse chips are kettle cooked and claim to be all natural. They have the weird funky shapes that mark kettle cooking yet are quite small. While built for dipping, they might indeed be too small to do so.

And although the smokey flavor is hyped on the back of the bag, the sweetness of the seasoning is overpoweringly delightful from the brown sugar and molasses in the ingredients. These chips rock, I liked them quite a lot.

Next up were the barbeque potato chips from WV's Mister Bee. A bag of the sour cream & onion were included in the Anchor O'Reilly's Food Finds bag o' rare chips that The Bride got me for Christmas. They were not my cup of tea. I hope these might be more to my liking...

But alas, that hope would be for naught. These chips, just like the other Mister Bee's, are overseasoned and grainy, and the barbeque flavor is unpleasant and overpowering. I coukd only eat a couple of them. They had so much seasoning, at least a handful of the dusting was at the bottom of the bag. These did not make me happy.

Happily I don't think they cost Bob much, or at I hope they didn't. Either way, thanks, Marni and Bob!

French Fry Diary 366: Ruffles Smokehouse Style BBQ

Just a few days after I was lamenting the fact that no one local carries BBQ flavored Ruffles, I find these, almost a substitute, Ruffles Smokehouse Style BBQ Flavored Potato Chips. Wow, how's that for a mouthful. Why do chip products always have such long names?

Anyway, I couldn't wait to get this bag home and try them. Just look at those juicy dry rubbed ribs on the bag... mmmm... Once open the aroma matches the picture. The chips, standard Ruffles, but darkened by spices, are almost brown. If anything they are too spicy. A glance at the ingredients reveals the usual suspects, plus MSG. Not good.

A handful of these are good and hot, with, as I said, perhaps too much seasoning. Any more than that however is like kissing a smoker, or licking an ashtray. Thumbs down on these, but still looking for Ruffles BBQ...