French Fry Diary 687: Herr's Chickie's & Pete's Crabfries Potato Chips

Whenever someone asks me who has the best French fries, and especially the best locally made fries, there is always one name that comes up - and that's Chickie's & Pete's. Their trademark Famous Crabfries are truly fabulous. In many ways, those pixie crinkle cuts with their special Old Bay seasoning and white cheese for dipping are Philadelphia.

Now, two local potato giants - Chickie's & Pete's and Herr's- have come together for one potentially sensational product. Yeah, Crabfries Potato Chips. The full name of the product is exhaustingly (take a deep breath) Herr's Chickie's & Pete's Famous Crabfries Seasoned Potato Chips with White Creamy Cheese Sauce Flavoring. Fifteen words. That's probably a record.

As I love Crabfries, I was pretty excited when I heard about these, but then I also heard they also had the cheese flavoring in them. I love the fries, but the white cheese not so much. The Bride loves it, but I usually give it all to her for dipping. This detail made me wonder if these chips would be as good as I first thought. Notably cheddar cheese is listed third in the ingredients.

When I opened the bag, the aroma was not unpleasant, but additionally it was not what I expected either. I didn't smell Crabfries. Clearly this is not a Lay's Do Us A Flavor chip, but that may be a good thing. The chips themselves as depicted on the package were wavy ripple chips, a nice homage to Chickie's & Pete's crinkle cut fries.

My first bite however brought that special Old Bay seasoning home. This was exactly the taste of the Crabfries, and after a couple more chips I got the cheese flavoring as a cumulative aftertaste. These are very good, I liked them a lot. Much like the Crabfries, these are very hot, so have something to drink close by. Thumbs up for these chips.

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More proof that dipping French fries in milkshakes is not just a fluke that a small minority are into. This admittedly unflattering screen capture is from a recent episode of Showtime's "Shameless."

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These zucchini fries were from a recent dinner at Benihana.

French Fry Diary 686: Potatoes Three Ways

From the late October 2015 Disney Magic cruise talked about on this episode of The Make Mine Magic Podcast, this dinner pic is from Carioca's, where I had potatoes three ways.

First, there was the Jack Cheese Twice Baked Potato, then the Roasted Root Vegetables that included carrots, turnips, celery, and sweet potatoes julienne cut into French fry strips, and finally topped off by the steak fries side dish that our servers Brendon and Andrene made sure I had every night. And the Ribeye was good too.

Awesome.

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 684: Steak Fries on the Disney Magic

I have mentioned our waitstaff from our two Disney Cruises this season before. Brendon and Andrene are the best.

At our first dinner at Animator's Palate I ordered French fries of course, and got the terrific steak fries one usually gets on board toward the beginning of the cruise. I mentioned how much I enjoyed them, but my brother-in-law went the extra mile, saying that if I got fries with every meal I'd always be happy.

This triggered what I like to call the Creme Brûlée effect. On a previous cruise, friends Dom and Cindy had raved about the Creme Brûlée dessert and their waitstaff made sure they always had it, even when they came back on a later cruise.

Because of the bro, we had steak fries every night of the cruise and when we returned two weeks later for the TCM Classic Cruise. Yeah, they are that good, and I was in French fry heaven, whether I liked it or not. Who am I kidding? I loved it.

French Fry Diary 683: Wendy's Baconator Fries

Recently on the way home I had the munchies and on a whim I pulled into the Wendy's drive-thru. As long as I was there, despite not really liking their fries any more, I decided to get an order of Wendy's Baconator Fries, if for no other reason than to write about them. Yes, I'm doing it so you won't have to.

Wendy's Baconator Fries are named after the burger of the same name, and is a regular order of Wendy's crappy new natural cut sea salt fries, with cheese sauce, shredded cheese, and bits of applewood smoked bacon. As expected, these were the same crappy fries, half-covered in yummy cheddar cheese, and bacon. The bacon was the biggest surprise - thankfully not burnt or crunchy, but good perfectly done bacon.

If I'm being honest, this was a nice snack, really good hot, and not so much (except for the bacon) as they got colder. I still can't help wishing for Wendy's to bring their old fries back. That would have made them perfect.

French Fry Diary 682: An Open Letter

I love you folks. You send me pictures, comments, and sometimes your own experiences at places I have reviewed, and I love it. But sometimes I get feedback on the French Fry Diary site that is mean, personal, or just downright insulting. Sometimes it's from folks who work for places I have reviewed negatively. I get that.

Sometimes it's from folks who I have termed 'health Nazis' who think fast food and junk food are among other such evils (and sometimes worse than) as alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. That's fine. I like French fries, so I'm going to write about them. My point is - you don't have to read about them.

I have often wondered why people who hate what I do would insist on reading my blog. I don't get that. If you think fast food is poison, why would you take the time to stop and read (and comment!) on a blog dedicated to the celebration of fast food??

I don't like broccoli, so I don't order broccoli in restaurants, and I certainly do not read about broccoli online. Why the hell would I be reading about broccoli? Seriously, if you're a reader, and you hate what I'm saying, why are you here? I would really like to know. Please, explain it to me.

French Fry Diary 681: Funyuns Steakhouse Onion

I love the Bloomin' Onion from the Outback. I love the wannabe versions at other chains. So when I saw this new Funyuns flavor on the shelf at Wawa, I had to try them.

There's a big picture of the Bloomin' Onion on the bag, and while they can't actually call it that, you know that's what it is. The back of the package promises the zesty flavor of a steakhouse onion blossom and dip. Hmmm… dip? I'm not crazy about the dip. Maybe this was a mistake. Oh well, I guess there's only one way to find out...

Opening the bag, they kind of smell like the dip, but the immediate taste is definitely Funyon, with maybe a little bit of a smokey spicier kick, nice. The dip - a sour cream vibe, verified by the ingredients list - does come in as a cumulative aftertaste though, but not enough to discount these babies. I like them.

I would probably prefer the regular Funyuns over these, and definitely would rather have have a real Bloomin' Onion, but these Funyuns Steakhouse Onion Flavored Rings were really good.

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