herr's cinnamon churros - 2/5

this "crispy sweet twist" is not really a disgrace to herr's, churros, or puffy snacks, but more like a very deep disappointment.

straight out of the bag these suckers felt stale to the tooth.
the sweet flavor tasted like aspartame, which was so disappointing to me. why did herr's need to add sucralose as an ingredient and couldn't just leave it at refined sugar?

i was not expecting them to taste like churros, but maybe i was hoping for a chip cousin to the taco bell interpretation of a churro -- they looked very much like that, but the density was way off. they were way too airy and i think that's what made them feel stale.

just a big disappointment all around. 2/5

if you do want excellent churros, guacamole mex grill on the 4600 block of woodland has AMAZING churros that are still good when you get delivery. they do also make homemade corn chips, but the salsa is pretty spicy so watch out.

herr's cheese curls - 2/5 and 3/5

i was VERY excited to enjoy these herr's cheese curls. as you know from my last post, i am wary of puffed cheese curls, but these came in two excellent flavors so i was very excited to try them.

bacon cheddar

deep dish pizza 

you can see that both curls looked very similar, uniformly orange with "oregano" sprinkles. unfortunately, both flavors of cheese curls disappointed. they were very aftertaste heavy and we didn't want to finish eating the 3.5oz bags of these.

texture of curl: dissolved too fast, could use +1 unit of crunch
flavor - bacon: sometimes tastes really bacony, sometimes tasted not bacony at all. i am thinking they smelled more like bacon than they tasted like bacon. the first bite was very bacony, but all others were just very strongly salty fake cheddar flavor. needed to accompany these curls with >250 mLs of water.
flavor - deep dish pizza: this was a welcome relief after the weird bacon flavor, bursting with a punch of marinara, but then like the bacon, only the first bite was flavorful. this flavor could be very good on a ruffled potato chip, but it is just not cutting it on a cheese curl. ultimately, i am a big pizza fan but i was pretty disappointed.

special notes: i was pleased to learn that the bacon cheddar curls were vegetarian.

ultimate verdict - bacon: weak 2 out of 5
ultimate verdict - deep dish pizza: weak 3 out of 5.

tips on chip taxonomy + revealing my biases

well, i sure ate a lot of chips this week with my friend josephine. despite being a bit of a goth, she is really a good sport, about chips and all other subjects. anyway, this week we ate a lot of herr's cheese curls, which brings me to the subject that i have been dreading: i have a preference in crunchy bagged snacks.

photo courtesy of my friends at the nytimes

let's talk about the varieties:

• chips
• potato chip
• seasoning
• plain / salted / classic
• specialty potato
• specialty preparation (this includes "kettle" varieties
• corn chip
• seasoning
• plain corn / salted
• extruded & puffy varieties
• straight up puffy
• corn - think jax or herr's puffed cheese curls
• potato - i don't know what this is but i am sure it is out there
• other flours (dry powdered apple? yes i can review my favorite product made with apple flour some time)
• puffy yet crunchy
• corn - this is where i would put classic cheetos

potato chips:

i have a strong preference for traditional chips, over puffy crisps/snacks. i think my absolute favorite is a potato chip. i really do like classic salted potato chips for an everyday scenario, and my favorite brands are lays's classic and utz salted classic. in flavored or seasoned potato chips, i really liked those cheddar and sour cream ruffles i had a few weeks ago. i keep thinking of them. i also do like a few chips made with specialty potatoes. cape cod potato chips used to have excellent russet potato chips (just salted), and now they have wonderful yukon gold potato chips.

corn chips:

in the corn chip category, i like seasoned and nonseasoned chips equally. if i am just snacking (as opposed to making nachos or utilizing chips for dipping), i really do prefer doritos spicy nacho. the doritos tacos locos were very delicious, so that might be my runner up. if i am going beyond a simple bowl of corn chips, i like using doritos in nachos, but for plain corn chips, i really like bearitos corn chips in blue corn and tostitos corn chips in restaurant style though they have been registering a bit lip-chappy on my salt scale lately. 

extruded snacks:

puffed bagged snacks are not usually my first choice, but if i am eating them i like classic cheetos, which are puffy yet crunchy. the only straight up puffy variety i like is jax, i find that other varieties tend to be digested by salivary amylase a few seconds too soon for me, and i don't really like that. jax seem to have a good crunch factor despite their puffiness. sometimes i get apple sticks from trader joe's and i like those a lot because i love chips but i am getting maybe 1/8 of a serving of an apple.

photo courtesy of my friends at trader joe's

tacos locos doritos & the search for do us a flavor lays

last week i was on the hunt for the new flavors of lays -- i polled everyone on philadelphia yelp to see where i can get my hands on those chips. the flavors are chicken and waffles, sriracha, and cheesy garlic bread. i walked twenty blocks in a downpour to check out a superfresh and a walgreens that reportedly had the chips. they did not.
eventually i was complaining to my sister about it, and she bought me some in upstate NY at hannaford's, but i am still on the hunt in philadelphia. alison says the sriracha ones are good, my mom says the cheesy garlic bread chips were a good flavor but kind of weird/alarming on a chip. she is not as adventurous in her chip consumption, so take that with a grain of salt if you are a chip connoisseur.

when i went to wawa to look for these chips, i came across a pleasant surprise, the super meta branded doritos tacos locos CHIPS. obviously i have enjoyed the doritos tacos locos TACOS at taco bell -- i am a big taco bell lover and a big doritos lover, so i have enjoyed the doritos taco shells on a number of occasions. i find them a bit powdery and not that flavorful, but i am looking fwd to trying the cooler ranch ones.

anyway, because of all that i didn't have super high expectations for these chips, though they were in a two-flavors-one-bag, which is a marketing trick i enjoy.

the chips ended up being excellent! i enjoyed them with a wawa chai tea for lunch in the sunny plaza at school. i think the combo of nacho cheese (typically too cheesy/not spicy enough for me, my default is spicy nacho doritos) and taco chips was an excellent balance, and these chips really impressed me.

4.5-5/5

ruffles cheddar & sour cream

wow! sorry for the long delay in posting. i just recently got a phone that takes pictures, so i wanted to wait and be able to share images of the chips themselves & their packaging with my readers.
i am currently eating these delicious ruffles chips in cheddar & sour cream flavor. they were recommended to me by a customer in line at the 10th/walnut wawa, and he was right on target.

these chips are delicious. not the best value, it is $1.09 for a smallish 1 7/8 oz bag at walgreens, and utz makes a much bigger bag of cheddar & sour cream chips for 99 cents, but i really think the ruffling makes a difference.

chips themselves are classic ruffles w orange dusting. ruffles are one of my favorite wavy chips varietals, i definitely like the smaller tighter ridge on them and it is working with these. flavor is smooth but interesting enough, i could really do some damage on a big bag of these.

perfect for a mid morning chip snack. 5/5