227 replies to this topic

[halland]

I'll 3rd or 4th Tims. On my wife's birthday I'd arranged for a tour of the Tims factory, which is in Auburn. I think we were as surprised that Tim himself was giving us the tour as Tim was that he was giving a tour to three thirtysomethings! Tim's wife joined us for part of the tour too.

The highlight was watching all the chips run down a conveyor into all the different seasoning stations and just grabbing chips off the line to snack on (I probably shouldn't be mentioning this).

At the end of the tour Tim gave my wife a box with a Mountain size bag of every product the make (chips, kettle corn, cheese curls) and a Tim's watch with a potato chip second hand.

Hal

[Raynickben]

Kettle Chips--from Salem Oregon--are good "fancy chips". But regular old Lays, Nacho Cheese Doritos, and (more recently) Cheddar Cheese and Sour Cream Ruffles hold a special place in my gut.

Kettle Chips ARE good. But don't you find they have the hardest bags to open? I always had to grab the scissors for those!

[Mudpuppie]

Kettle Chips--from Salem Oregon--are good "fancy chips". But regular old Lays, Nacho Cheese Doritos, and (more recently) Cheddar Cheese and Sour Cream Ruffles hold a special place in my gut.

Kettle Chips ARE good. But don't you find they have the hardest bags to open? I always had to grab the scissors for those!

I'm so glad you mentioned that. I thought it was just me.

[stephenc]

[hillvalley]

I'm inhaling a bag of Utz's "The Crab Chip" (their quotes, not mine). Bought it because of this thread.

It's my third bag of chips in a week

[tissue]

I love Cape Cod salt and vinegar chips. I have recently been obsessed with balboa chips. you have to eat them right away or they lose their crispness. Dirty chips are also good.

[marlena spieler]

marmite.

salt and vinegar.

the dill flavour one from cascade is it?

garlic and sour cream/spring onion and yogurt

i like em very light and crisp, not the heavy handmade kettle chip type.

but i do try to avoid them all as they are my downfall.


and don't even MENTION the dip.

[ingridsf]

Tim's Jalapeno are the salty nectar of the gods. (Who could live for eternity on sugary snacks? Give me salt.) (How will I know that I blew it and ended up in Hell? Three little words on the bags of chips that come with our box lunches for the Welcome to Damnation orientation and Power-Point presentation: Baked Not Fried.)

An odd but delicious combination: hummus and Pringles.

[Marco_Polo]

The greatest potato chips in the world are Burts Chips, hand-fried from potatoes grown in Devon, southwest England. They come in various flavours (sea salt and sherry vinegar, hot chili lemon, salt and black pepper) but the best are the simplest, lightly sea salted (for purists there is a 'no salt' but that's abit too pure even for me). Each bag carries the name of the person who fried that particular batch. Absolutely irresistable, and totally awesome when enjoyed with a pint (or two or three) of Branoc beer...

[JMayer]

Hello,

Zapp's are great, particulary the cajun!
Crunchers BBQ are great as well.
And Terra chips are also quite nice (salt and vinegar)

-Justin

[porkpa]

I live in Hanover Pennsylvania. Hanover is probably the potato chip and pretzel capital of the world. Utz has its headquarters here. They have three different manufacturing plants in this relatively small town of around 20,000. They also own the Mystic brand which I believe is also cooked here. My favorite Utz or Mystic chip is the dark russet. To die for!!
Snyders of Hanover is also headquartered here. Martins, another superior product is manufactured less than ten miles away. As good as all of these chips are, they are significantly better when you buy them directly from the company knowing that they were probably cooked just hours before.

[leo]

This thread made me wonder...is anyone a member of the chip of the month club?

i just joined last month. it was surprisingly expensive - for a six-month membership, it came to about $145 (including shipping). my first box came last week and i'm still working my way through it. so far i've opened four of the packages and they've been ok. nothing too spectacular, however.

not that i'm really complaining too much , but they send way too many for me to eat by myself. my fiance won't eat chips because she's too healthy.i thought they'd send those individual size serving bags.

one of the brands has '100 percent lard shortening' as the second ingredient.

[clothier]

Better Made

made right here in Detroit, Rock City!

[doggirl]

Just in time! I've been searching on line for someplace which ships Lays Dill Pickle potato chips. I was told they are to die for, and they sound like the taste will be just up my alley. Any ideas who I might be able to purchase through? Any other pickle flavored chips you think I shouldn't miss?
Thanks so much!!

[*Deborah*]

I like the Roast Chicken Dinner flavour, I think it's Lay's or Old Dutch; UK-inspired I suppose. Not all the time though.

Other than that, sourc cream and onion or salt & vinegar. Or Ruffles plain to hold lots of dip.

The ones I have eaten a big bag at a time more than once (I mean recently ) are the Miss Vickie's Sour Cream and Sweet Thai Chili chips...

[dodger]

Current obsession is Doritos Guacamole Tortilla chips......awesome.

Standbys include ....Salt & Vinegar, Dill, All Dressed.

However...I never buy Lays....dunno why...just don't like 'em.

John

Anyone want to start a Vancouver Chip Club??

John

[gourmande]

I like the Roast Chicken Dinner flavour...

Me too! Unfortunately not readily available where I am. I bought "reserves" when I was in Nova Scotia last summer but they didn't last me very long, BTW, these were Lay's brand

Last Fall I discovered Walker's Marmite and Thai Chili flavoured crisps; they were fabulous! Unfortunately, can't get those very often either...

From what's available here I like first, Miss Vickie's sea salt and malt vinegar and second, Lay's dill.

* edit for poor typing

Edited by gourmande, 22 February 2005 - 02:33 PM.

[DTBarton]

I can't stand potato chips. I just taste grease and salt for some reason.

And your problem is? Perhaps you're unclear on the potato chip concept!

My best chip memories as a kid are of Charles Chips. They came in a big, light brown steel can and were delivered to your doorstep and left next to the box where the milk man left the milk that was home delivered. In those innocent old days we didn't agonize about eating home delivered big cans of chips and people didn't steal milk off of doorsteps. Oh well.

As for today, I'm an Utz man. Love Grandma Utz's home cooked (yes in lard) for a splurge, but also love the Utz kettle cooked sea salt and malt vinegar. Peanut oil cooked, crunchy, nice balance of salt and vinegar. My local Safeway keeps having tham on a buy one get one free promotion which tests my will power severely.

[Chris Cognac]

I dont know if you guys know about this but the L.A. group just did taste testing on around 60 different chip flavors and brands from across the country...Utz's Jays, Kettle, Dirty, Mike Sells....on and on...I have the data but am not much of a math guy so its going to take a while to get the numbers and ranki the chips but the stand outs where the Steak and worshestire chips and the Tims cracked peppercorn


you can see photos in the L.A. Pie Tasting thread..

Chris

[Marlene]

I've been on a Munchos kick lately. They are very hard to find here. Bruno's had six bags left the other day, so I bought them all.

[Marlene]

I like the Roast Chicken Dinner flavour...

Me too! Unfortunately not readily available where I am. I bought "reserves" when I was in Nova Scotia last summer but they didn't last me very long, BTW, these were Lay's brand

Last Fall I discovered Walker's Marmite and Thai Chili flavoured crisps; they were fabulous! Unfortunately, can't get those very often either...

From what's available here I like first, Miss Vickie's sea salt and malt vinegar and second, Lay's dill.

* edit for poor typing

I love the roasted chicken too. They are Lays. Very occassionally, Brunos will also have them, but not often. Recently I saw a President's Choice version of Roasted Chicken though.

And Old Dutch BBQ rocks. It's the one thing Don misses from living out west. When we take the RV out west this summer, I think he has plans to fill every available space with boxes of Old Dutch BBQ

[SushiCat]

nobody mentions Hard Bites - they are quite good. I like the Jalapeno flavor. Hmmn, maybe these are local in Vancouver only? Never thought to look at the bag and check.

All time best potato chip I ever had was hand made fresh in Oaxaca Mexico - I think I might have to dig up the photo, digitize it (circa 1991) and post it for you all. It is an egullet worthy photo and warm chips from the oil - think of the comparison between real fresh frites and something you bake out of the freezer isle ...

mr. cat as some people call my other half - eats Ruffles plain. Always. He would never dream of a better chip, well except those fresh ones from Oaxaca!

[chow guy]

I like Wise Chips!  A guess it's a hold over from growing up in PA.  I used to have them as a snack before I went to bed and liked them then and still do today.  What irks me about potato chips is that with the focus on 'quality' in the last decade or so, you get a consistent product each and every time.  I used to like to dig through the bag of chips to find the dark ones, you know the ones with all the extra flavor!  But now, those are the ones that are culled out before the chips are packaged!  I can usually still find some of those dark brown delights in a bag of Wise chips, but never in Lays!

I'm with you. I grew up in NY with Wise. I can't get them out West so I 've elevated them to cult status. Love those dark ones. I also say... Nix on Lays.

[Foodie in Vancouver]

I like the Hard Bites as well. I think they are made locally - in Chilliwack or some such place. My other favs are Tim's Cascade - especially the Jalapeno. But I truly believe that they tasted better about 8 - 10 years ago. They don't make me swoon like they used to when I first discovered them. We would drive from Vancouver to Haggen's in Bellingham just to buy them. I can't see myself doing that now - they just don't taste good enough to cross a border for.

The best potato chips I ever had were from a street vendor in Seville, Spain. He would make them right there using olive oil and lots of salt. We would sit at the side of the road and each of us would eat a bag and then order another 2 bags to take back to the hotel room to have later, with wine. Every time I think about them I can still remember the unbelievable taste and they feeling of the hot sun as we sat on the roadside stuffing our faces with chips.

[Mooshmouse]

A vote from me for Kettle Chips, Honey Dijon flavour as my latest and greatest. I usually have a large bag of these on hand for idle snacking when company comes over, and it's all I can do to prevent myself from demolishing at least half a bag myself while watching TV or reading or surfing eGullet.

They're in the cupboard right now and they're calling my name...

[rooftop1000]

Rt 66 dill pickle and Blairs death rain jalepeno cheddar

[BeJam]

Utz salt and vinegar chips made my lips bleed once. I guess I should have stopped eating them by that point, or for that matter after.

[Pam R]

ketchup chips first followed by salt & vinegar

[winesonoma]

Best I ever had. http://www.connschip...m/quikcode.html

[ChefSwartz]

utz - carolina style