During the past few years that I've been writing "junk food" reviews, I've focused on candy bars, snack cakes, toaster pastries and cereals...to name a few...but had never given serious thought to including chips (aka crisps, for those of you across the pond). It's not that I didn't consider potato chips to be part of the universe of irresponsible calories, but more that I didn't find them interesting enough to include.
Maybe this is because I grew up at a time when choices were limited--we had corn chips and potato chips, and they were either plain (salted), BBQ or Ranch-flavored. When we wanted to experience different flavors, that came from buying or creating or own dips...not from the chips themselves. Of course, we also had corn meal shaped like packing peanuts and covered with a florescent orange cheese-like substance that stained your fingers for hours (if not days), but the only true "advancement" in chips when I was a kid was the ability to buy them stacked in cans--the perfect shape for making duck lips!
Since then, of course, we've seen the introduction of kettle chips, baked chips and "veggie straws" (the latter trying to trick us into eating something healthier...never!), but the bottom line is that these snacks are almost all differentiated only by the seasonings. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is the same as all of my chocolate Oreos reviews where the only difference was the flavor of the creme in the middle. So, after my friend John Hardie sent along a package of HEB Biscuits and Gravy Potato Chips, I decided I could no longer in good conscience keep chips out of my reviews.
Announcing that these were the "best chips he had ever tasted" was a pretty bold statement to make. But what do you expect from Texas, where everything is supposedly bigger and better? Being a cynic by nature, I was definitely prepared to knock his proclamation down a peg...but then I tried them. And whereas the Alamo was definitely underwhelming, these chips were not!
Being born and raised on the west coast, rather than the South, I am not a biscuit and gravy afficionado so I had no expectations when I opened the bag. I am, however, a big fan of French Dip sandwiches...which is the what the aroma immediately called to mind. My tongue then confirmed what my nose was trying to tell me--these things taste like a savory meal! The chips themselves were thin, but still crispy and not greasy. The seasoning wasn't so caked on that I needed to shake some of it off and it never overpowered the taste of the potato chip. If there is anything more I ever wanted or expected from a chip, I cannot think of it.
Sadly, these chips are a "limited edition" and I live in a region where they are never available, so the odds of my getting my hands on them are not good...unless I import them before the trade war breaks out between California and Texas. Or unless I come visit John at the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, TX. Until then, however, I will be content with the knowledge that I was fortunate enough to partake of the best potato chip I've ever tasted...
RATING: 5 / 5
