Saturday, April 23, 2016

Herr's Chickie's & Pete's Famous Crab Fries Seasoned Chips - 7-Eleven

Herr's Chickie's & Pete's Famous Crab Fries Seasoned Chips 
w/White Creamy Cheese Sauce Flavoring - 7-Eleven
This is quite a long product name, maybe even the longest in Sometimes Foodie history! 
Chickie's and Pete's is a popular crab house/sports bar-chain that only exists in NJ and PA. As far as the atmosphere, it's very similar to a TGIFridays, but the menu (obviously) leans towards seafood. Fear not fish-haters, they offer non-seafood items, like hamburgers, pizza and cheesesteaks too. I mean, how can you sell food in PA without a Philly cheesesteak on the menu? You'd be kicked out of the city! This popular local restaurant chain teamed up with PA's favorite snack company, Herr's, to make chips flavored like their most popular menu item, the crab fries! Being the Jersey-girl-food-blogger that I am, I think I'd lose my east coast foodie card if I didn't give these a try. So I went to 7-Eleven and grabbed myself a bag.
I grew up on the east coast, so I had seen Herr's brand snack foods all my life, it never even occurred to me that they weren't available nationwide. Their bags were at every birthday party, BBQ, and holiday snack table. Their normal flavors, like BBQ, Sour Cream & Onion, and Original, are packaged with same designs I grew up with. It's a classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." They left their flagship flavor designs as-is, but when they release new flavors you can see that their design department has stepped things up a bit. 
For this bag we have Chickie's and Pete's classic fry-bucket, complete with logo, and side of cheese sauce for dipping, but all of the fries have been replaced with chips! It's not a terribly new design concept, but it's pretty snazzy for this old-school snack brand. Plus the artwork is crisp and modern! Looking' good Herr's! 
I opened the bag and took a whiff, and immediately I was punched in the face with the bold seafood-y scent of crab seasoning. (AKA Old Bay.) The chips are a bright orange-y color from all the heavy seasoning, and I can't smell any hint of cheese sauce at all. Then again, with this much crab seasoning, I'm not surprised. 
Time to stuff my face! I tossed a few chips into my mouth and these are crab-fry flavored alright! You instantly taste a heavy dose of crab seasoning mixed with the potato-y chip. The seasoning is pretty heavy, which makes these chips seem spicy at times, but that intense flavoring is dulled when the cheese sauce kicks in. The cheesy aftertaste is on-par with a Kraft american single, which is pleasant enough, and it helps balance the seasoning. 
These chips really do deliver all the flavors they promised, which is awesome, but these are definitely not a chip you want to eat when you have to be in close quarters with people. With this much Old Bay seasoning you get some very interesting breath, so be sure you have some gum or mints handy if you're eating these at the office. I really liked these a lot , maybe even more than the actual fries at Chickie's and Pete's, and I would totally buy another bag. There's no label or anything indicating that this is a limited edition flavor, so I'm guessing it's here to stay.
© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net
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2 comments:

  1. NO! This is the first I've heard of it and it's ridiculous!! I am NOT happy.

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  2. I definitely dream about going to this party place again. The live music at Los Angeles venues was an added bonus, providing a backdrop for the fun hours spent imbibing, tasting, and chatting up with the breweries and beer distributors.

    ReplyDelete