In college, I worked at Panera Bread, and it was awesome. Mainly because of our epic work-family, (imagine a soup and sandwich version of Empire Records), but the food was pretty great too. I still eat there today, (which is something I can't say for another food-related job I had as a teen). Panera will always hold a special place in my heart, and my stomach. I like to recreate stuff in my kitchen all the time. Especially the older discontinued stuff, like their Cuban chicken panini.
Americanized as it was, it was my first experience with the sandwich, and I loved it. The Panera take had focaccia bread, sweet and spicy pickle chips (closest I have found are the horse radish pickle chips from Aldi), ham, chicken, tomato-based-whole-grain-mustard, chipotle mayo and swiss cheese, all toasted in the panini press. It is a pretty far cry from a legit Cuban sandwich, but I didn't know that back then.
A legit Cuban has: ham, roasted pork (not chicken), salami, swiss cheese, mustard and pickles. Which looks like what this chip flavor is based on. The real deal. So, which take will taste more legit? My bastardized Panera sandwich of choice, or these chips?
Tangy Ranch Doritos are back!I missed out on these the first time around, but I was able to grab this bag at Walmart and I'm super stoked. Sure, I probably could have bought them online for whatever marked up price they were going for, but due to all the backlogging that tends to happen around here I limit myself to in-person purchases when I can. So they came, and went, and I was Tangy-Ranch-less.
Not this time!
Spicy switch-up with some spooky Sriracha Doritos!Sriracha has returned from the retired-flavor-graveyard, so it's not new-new, but like Dots, I never got around to reviewing it, so why not do it now when it's all dressed up for Halloween?Look at this bag! It packs a lot of playfulness into a simple layout. We have a flaming-red Dorito that casts a tall shadow in the shape of a bottle of sriracha. It's giving me looming Nosferatu and Bram Stoker's Dracula-vibes. Putting the final nail in the coffin, there's a classic horror-drip font, in bright green, with hints of texture. All of these factors come together to create a surprisingly sophisticated Halloween package. So unassuming, yet, so perfect.
Elotes, aka "Mexican Street Corn," has been popping up all over American grocery shelves. We had corn chips, crunchy Cheetos, various dips, and now a Pringle.
If you've never had Elotes, I highly recommend it. They're a bit messy to eat, but they activate all your taste buds. We have sweet, salty, cheesy, creamy, buttery, tangy, zesty, and spicy. All at once. While I've had nothing but positive experiences with Elote-themed items, I find that no snack food can truly capture this dish. They have gotten close, but it's not quite the same thing.
That said, I am excited to try these Pringles but I am keeping my expectations grounded.
This new Oreo came out, I bought it, and then I went to put it away and found this box of cookies from Aldi that were a different take on the same thing. In fact, they're an Aldi twist on a Neapolitan Trader Joe-Joe's item that's been around since at least 2018.
I figured I'd take this opportunity to compare the two and see who did it better. Oreo? Or Aldi?
I love French fries, and one of the few ways they can be improved upon is by adding cheap, liquid orange-colored, cheese. Fun fact, cheese fries are the only food that turn my normally well behaved dog, Jack-Jack, into a horrible trash goblin. He is great, and never gets on the table or steals food, but an aluminum pan of cheese fries from our local pizza shop was just a step too far. It was a classic pet owner moment where you yell and run towards them, and they furiously start eating faster before you can stop them. Inhaling cheese fries, barely even chewing, he's definitely my dog-son.
So when I saw these at Ollie's I immediately tossed them into my cart. Impulse buying at it's best, but, when you think about it, this is probably really stupid, right?
Doritos Flavor Shots Crack Pepper Chicken - Hung Vuong MarketAre Flavor Shots still sold in America? The Frito-Lay website only lists one flavor, Fiery Habanero Triangles, but when you click on it, they're not available for purchase locally or online. I guess they're discontinued state-side? Which goes to show how much attention I pay to Doritos these days.
I can never find new products in my area (RIP Wasabi and the Tangy Cool Ranch flavors I never got to try), and when I do fall in love with something new and interesting, it's discontinued, like my beloved Collisions series. Frito-Lay is like the Bath & Body Works of the snacking world, as soon as you fall in love with something new, it's gone. (But they'll have Japanese Cherry Blossom FOREVER.)
I've had no luck with American Doritos flavors, but what about a Taiwanese one?
Cinnamon Churro Cotton Candy - Dollar Tree
Doesn't this sound like something you'd get at Disneyworld? Even though it's just a bag of pre-made cotton candy you buy at Dollar Tree, it does sound deceptively delicious. Fingers crossed it's as yummy as I expect!
Journey to Japan Ponzu Ginger Chips -AldiAldi likes to release "around the world" products, with a particular recurring focus on India, Germany, Italy, and Japan. These were the flavor companion to the Wasabi flavored chips I reviewed a little while ago, and the newest addition to the "Journey to Japan" line.
If you haven't already read my wasabi review, spoiler alert, they're good, but not great. I am on a mid to high tolerance range for wasabi/horseradish, it takes a lot for me to feel the burn, and I wanted those chips to pack a punch. They didn't. Here's hoping that this flavor is a bit more unique and flavorful.
It's officially spooky season and I am so excited! Time to pop on a horror movie (Trick r' Treat is currently on HBO) and crack into some candy corn, but not just any candy corn, Nerds Candy Corn.
Remember the Wasabi and Ginger Kettle chips from the Lay's Do Us a Flavor Contest? (I think they were from the second ever contest.) They were delicious, with a sushi-like profile thanks to the wasabi and ginger with a hit of soy sauce. I was sad to see them go, but I feel like their execution needed a bit of work. They were good, but not perfect. Still, it's a flavor profile that doesn't have any equivalent in the American potato chip market. Until now.
Herr's Mystery Flavor - 7-ElevenThree classic flavors in one chip, eh? The contest ended on August 31st, 2021, let's see what my guesses were and if I was right!
So the chip itself is a reddish orange, ridged, with little flecks of green. When I think of Herr's classic flavors, I think BBQ (gold bag), Sour Cream and Onion (green bag), and original (blue bag), but that seems way too easy. How could they have a giveaway contest if that were the case?
The website lists the following as flavor options that could be part of the trio of this mix: sour cream and onion, BBQ, salt & vinegar, cheddar and sour cream, honey BBQ, red hot, fire, ketchup, old bay, dill pickle, cracked pepper and sea salt, jalapeno, boardwalk salt and vinegar, mesquite BBQ, and Cheddar Horseradish.
Time to binge on some chips and make some guesses.
If any of you have been walking down the junk food aisle lately, you'll know Lay's has been quite busy. It released these three flavors for summer, and it just released three more wacky junk food mash-up flavors, Cheetos, Funyuns, and Cool Ranch Doritos, but in potato-chip form. I've been on the lookout for the latter three, but haven't had any luck yet, so I settled for the original summer release trio. We have Summer BLT, Wavy Jerk Chicken, and Chile Mango.
I figured I better hurry up and review these, since it's August and all. But it's still summer so I'm not too late!
Mexican Street Corn Flavored Corn Chips - AldiWhat a week, and it's only Monday. My bathroom gremlins are getting spayed/neutered today, one step closer to finding forever homes, and my dog, Pepper, had to go to the emergency vet because he somehow damaged his junk. That's right, his junk. I was making panicked emergency vet calls to talk about my dogs genitals to not one, not two, but four different animal hospitals. Thankfully the last one had an availability and we were able to be seen.
His bits are now on the mend. How did it happen? Absolutely no idea. Best guess the vet had is he lifted his leg to pee on something during our current heatwave and somehow burned himself. Which I don't entirely buy because I have no idea what in my grassy backyard could have ever gotten that hot or only harmed him in such a specific place, but it's not like Pepper can tell us what he did to himself, so it shall remain a mystery. Thankfully he is okay now. If there was ever a time to binge on some junk-food, it's now.
Queso Fundido Wavy Chips - Aldi
"Oops, I did it again" (#freebritney). I bought junkfood I was really excited to eat, but then I wouldn't let myself eat it until I could sit down and review it, which I never did, so it piled up...and now the top of my fridge is nothing but novelty flavored potato chips.
So, here is the first of many potato chip reviews coming your way.
Mexican Street Corn Cheetos - 7-Eleven
When I heard Cheetos was coming out with this particular flavor, I was pretty excited, but still cautious. If you've been reading the blog for a while, you might remember that flavored Cheetos don't have the best track record. To be fair, most of the Cheeto flavors I have tried came from overseas, more specifically, Korea, and every flavor has been far sweeter than I prefer. (It's a toss-up between a savory snack food seasonings and a sugary cereal. I was not a fan.)
Black Bean Paste, Honey Cheese, Smoky BBQ and White Corn Soup, all flavors I was happy to try once, but never wanted to buy again. And they all came in full-size bags. So given the option this time around to choose a snacking size or a full size, I opted for the small single serving bag before committing to anything larger.
If you're eating something Italian, and it's delicious, it's usually thanks to garlic and parmesan. This dynamic flavor duo is responsible for some of the most delicious things in the world, pasta, pizza, and best of all, garlic bread.
So, when Cheesy Garlic Bread won Lay's Do Us a Flavor contest when it was first introduced, I wasn't surprised. What did surprise me, however, is how quickly that new "permanent" flavor of chips would disappear. A year or two and they were no where to be found. Then, a few years later, a dupe would start rotating as a special buy item at Aldi, and then at Lidl, and now here? Well these aren't officially marketing themselves as "garlic bread," so that might not be a fair assessment, but...isn't it close enough?
Will these taste like kettle-style garlic bread?
Dr. Pepper & Cream Soda
Last I heard, Dr. Pepper had a limited edition birthday cake flavor that was only available through some kind of online birthday club thing. I love Dr. Pepper, but I hate the anxiety and rush that comes from chasing down limited edition products, especially when they're limited to online releases, raffles, sign-ups, and social media contests. So, I didn't participate, but I was sad that I missed out. Then there was a 2015 Dr. Pepper themed water ice at Rita's that was only available in Texas, no where near me. Again, kinda bummed I missed out on that as well.
That was the last I had heard about anything Dr. Pepper related. So when I saw Dr. Pepper and Cream soda at Walmart I thought, "huh, why not?"
Salted Caramel MilkyWay vs Peanut Brownie Snickers
Two classic candy bars slightly change things up, which is superior? The one that added salt, or the one that changed their nougat to "brownie?"
