Kotas Reviews Lay's Brazilian Picanha Potato Chips

Well, would you look at that. Another year has come around and it's time for Do Us A Flavor! Apparently this is going to be a yearly tradition with Lay's, though they are branding this one a "Passport to Flavor" because instead of voting for the flavor, you can collect points to win prizes or some such. Thank goodness, because summer is traditionally my slowest period for goofy foodstuffs. No longer must I endure the crushing ennui of choosing between the other two dozen flavors! My insatiable maw has never seen such novelty! Well, until next year anyway. Welcome to Chip Week, and Lay's Picanha Potato Chips.

So, is this a full Brazilian? Does this mean I don't have to shave now?

So, I know your first question: What is picanha? Well, according to this obscure website picanha is the most prized cut of beef in Brazil, and is known in North America as the "rump cover" or "coulotte". Sure sounds delicious to me! If you've ever been to a Brazilian style steak house, you would probably know this cut as the "house special". I've eaten at a few of these places and let me tell you, it is a pretty darn tasty cut of beef, especially if well seasoned. The other half of this equation is chimichurri sauce. Chimichurri sauce is a sauce for grilled meat, originating from Argentinian cuisine traditions, and the word is said to have Basque origins. In fact, the name means "a mixture of things in no particular order" when loosely translated. Sounds a lot like the blog you are reading. Anycrap, I like the packaging, with the little Brazilian flag and the green motif and all. Doesn't scream "BEEF" to me, but little does anymore. Let's see how they look.

In a soup bowl, because I'm not a savage.

Well, that was underwhelming. Once again we have the appearance of "more different sour cream and onion" chips. To be fair, it DOES match the picture on the front of the bag, but it's just so...uninspiring. The scent has some vaguely beefy overtones, but it's not super strong. There is a strong note of garlic though, which I rather like. The flavor is another disappointment. It's not bad, but once again we simply have "sour cream and onion++" chips. They taste like a slightly more garlic-y sour cream and onion chip, with an undertone of savory meatiness that may or may not be beef. I do like them better than regular sour cream and onion chips, since the third flavor mitigates the gross excesses of traditional Lay's Sour Cream and Onion chips, but I still am a bit disappointed. 

On the FACE Rating System, these get 0 faces. They taste pretty decent, but this is just another variant of sour cream and onion chips, which frankly we got last year. The big difference is that it replaces "mushroom undertone" with "meat undertone". If you are curious, or just want a better sour cream and onion chip, give these a whirl. They are decent tasting chips, they just aren't anything special. Though, I like them better than regular sour cream and onion chips, and would happily eat them at a party. I just wouldn't be able to tell you that they were "Brazilian Picanha" flavored.