Kotas Reviews Electric Lime and Sea Salt Lays

Ah, it's Spring. The time of hay fever, 30 degree temperature swings over the course of 8 hours, and whatever new flavor monstrosities that Lay's has cooked up for us over the winter. We're reaching the long tail of this phase of flavor expansions though, as you'll see. I've seen this before, when a company has run through innumerable flavor combinations and just starts jamming together crap and slapping a weird name on it. I saw it with Kool-Aid, I saw it with Oreo, and I'm seeing it again with Lay's. But ya'll ain't here for a history lesson, so let's get to it. Today we review Lay's Electric Lime and Sea Salt chips.

Wavy, because shut up!

Here we go again down the rabbit hole of chip flavors that the Lord Himself never intended. I do appreciate a willingness to experiment, but at this point I think the R&D folk are just snorting flavor dust and randomly assigning things. Eh, let's get on with it. The bag is actually kinda cool, with a shiny foil edging, but the main picture, while well staged, is just sorta...meh? If it's so damn electric why aren't there lightning bolts or something around the lime and sea salt? No, it looks like an unfinished art installation. Still, it's not terrible and a meh package often conceals a taste sensation. Shall we open it? WE SHALL!

I bless the green flakes on my WAAAAAVY CHIIIIIIIPS! (with apologies to Toto)

They ain't much to look at, are they? They sort of resemble sour cream and onion chips, and have a similar looking flavor dust: white with green specks. What makes these electric again? I guess there is only one way to find out! Well, that wasn't what I expected, but I guess you could call it electric. The tang of citric acid is incredibly strong on these chips, almost overwhelming the lime flavor, but not quite. Additionally, the potato flavor is also incredibly strong, which doesn't mesh well with citric acid. You know what is really weird though? There is almost NO salt flavor! That's right, a chip whose two claims to fame are Lime and Sea Salt, only managed to get one of them even on the chip. Now, it's not a terrible flavor. I did not spit it out, and I will finish the bag eventually. It's just incredibly weird and disappointing. I think the lime part may have had a sweetness to it that somehow cancelled out the salt flavor, because these are potato chips so OF COURSE they have salt on them. It is just a really baffling flavor.

On the FACE Rating System, these chips get 1 Frowny Face. I can appreciate creativity and novelty as much as the next person, but this is just something that happened when a few of the people down in the Flavor Lab got high and started hallucinating. If you really love citric acid, and also think that it would go great with potato, I suppose these are the chips for you. For me however, I will move on to other, hopefully actually decent flavors.

Kotas Reviews Lays Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers Wavy Chips

Well well Lay's. I see we're having another flavorsplosion for the late summer. I also take note that you are ditching the whole "vote for a flavor" thing in favor of just having a giant pile of limited edition flavors. Well, never let it be said that I backed down from a manufactured food challenge (the Ol' 96er notwithstanding), so today we dive right in with...uh...Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper Wavy Lays. Because the world doesn't make sense anymore. 

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

I can safely say I've never been a fan of the Jalapeno Popper, not even when it was bacon wrapped. I'm just not a huge fan of jalapenos in general, let alone stuffed with cream and cheddar cheese. Adding bacon may help, but...no. Just not my deal. Still, when Lay's issues a challenge, I cannot help but stand up. This one is certainly very unique in chipdom. That's a lot of different savory flavors to pack into a lowly potato chip, even one so noble as the Wavy variety. Will it stand up? Let us tear into the bag and find out. Did I mention this is one of like nine or ten different flavors? I am not prepared.

Nothing ever ends, Adrian.

Well, the scent in the bag is incredibly "Bac-Os", or fake bacon bits. You know, the kind you shake out of a container. It basically overwhelms any other odor that might be present. The chips themselves look like Wavy Lay's with red flavor dust and green chive-like flecks. But who gives two rat's asses about the look? We all want to know what they taste like.

In a phrase, "pretty dang good". The fake bacon flavor is very strong, but not necessarily bad. The chips do not have any jalapeno flavor, but they do have a nice slow build of heat, and while they don't have a particular cheese flavor, they have a creamy sour cream note that really brings the whole thing together. Hot damn, these are actually good! I guess the only problem for some might be that they don't really taste like bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers. Oh, there's plenty of fake bacon (or facon, if you will) to go around, but the only hint that there is a jalapeno is the heat, and no cheese flavors I can distinguish. Weird, but good. 

On the FACE Rating System, these get 2 Smiley Faces. They are super tasty and I want to eat them by the bag, but some people might be disappointed they ain't what they say they are. More like Bacon, Sour Cream, and Hot chips than anything else. Definitely give them a try. Oh man, only...nine more flavors to go? Sheeeeeeesh.

Kotas Reviews Lay's Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese Chips

So, Do Us A Flavor rolls on, and we come to our final (so far) bag of nonsense that's been released. I really have to hand it to Frito-Lay, they aren't afraid to toss out any old flavor and see what sticks. I'm still kinda sad that the Cappuccino chips didn't work out, because they made a GREAT ice cream topping, though they really weren't good for much else. Still, if you don't try everything, you might miss something, right? That's the kind of attitude that brings us to today's offering. Ladies, Gentlemen, and budgies, today we take a look at Lay's Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese chips.

Kettle Cooked even, just like Mom used to buy.

 The Everything Bagel is what you get when you mix thrift with a variety of bagels, or at least some of them. When I was a kid, I always assumed it was what you got when you took a bunch of "bagel dough scraps" left over from making OTHER bagels, and then threw them all together into a glorious Frankenstein's Breakfast sort of way. Still, considering you never saw any sweet bagel portions in it, nor more complex bagels like Asiago Cheese or Sun-Dried Tomato, I should have known it was simply a snappy name for a bagel with "a giant pile of stuff" on it. Oddly, I always thought that the onion and garlic portions overwhelmed every other flavor in the bagel sort of defeating the point of this. So, let's see what they do with the chip version eh? 

Yup, that's a bagel with cream cheese alright. The chip next to it is pretty unimpressive, but it does sort of get the point across. Not sure why they went with purple for the accent color, but what do I know about marketing? Let's crack it open!

Sad, really.

Well, color me unimpressed. These chips look like chips with coal dust on them. The smell is very strong, but more reminiscent of sour cream than cheese, though not exactly like "sour cream and onion" chips either. I suppose there's a lot more garlic notes. The chips themselves have actual poppy seeds on them, though no sesame seeds, caraway seeds, or any other kind of seed. It's practically seedless, I tells ya. But who cares how it looks, it's a chip right? How does it taste?

For something labeled "Everything" it sure tastes a lot like "sour cream and onion and garlic" chips more than anything else. The onion and garlic flavors just completely dominate, though the sour cream flavor comes out a bit sometimes. What it doesn't taste like is a bagel and/or cream cheese. Oh, there's maybe a bit more tangyness to the sour cream note, but it's still basically sour cream flavoring. It's not a bad flavor, but it's not particularly unique or interesting, and it is so heavy that unless you paired it with something equally strong it will simply be the flavor of your meal. I can tell you that if it wasn't labeled "Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese" I would have no idea that is what you were going for, unlike the Crispy Taco chips. Kinda off the mark on this one.

On the FACE Rating System, it gets an unsurprising 0 Faces. They aren't bad, they aren't good. If you really, really like sour cream and onion chips and want something with a bit more garlic, these might be up your alley. They are not up my alley though. Not bad, Frito-Lay, and I applaud your creativity, but even the most creative corporation has a flavor dud sometimes.

Kotas Reviews Lay's Fried Green Tomato Chips

The Lay's Do Us A Flavor promotion for this year continues down a strange yet somehow familiar path, it seems, as we find ourselves with a primary food item being converted into a chip version. Have we gone too far this time? Is this truly the pinnacle of our horrible Frankensteinien food experiments? Or is this simply yet another in a long line of "uhhhh...what?" flavors of chips that has come before? Ladies and Gentlemen, let's get a bite of Lay's Fried Green Tomato chips.

Wavy like a Fox!

As a resident of the South, I should probably be familiar with these, but they were never a staple of my household growing up and seeing them in restaurants was always a novelty. In fact, I can't be sure, but I think when that movie I was a bit surprised to find that they were associated with Southern Cooking. My culinary journey is stilted and weird. Anycrap, we have these things from Lay's. The green packaging contrasts significantly with the picture of the red-dust coated chip, but it maintains the same level of detail and quality as other chips in this promotion, so that's good. Let's open it up.

Uh...huh. Probably won't see these at the Whistle Stop Cafe, that's for sure.

 Well, they smell quite tomato-y, though I couldn't tell you what distinguished it as "fried green". They look somewhat less flavor dust coated than the packaging would indicate, but that's okay, these things never get it perfectly right, eh? The flavor is...well, it has its own unique charm. It's got a strong dose of tomato, though it's more like sun dried than fresh (or fried. Or Green), but it also has a highly surprising spicy kick that I was not expecting. A few mouthfuls of these beauties and you'll have the makings of a sinus cleaning amount of heat. It's not a very flavorful heat though. I mean, there's the tomato flavor and then your mouth just gets...hot. It's not bad, but it's really weird as I absolutely was not expecting ANY heat, let alone a decent amount of it. I'm told that fried green tomatoes occasionally have a spicy kick depending on the recipe, so that's it I guess? Weird.

On the FACE Rating System, these get 0 Faces. I don't hate them. They taste alright I guess, if you like Spicy Sun-Dried Tomatoes, but they do not really remind me of Fried Green Tomatoes at all, and yes I have had them. It's not a flavor that I would go out of my way for, but if you really want something spicy, but are sick of all the traditional "spicy" type flavors (BBQ, Flamin', Nacho, etc), these might be fun to try. Or not. For me, they are quite "meh".

Kotas Reviews Lays Crispy Taco Chips

This grand season is upon us once again, as thoughts of a young individual turn toward one thing: Potato Chips. Yes, it's time for Do Us A Flavor 'round these parts people, and I can't wait to stuff my face! Frito-Lay has been getting more and more creative in its flavorings and this year we have a relatively calm bunch to choose from (so far, as who knows what this year's Cappuccino will be). So let's tackle the one that most resembles a pre-existing flavor! Ladies and Gentlemen, let's take a taste of Lay's Crispy Taco chips.

Nice and sassy!

The packaging this go around is of the "white with color accent variety, similar to their Lay's Kettle type packaging. The font is sufficiently sassy in a corporate kind of way, and the taco picture looks pretty darn tasty, with an example chip next to it for...reasons. Anyway, I like the art, though why Crispy Taco and not just Taco? As a chip, of COURSE it is gonna be crispy, and honestly I don't know how "Soft" would be conveyed as part of a "flavor" anyway. Let's open it up!

Once you go taco, you never go..back...oh.

A close up of one of these chips would look like a Mad Max movie location. Nothing but red dust and bleak chip-based wasteland as far as the eye could see. Still, it smells pretty good, in a "taco spices out of the packet" kind of way. As a friend of mine said, it's kind of like cheating for Frito-Lay. They own Doritos, and those chips have had a taco flavor since forever. Hell, it was recently brought back as a special nostalgia promotion, right? I've had those chips and they aren't anything special. So my expectations aren't super high on these. Let's eat this over with. 

Well damn, if it doesn't taste almost EXACTLY like biting into a Taco Bell crunchy taco, down to the barest hint of lettuce flavoring. It's got that hard to describe somewhat beefy overtone, with the spicing and veggie content I'd expect. Dare I say there is even a touch of the sour cream? I mean, it's like they went to Taco Bell, ordered a few dozen tacos, processed them into flavor dust, and put them on potato chips. Hot damn, this is actually pretty tasty, and it tastes almost nothing like the "packet of spices" flavor that Dorito Taco Flavor chips have. Now, not every bite is perfect, since the dust concentrations, while heavy, are a bit inconsistent, but these are easily munchable on most occasions. 

On the FACE Rating System, these get 2 Smiley Faces. Not an every day flavor, since these super strongly flavored chips would overwhelm most traditional chip pairings, but as an "on their own" snack they are superb at replicating the Taco Bell taco experience, if not an authentic taco experience. If you like Taco Bell, you sort of have to try these. If you don't, well, don't say I didn't warn you. Now excuse me, I have a bag to devour.

Kotas Reviews Lay's Chicken and Waffle Potato Chips

Occasionally we here at Kotas Reviews intend to review something, but it slips through the cracks. Gets lost in the shuffle, skipped over, or otherwise pushed aside until later. Sometimes it's much later. So imagine my surprise when I found a bag of these things tucked away in the pantry. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's take a look at a new twist on an old classic, Lay's Chicken and Waffle Potato Chips.

Better late than never, eh? Well...

So, these were a part of the Lay's All Stars promotion, where they take popular flavors from previous promotions like Do Us A Flavor and Flavor Swap and bring them back for a limited time. Because why the hell not, really? These hail from the very first Do Us A Flavor contest, back in the halcyon days of 2013, when life was simpler and..well, simpler right? RIGHT? Anyway, I didn't have them then, so I guess I'll have them now! The packaging is actually pretty nice, with a pretty yummy looking picture of chicken and waffles next to a lone potato chip. I also enjoy sky blue as a packaging color. Well, let's tear it open.

Well, they can't all be winners.

I'll be honest, these things look like plain Lay's chips. This is a triumph of flavor dust concealment, because the smell is equal parts savory and sweet, though they mix in a weird, yet non-offensive sort of way. They aren't quite as heavily scented as, say, the Szechuan Chicken chips were, but they get the point across. It's not quite chicken-ish though. The flavor holds more chicken essence, but the "waffle" part is almost non-existent. There is a bit of sweetness that almost tastes like syrup, but not quite. It's decent enough, but it doesn't wow me. The balance of flavors isn't really there, skewing heavily toward the chicken part, without any doughy or mapley flavors, just some sugar thrown haphazardly into the mix. Not bad, but certainly not what I think of when I eat chicken and waffles.

On the FACE Rating System, these get 0 Faces. They are okay, but I wouldn't seek them out. There is a bit of novelty factor to consider, and I do love the packaging, but most of you should really just pass on this. It's very mehtacular. 

Kotas Reviews Lay's Beer and Brats Potato Chips

Oh man it's my favorite time of year again! The sun is starting to peak out more, the cold weather is (slowly) being replaced by warmer days, the monsoons are showing up with more frequency, and yes, the Lay's Do Us A Flavor promotion is back again! These periodic flavor experiments fill me with delight because while they aren't always good, they at least show that Frito Lay is willing to think outside the box and really let their creativity shine by taking suggestions from the public and turning them into marketable goods for which the originator will get no compensation, no matter how popular they become! Hooray capitalism! Anyway, this year's chip adventure begins with Lay's Beer and Brats chips. Let's take a gander.

Sausage fest joke? Sausage fest joke!

I guess I was a little too bitter before, since this time there is a prize for coming up with "the best" flavor, which amounts to one MEEEEELLION dollars, or roughly equivalent to the spare change that the CEO pulled out of his car seats last Thursday. The packaging is surprisingly, uh brown, though DAT SAUSAGE, amirite? The beer looks remarkably like the beer from the old video game Tapper. Honestly, this theme surprised me, but upon reflection it makes absolute sense. One of the best times I've had at a cookout was scarfing down wieners and chips in massive quantities and washing it all down with cheap beer, and if they could encapsulate that experience in a potato chip, it would certainly save me the embarrassment of buying shitty beer. Let's crack 'em open!

Considerably less sausage than I was expecting. Less beer too!

Well, these are certainly chips. They have an amount of flavor dust on them, but they are not completely covered in it. The scent is vaguely backyard grill out, but not what I would call "bratwurst". Definitely sausage-esque though, so you know, decent effort. Of the beer there is but the faintest note of something that might be "shitty domestic", but really, it's hard to tell. Let's dig in, shall we?

The flavor is definitely savory and meaty, though identifying a particular type of "meat" would be difficult. I suppose you could call it roasted sausage, but I suspect that if I didn't know what it was supposed to be, I'd probably consider it just "meat-ish". There is more of the beer-ish flavor here, but not much. Still, it is definitely "shitty domestic" beer flavoring, so it's got that authentic American Backyard Cookout feel to it. You'll probably be surprised to hear that, despite it's inability to be a spot on flavor, it is very tasty on it's own merits. The savoriness compliments the potato and salt excellently, and the little bit of beer like overtones help clear the palette after eating (though not entirely). 

On the FACE Rating System, this gets One Smiley Face. These are very munchable, though if you were expecting a distinct "Beer and Brat" type flavor you will be somewhat disappointed. Definitely go try a bag if you are into savory chip flavors, and honestly, these would go great with Beer and Brats. Perhaps not Lay's finest effort, but it certainly isn't the Wurst!

Kotas Reviews Guinness Potato Chips

We are getting deep into Spring, and Summer is just around the corner. What a wonderful time to sit outdoors with an ice cold beer and a big bag of potato chips to indulge in some pure snackitude. Chips and beer have gone together since the era of the Free Lunch in saloons and bars across the country, because what better way to quench your thirst after eating a bunch of salty chips than to wash it all away with pint or three? If only we could get that experience in a single snack food. Well, that time is upon us. Today we crack open a nice big bag of Guinness Potato Chips.

Thick Cut, because Manliness!

I honestly never thought I'd see the day where two products that were as vaguely related to each other as these would be crammed together in marketing bliss. Then again, I always did underestimate the snack food industry's insatiable appetite for gimmickry. So here we are. Oh, and for those of you who think this is merely a Guinness branded bag of regular old chips...

Exhibit A.

 This is the real deal ladies and gentlemen. Irish Stout (specifically Guinness) flavored potato chips. What is this world coming to? Now, as a tippler of taste, I do enjoy me a good Irish stout, and Guinness will always be my first love. There is simply nothing like having a nice Guinness straight from the tap to make a meal feel comforting. That said, this is profoundly strange. Let's open up the old bag, shall we? 

They remind me of the Lay's Cappuccino chips from way back when.

Well, that certainly is a flavoring. I guess I should have expected this sort of look from a Guinness flavored anything, but "coal dust" is not a look I generally desire on my potato chips. They mostly just look dirty. The scent is only sorta kinda like Irish stout, though I probably wouldn't be able to place it without looking at the package. Very earthy. Let's dig in.

Again, this is kind of okay, I guess. It does have the bitterness associated with Guinness, but this flavor doesn't really sit well with the large potato flavor it is trying, and failing, to compliment. The overall experience is mostly fine, but it isn't what I would call good, nor does it recreate the experience of "eating potato chips while drinking Guinness". It hints at it, and it does have novelty factor, but the price of these chips is too high for what you get. At least it doesn't taste like a mouthful of coal dust, I guess. Oh, and it's $4 for a "half standard chip bag". Not the best value in the world.

On the FACE Rating System, these chips get 0 Faces. I do not hate them, but I don't like them either. They are "okay, I guess" and I get to say that I ate Guinness Flavored Chips. If this matters to you, you might try to score some, but otherwise? Give it a pass. Just go get a bag of Kettle Chips and drink a Guinness. Much nicer experience.

Kotas Reviews Lay's Southern Biscuits and Gravy Potato Chips

One of my regrets from 2015 (one of the smaller ones anyway) was never quite getting to try all the flavors of Lay's "Do Us A Flavor" promotion. I hit three of four, but the Biscuits and Gravy flavor eluded my grasp. Even the best efforts of my sister in-law and her husband, who provided me with a small package of them in my "Get Well" basket of goodies could not get them to me, as they were lost in a tragic "I dropped them on the floor and they got stomped on" accident. Lucky for me, one flavor emerged victorious from the Lay's Thunderdome. It's long since past time for this to have happened. Today we look at, Lay's Southern Biscuits and Gravy potato chips.

Howdy, ya'll!

Behold the glory of Southern Biscuits and Gravy! You know, why is it that when something is called out as Southern, it is generally written in a slightly fancy italicized font? Do we really associate Biscuits and Gravy with Southern Style Classiness? Eh, I'll take it. For those of you who don't know, I love biscuits and gravy. I prefer sausage gravy above almost every other kind of white gravy, but the Cracker Barrel "Sawmill" gravy will do just fine, thank you very much. It's very stick to your ribs comfort food goodness, and I say bring it on. Southern Style Biscuits are totally a thing. Get a biscuit in New York and it is...well, it's just not the same. Anyway, let's rip open the bag!

Understated Ya'll!

Well damned if the scent isn't like that of a strong pepper gravy. It has potato elements to, unsurprisingly, but the look of the chip is...slightly underwhelming. Then again, I'm not exactly sure how one WOULD get across the idea of biscuits and gravy via look alone on a potato chip. It does have black flecks that I suppose are pepper, though they could be any myriad of things from various flavor dusts. Let's give 'em a taste!

Wow. I don't know what I was expecting when I tried this, but "pretty much sawmill gravy over potato chips" was not quite it. It's spicier than many white gravies, but damned if that isn't a fine flavor combination. There is a hint of something yeasty or bread-like that I suppose is the "biscuit" part of the equation, but it is not very strong and you'd miss it if you didn't know these were supposed to be "biscuit and gravy" flavored. I guess "White Pepper Gravy" doesn't look as good on the package though. I admit I ate through the bag quicker than I should have, but...hoo boy was it a good ride.

On the FACE Rating System, these get two fat and happy smiley faces. If you like biscuits as a vehicle for gravy and you also like potatoes, here is a fantastic way to combine both loves into a single glorious snackable. They are a bit on the heavier side of snacks though, so I wouldn't want to eat them every day. I would love to TASTE them every day. If you aren't a fan of white gravy though, these will not change your mind. Worthy of trying though!