Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Lay's USA Chicken & Waffles

I ran out like a crazy person today looking for these little beauties... and let me say, they were well worth the hunt :)
The first bag we have from the Lay's Do Us A Flavor USA contest is Chicken & Waffles.
No joking.
Chicken... AND... Waffles.

I popped this bag open and breathed in what I am calling the GREATEST potato-chip-bag-smell EVER!
This bag smells exactly like Disneyland Churros! I kid you not.
It has a smell like sugar and brown sugar on something fried... mmm.
Now, the chip itself is mediocre, the potato slices are riddled with burnt spots and inconsistencies. And it's potato flavor is on the low end of the spectrum. But, as I've noted before, that can be helpful in pulling off crazy flavors that involve bread. The plain tasting chip fills in for the Waffle, without muddying up the flavor with too much potato-y-ness. The chips were all even sizes, which was nice. Lastly, the chips felt rather thin, the texture was borderline flakey. So, for me, the potato was a weak point.
BUT, what the potato itself lacks, the seasoning more than makes up for. I give HUGE props to Lay's for not killing these chips with seasoning. To me, this bag had spot on seasoning. It can often be heavyhanded, but in this case, the seasoning hit the right notes.
First, you get the sweet, syrup-y taste. It seemed to me like Churro seasoning, I believe Brown sugar. (I should go read the ingredients ASAP, duh). Then after that you get the strong spiced chicken seasoning. As soon as I tasted it, I instantly got flashbacks to Lay's France's "Poulet Roti et Thym" (Roast Chicken and Thyme). When I say flashbacks I mean a full photocopy of the flavor in that bag. I would call this Poulet Roti et Thym et Brown Sugar... for real! Even down to the flakey thin texture of the chips, this is like a sister of that bag. I want to make that clear because that flavor is very different from Walker's "Roast Chicken" or Margarita's "Pollo". Those are the more commonly seen Chicken flavors, which to me are a lot smoother and more delicate. Those taste more like the juicy white meat of a chicken breast. This flavor, the spiced Chicken, has more kick to it. It's just not as delicate and has zing that comes from being combined with the spices. More like a Fried Chicken dredged through a spiced flour mix might have.

The aroma that comes out of this bag just makes it SO much fun to eat. I really enjoyed snacking on these, and I had to slap my dad's hand away when I saw he was devouring them all. It may not be a bag that has a long life on shelves past the novelty of this contest... but for me it was fun to try and will be a welcome treat while it is available.
I still have 2 more flavors to taste before I declare a favorite, but this one is definitely in my top 3 ;P

If you guy's have tried it, let me know what you thought in the comments section below. Did anyone else smell Churros? I gotta know!

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