Worst Chips Ever?

Anybody who reads THG with any regularity is well aware of my love for the Philadelphia Cheesesteak. It's one of those great regional delicacies that can be executed in a hundred different ways (sliced or chooped, with or without cheese, onions, peppers, hot peppers, sweet peppers, lettuce, tomato, sauce, ketchup, shrooms, and the list goes on) and even when it's not so great a sandwich (like the tourist traps at Pat's and Geno's) it's still a pretty good slice of Roadfood.

So when I was in Philly yesterday for a screening of the very good Brit horror flick THE DESCENT (opening this summer) I stopped by The Bourse for a sandwich before hitting the road. As I was checking out I noticed a bag by the cash register and had to have one... I didn't even ask or care how much they cost. I had to have Herr's Philly Cheese Steak Artificially Flavored Rippled Potato Chips.

The bag (shown at right) shows a photo of a traditional PCS (with what appears to be melted American and onions) sitting atop the traditional white paper and aluminum wrapper. A checkerboard pattern (perhaps suggesting Philly's Little Italy?) surrounds the sandwich, littered with iconic Philly images of William Penn, the Liberty Bell, the Art Museum and a long shot of City Hall. What, no burning MOVE house?

Bag design and imagery aside, the chips are among the worst I've ever had. In fact, these may have displaced the wretched Herr's Steak & Worcestershire chips that tasted like a Ponderosa smells.

I'm not sure what taste-bud-challenged individuals ate these and confirmed that they tasted like a Philly Cheese Steak. In fact, I'd rather eat the sandwich wrapper shown in the photo than eat these awful things again. How they can taste bland and over-flavored at the same time is beyond me, but they really carried it off.

Shame on Herr's which is located not far from Philly. I could almost excuse this sort of assault on my taste buds from a company in the midwest or on the West coast, but to be in Pennsylvania and sell these to people who actually know what a steak sandwich tastes like is nothing short of inexscusable.

That said, I've also gotta say very bad things about the Guiltless Gourmet Baked Spicy Black Bean on Blue Corn Tortilla Chips. I've liked other Guiltless Gourmet products in the past, but these chips tasted like I was eating the chipboard that's used on the back of my legal pads. Not even Wegman's excellent vacuum-packed guacamole could save them.

Bring me my Plocky's!