Have you noticed recently that bagels and pitas have made their way into other food avenues? Probably not, but it has been happening right under your nose. One day, long ago, bagels were bagels, pitas are pitas, and chips were chips. Well those days are gone my friend. I present to you bagel and pita “chips”. Now these aren’t exactly new, but I know you have been waiting on the edge of your seat for me to adress this situation.

These products are made by a couple of manufacturers, but I have only sampled the “New York Style” brand. They come in various flavors, and I grabbed a few bags that I thought would fit my tastes. On my first trip to Woodman’s, I picked up a package of “everything” bagel chips. These were excellent. All the everything of an everything bagel with the crunch of a chip. Well done. This spawned me to stray over to the “sea salt” bagel chips on visit #2. Equally good. Salty, bagely, good. After these two grand experiences, and a little input from Kelly, it was on to pita chips. The obvious choice was “Spicy Mediterranean”.

This is where the story gets ugly. Not only was the texture not nearly as good as the bagel chips, they tasted like the armpit of a swami after a jog in the desert sun. Not even the sweet, sweet nectar of a Coca Cola product could remove the taste from my mouth. I implore you to stay away from these hideous things. The next time you are in the “Chips made out of things other than corn or potatoes” aisle, go with the bagel chips.

Potato chips are great. You take a potato, one of the starchiest foods on the planet, then you proceed to fry it in grease. Just when you thought it was healthy enough, it gets doused in salt, or some other salt-based, chemical, arificial flavor powder. (Did you ever look close at a Cool Ranch Dorito? Some of the stuff on there is blue!)

Potato chips could be classified in 3 goups.

1.) Baked. The wuss version of the potato chip. They are baked not fried, and they taste bad, not good. It is like eating flavored cardboard.

2.) Standard. These are your Jays, Lays, and Ruffles. They are extremely greasy and salty. Anything that requires a napkin or jeans wipe when you are done eating is worth considering.

3.) Kettle cooked. Could be just as unhealthy as the standard chip, but most of the oil is absorbed by the chip, creating an extremely crunchy product. Many companies make these now, the most prominent are the Jay’s Krunchers line.

Krunchers provides 5 different types of chip (as far as I am aware).

		Original Krunchers - These are pretty lame. Pretty much your standard kettle cooked chip. Crunchy and salty, filling all the requirements for a basic potato chip. Goes great with - Panera. It’s the only damn chips you are going to get there anyway, so I hope you like ‘em.
		Mesquite Krunchers - Just like the originals, only caked with barbeque powder. These are exremely sugary and very tasty. It is like a meal and dessert all in one! Goes great with - PJ’s Royall With Cheese (Milwaukee, WI). I would kill for one of those right now.
		Jalapeno Krunchers - At first they just seem to be slightly spicy, with a great taste. After you are a quarter way into the bag, you are finishing them. Either keep eating, or the burn sets in .Goes great with - a Slurpee. Eat the spicy chips, cool off with a slurrpee. It is like speedballs for fat people.
		Sweet Onion Hawaiian Krunchers - I couldn’t find a picture of these, by I know they exist. They are extremely addicting. They have a sweet taste that is hard to put down. Goes great with - Nothing. They are great by themselves. They are very sweet, and can throw off the tastes of any accompanying foods. Quite possibly covered in heroin powder.
		Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Krunchers - These are the newest flavor, and also my favorite. They have a very simple taste, that works with just about anything. If you like salt and pepper, you’ll love these. Goes great with - A bag lunch. I bring some with me when I brown bag it.

Krunchers are the most comercailly available kettle cooked chip. However Dirty’s are my favorite. The only place I have seen them is at Mario’s Deli. Head over there and get a Joey’s sub and a bag of dirty’s and you won’t be disappointed.