If you’ve spent a couple of minutes in the chip aisle of late you’ll probably have seen Lay’s new Taste Of American line. Five new products, each celebrating a classic USA restaurant and it’s signature dish. The full lineup is as follows:
- Kettle Cooked New York Style Pizza inspired by Grimaldi’s in New York City
- Nashville Hot Chicken inspired by Party Fowl in Nashville
- Philly Cheesesteak inspired by Geno’s Steaks in Philadelphia
- Wavy Carnitas Street Taco inspired by El Torito in Los Angeles
- Chile Relleno inspired by Cocina Azul in Albuquerque
So far we’ve tried…
Lay’s Nashville Hot Chicken
The Nashville Hot Chicken chips were top of my list to try. It’s been one of the trendy menu items across the country for the past couple of years. The initial taste is reminiscent of a BBQ flavor chip, smokey with a little heat. The heat does grow a little as you work your way through the chips. It never becomes overwhelming mind you, a little more than black pepper but never reaching cayenne heat.
The flavor isn’t particularly chicken like per se, though the ingredients do note chicken fat and cooked chicken powder; vegans this isn’t for you. The overall taste is a little flat and dull, I’d love some more zip and zing ala the acidic bite that hot sauce brings. It’d be a bold chip-eater that claimed these tasted like a hot chicken sandwich. 2.5/5 for us.
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC – Utah’s biggest and oldest online food magazine; I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV shows.
I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have covered the Utah dining scene for the better part of fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I started Shop Smart to catalogue my adventures in the grocery store and kitchen. Follow along on Instagram too!