Cape Cod's Russet Chips Are the Best in the Game
Welcome to Drunk on Chips. I'm a potato lover whose potato-loving father always kept our snack cabinet stocked with a carefully curated collection of chips. Here, I give you an honest review of a specific bag.
The Setup
Cape Cod Russet potato chips are special. I have an actual closet full of various chips, and I spent a couple weeks staring at this particular bag. You see, every day I bust open a bag of chips for my Esquire colleagues. We try out new flavors and exchange tasting notes. It's some real James Beard stuff. But the Russets-I guarded those like a jealous lover.
I had never tried a russet potato chip before, and I didn't know what to expect. Eventually, I gave in and shared the bag with the team. A community bag has never gone so fast. I had to monitor the last handful and a half for a solid three days to make sure I had one last go at them. And that I did.
It wasn't until afterward that I learned these are something special. On Tuesday, Cape Cod announced the re-release of its Russet flavor, the brand's "most requested retired item." No wonder I'd never come across them, they had been off the shelves for more than a decade, according to Potato Pro.
The Assessment
My friends, here we have a perfect potato chip. Two days after the community bag was reduced to crumbs, I bought and cracked open a second bag. I've said it before: There Will Never Be Anything Better Than Homemade Potato Chips. Cape Cod's Russet potato chips are the closet store-bought bag I've found to matching the taste of a homemade chip.
They're perfectly seasoned-lightly salted-and many hit the sweet spot between a desired burnt flavor and a starchy character. I say "many" because you get a good amount of chips that fall on either end of the flavor spectrum. And I say "sweet" because, well, they carry a little sweetness. They also vary in color. Some are a dark orangey brown and others look like your average original-style potato chip. A few even resemble sweet potato chips. It's a lovely medley.
Throw in Cape Cod's consistent, engaging crunch, and we have a heavy favorite to contend with Herr's Salt & Vinegar atop my Best Chips of All Time list. I won't say the Russets are my No. 1, but because of the damage Herr's Salt & Vinegar can do to the roof of your mouth, I'd have to favor the Cop Cod Russet. In fact, if I could have only one bag of chips for the rest of my life, I'd choose these.
Some Tasting Notes
Size: Adequate. There's some diversity of size in this bag. I found a good amount of bigs toward the top, but at the bottom it evens out.
Crunch: The Cape Cod brand has an optimal crunch for a kettle chip. These might even be a little crunchier.
Seasoning: Very mild. That's what makes these so wonderful. It's a very natural potato flavor, and only lightly salted. Just like at home.
Aftertaste: Pleasant, and because we're only dealing with a few ingredients (seriously: potatoes, oil, and salt), you don't have to worry about any mouth damage.
Some Pairings
Pairing One: Lobster bisque. It's subtle seasoning won't take over the seafood flavor. Balance the soup with this chip's crunch.
Pairing Two: Champagne. Toast to your new favorite.
Pairing Three: Texas caviar (black eyed peas, black beans, corn, jalapeno, red onion, green pepper, red pepper, apple cider vinegar). Plain potato chips and hot salsa is a combination I discovered by drunken accident and have tried sober. It holds up.
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