Deep River Snacks

Update Review, Summer 2025

It had been a few years since I last had Deep River Snacks potato chips, but I remember thinking they were a bit better than average, so I picked up a few more varieties to try.  

All were their standard kettle style chips - average thickness, little bit of skin on, extremely crispy, definitely heavy oily fried style, blistered all over.  Not my favorite style of chip, but a touch above average.  Deep River Snacks only makes two flavors of non-kettle chips, so kettle are mostly what you'll find.

Sweet Maui Onion.

"Combine the flavors of sweet onions and garlic, add our thick-cut potato chips, and you've got one of our most popular kettle chip varieties. It’s simply addictive. Just don’t say that we didn’t warn you."

The Sweet Maui Onion I don't think I'd had before, at least, not in the past 10 years or so.  They were extremely flavorful, with a taste that starts of in familiar sour cream & onion territory, but quickly veers off more sweet, and less creamy.  It really is an enjoyable flavor.

4/5.

Mesquite BBQ.

"Down-home, done right! The perfect blend of mesquite, brown sugar, and paprika, with notes of exotic spices - your taste buds will thank you."

These are pretty classic mesquite style BBQ kettle chips.  Very kettle-style, so again, not my favorite.  The mesquite flavors are quite strong, which is nice when in the mood.  Not a bag I'd get again though. 3/5.

Zesty Jalapeño.

"Four-alarm kick with only four ingredients! Impossibly simple and incredibly delicious, our Zesty Jalapeño kettle cooked chips are the perfect balance of flavor and fire."

This batch of chips was all pretty dark, lots of burnt spots on them.  And the chips were all bigger than normal, and more twisted up.  It was interesting to see the base chip so different in this bag compared to any other Deep River chips I've had before.

The flavor was deeply potato, and only a bit zesty, the zing really only hit on the finish.  Compared to the other flavors of Deep River chips I tried, these seemed to have the flavor hit dialed back a bit, which is too bad, as jalapeño chips can be such a great heat!  3/5.

Update Review, Summer 2021

Deep River is a fairly major potato chip manufacturer, but I rarely see their products around town.  I wonder if it is a regional thing?  Anyway, I've reviewed them before, but it was years ago, and before my covid inspired "chip-a-holic" phase.

Deep River only makes two flavors in the "Kringle Cut" form: Salt & Cracked Pepper and Sour Cream & Onion.  The rest are all kettle style (or tortilla chips).  As a krinkle cut fan, and not really a kettle chips fan, I was eager to try these, but also couldn't resist picking up another fascinating kettle chip flavor.

Krinkle Cut Sour Cream & Onion.

"The bold flavors of onion and garlic combine with tangy sour cream on our krinkle-cut kettle chips for an incredible flavor and crunch you can’t resist."

Sour Cream & Onion is somewhere on my list of general "eh, they are ok, but not my top choice" flavors.  But, with only two flavors available for Krinkle Cut, I had to pick them.

It was a good move.  These were great chips.  I loved how crunchy they were - I think the potatoes are sliced a bit thicker than a standard chip, and they were so very fried, the crunch was just fantastic.  They felt like heavy chips, and, well, they were.

The sour cream and onion flavor was fine - not very sour cream forward, but they had a nice herby zing to them.

These were a chip that ate very well, and I certainly enjoyed.

****.

Aged Cheddar Horseradish.

"Sharp, aged cheddar cheese paired perfectly with the zesty bite of horseradish. Kettle chips so delicious they’ll bring tears to your eyes!"

These chips were a lot of fun!  They really delivered on all aspects: they were deeply cheesy from the aged cheddar AND quite zingy from the horseradish.  The kettle style worked well, perfectly crisp.

I really enjoyed these, even though cheese and horseradish isn't a combo I normally think of!

****.

Original Review September 2016

Deep River Snacks is, well, a snack food company.  They make 5 product lines: kettle chips, classic chips, Honchos (tortilla chips), popcorn, and healthier baked crisps.  Given that I love to munch on things, chips and popcorn are right up my alley, so I sought out their products.

Except, it turns out, kettle chips are clearly the focus of the company. The Classic Potato Chips line has exactly one variety: salted.  Same with the popcorn, just one flavor: salted.  And same with the baked crisps.  You guessed it: salted.  Honchos are their version of Doritos, available in nacho cheese and ranch, plus peach habanero.  Since plain salted items aren't really my thing, and I loathe Doritos, I stuck with the kettle chips only.

Kettle Chips

"These are no ordinary kettle chips! Our kettle-cooked potato chips are made in small batches, ensuring outstanding crispness and crunch! Our Kettle Chips are a better-for-you snack made exclusively with sunflower oil. And, like all of our snacks, our kettle cooked chips are certified gluten-free, free from GMO ingredients, and made in a nut-free facility."

Deep River Kettle Chips are available in about a dozen flavors, ranging from your standard salted, salt & vinegar, and bbq, to slightly more interesting like Aged Cheddar Horseradish, Salt & Cracked Pepper, and Zesty Jalapeno, to downright fascinating New York Spicy Dill Pickle, Ninja Ginger, and Rosemary & Olive Oil, and a plain 40% Reduced Fat version for those who are attempting to be healthier, and somehow think kettle chips fit the bill.

I can't speak on the reduced fat versions, but, the regular ones are not healthy chips.  280 calories in a bag of chips!  (Sure, it says 2 servings, but, um, its a personal bag of chips, no one eats them in 2 servings).

They are very classic, super fried, style chips.  If you are looking for a standard kettle chip, check them out.

Rosemary & Olive Oil.

"Deliciously fragrant and flavorful kettle cooked chips!  Rosemary, garlic, and olive oil marry perfectly with our kettle-cooked potatoes for a delicious chip with great crunch."

These were very classic kettle chips.  Super crispy, super oily, crunchy chips.  My favorites are always the ones that are curled up slightly, or bent over.

The flavor however was pretty unique.  I don't think I've ever had rosemary chips before.  I really liked them.  I know it sounds funny, but, the more interesting herbs made them taste ... grown up?  They really seemed like what a trendy bar would serve as a bar snack, "And here is our housemade rosemary kettle chips ..."  They really didn't seem like a packaged snack.

Anyway, a very unique chip, and I liked them. ***+.

Sea Salt & Vinegar.

"A New England classic potato chip!  The tart and tangy taste of vinegar paired with the perfect amount of sea salt is sure to make your mouth pucker. "

These did make me pucker, exactly as advertised.  Very tangy, classic salt and vinegar chips.  Standard very fried kettle style.  Not really my thing, but, a good version of what they are. Low ***.

Zesty Jalapeño.

"These kettle chips offer a four-alarm kick with only four ingredients!  Impossibly simple and incredibly delicious, our Zesty Jalapeño kettle cooked potato chips are the perfect balance of flavor and fire."

The Rosemary & Olive Oil were my favorites in that they didn't seem like packaged potato chips, but, for a classic potato chip, the Zesty Jalapeño actually wins.  They were indeed fire-y.  And again, classic kettle chip style. ***+.

Ojan was eating a bag of these and absent mindedly took a big handful all at once.  Several seconds later he was frantically running for water, as he had forgotten that they were so intense.

Read More...

Klinger's Bread Company

Years ago, my mom picked up a scone for me from Jake's Coffee Company.  I loved it.  I did my due diligence, and found out that it came from Klinger's Bakery.  Glorious scones.  I remember how great these were, so, on a subsequent trip home, I took matters into my own hands and sought one out myself.  But ... Jake's had changed their scone supplier, and I was very let down (as you may have read about then).

Since then, when I've seen the Klinger's brand around town, I've snatched up products to try, but still haven't come across their scones anywhere else.  You can find their breads (and sometimes pies) at grocery stores and markets around Vermont and New Hampshire. 

Breads

"Rugged, healthy, hearty, crusty, chewy...these are just a few words overheard to describe the artisan breads of Klinger's.  Our hearth-baked breads were proudly brought to Vermont in 1993 by the Klingebiel families of Williston, Vermont and Salem, New York.

These flavorful, authentic European breads were developed by one of America's premier artisan bakers. Our bakers have been thoroughly trained in the methods and subtleties of bread baking. The breads are made from starters which are allowed to develop over a thirty hour period.  Visit the bakery and watch our bread crafters at work. Amidst floured tables, you will see them mix the finest ingredients, hand shape loaves, and bake them with care in our French brick oven.

We at Klinger's are proud to bring you the rustic, homemade taste of our signature artisan breads. Our goal is to produce breads with character and integrity, to make your mouth water with the aroma of loaves fresh from the oven, and to share the products of our labor with you again and again."

Breads are their primary product, with a pretty huge lineup of basic loaves to rolls and baguettes to specialty flavors like roasted garlic parmesan or maple oat walnut.  They bake different kinds every day on rotation.

Cranberry Pecan.
24 oz loaf. $7.95.

"Our most popular specialty bread, probably because it’s densely studded with cranberries and pecans, baked into our farm dough."

I didn't realize when I got this that it used a sourdough base.  I don't like sourdough.  Boo.  But it had plenty of goodies in it, great crunch from the pecan, sweetness and tartness from the cranberries.  Wonderful textures and really loaded up.  I couldn't quite get past the sourdough enough to eat it by the slice, but we used it in a pumpkin bread pudding later and it worked beautifully there.

3/5 for me because, gah, sourdough.

Challah.
18 oz. $7.50.

"This traditional Challah bread, a beautifully braided and light airy loaf loaf, is baked to a deep golden brown with aromas of honey and egg yolks."

I love challah, particularly for making what I call "soaked bread" or kinda lazy style french toast or bread pudding, where I soak a slice in melted ice cream and just bake it a bit.  Or just toasted and slathered with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, or melty chocolatey spread of some kind.  I had a favorite challah that I could get from Oren's Hummus in San Francisco only on Fridays when they got it from a local wholesale bakery (Irving's), and I stocked up on it by the loaf from them regularly, but alas, they changed suppliers a few years ago, so I've been searching for a challah to live up to that since.

Klinger's did a very nice job with this.  Beautifully golden brown crust, sooo fluffy and enriched inside.  Slight sweetness.  This is the kind of challah that makes for incredible french toast or bread pudding.  I really enjoyed it, no notes really.  4/5, maybe even 4.5/5.

Pastries

"Additionally, in the tradition of the finest European patisseries, we offer pastries and unique desserts.  Please visit us and see for yourself.  Linger at our cafe over a relaxing cup of gourmet coffee, or enjoy lunch while observing our bread bakers having fun and working hard to bring you the very best artisan breads."

They also make some pastries such as croissants, danishes, muffins and the like (and obviously, the aforementioned scones), although these are harder to find as they tend to only distribute the breads outside their own storefront.

Authentic French Croissants.

My mother randomly picked up some croissants one day when she saw them somewhere.  I could tell from looking at these that they are a bread style croissant, *not* a flaky, fresh croissant, but I thought they'd probably still work well for breakfast (or lunch) sandwiches if nothing else.

At room temp they were kinda "eh", but if you bake (as they say to do) they get a bit crisp.  Amazing butter flavor.  Overall actually, pretty decent, particularly for the style, and great slathered with Nutella too.  But not a "real" croissant.  3.5/5.

Read More...

Jacob's Pickles, NYC

Jacob's Pickles is a relatively well known small chain in New York that offers up kinda basic comfort food, Southern style.  The original location opened in 2011 on the Upper West Side.  Like anywhere popular these days it seems, brunch is a big draw.  They've expanded to have smaller takeout only outposts at the TimeOut Market in Brooklyn, and at Moynihan Train Hall, which is the location I visited.

Setting - Moynihan

The Moynihan location is in a food court alongside a few other business, all fast food style. 

Train Station Location.

There is clear signage displaying the reduced menu, and you order at the register (or mobile ordering).  The line seems to move quite slowly, so I do recommend just mobile ordering.  You wait for order to appear on the counter, which also seems to occur slowly, a surprise given that I'd expect some percentage of guests are in a rush due to train station location?  There is shared seating with the other establishments, no actual dedicated dining area for Jacob's Pickles.

Cuisine

This location has a pretty small menu, mostly just fried chicken, fries, and mac and cheese.  Well, and pickles of course.

Soft Serve!

I was there to try their brand new soft serve ice cream (because you know how much I love my ice cream, particularly soft serve!). Interestingly, this product is offered only here at this location.  They offer two flavors, only in dishes, no toppings.  But the flavors are noteworthy enough on their own ...

Pickle Ice Cream (Vegan). Sample.

First up, the one that definitely gets the most attention:  pickle.  Yes, pickle soft serve.  This *is* Jacob's Pickles after all! 

For some reason, they made this flavor also vegan (I'm not sure what the base is).  I asked to sample it first, as you can see here.  I'm glad I did.

I like pickles.  I like soft serve.  Turns out, I do NOT like pickle soft serve!  Intense pickle flavor and just truly not enjoyable to consume, at least for me.  I tried a few licks, and yeah, just wow, not for me.  The pickle flavor was intense though, I gotta give them that. 1/5.

Popcorn Ice Cream. $6.

"Topped with Pink Himalayan Salt."

So I went for the popcorn flavor, this one is real (dairy) ice cream.  This one was considerably better.  Good sweetness level, super creamy, slightly buttery and salty, a kind of fun flavor for sure.  It didn't necessarily scream "popcorn" to me, but, it was enjoyable enough, and a sorta different flavor.  It was supposed to come sprinkled with pink salt, but mine did not (I watched it dispensed from the machine, nothing added).

 3.5/5.

Read More...