I have a love-hate thing with Frito-Lay. I hate some of their products but love others. Sun Chips goes in the “love” column. I don't buy into the idea that they're really any healthier than a regular snack chip. Junk food is junk food.
Furthermore, I think their “multigrain” composition actually contributes more in flavor than a real uptick in nutrition. There's a nutty sweetness there that goes with the saltiness I crave–a Wheat Thin mated with a tortilla chip. It's great with sandwiches, second only to Fritos and Ms. Vickie's, which tie in my book if I'm only limiting myself to the Frito-Lay family of chips.
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But back to the Sun Chips. Frito-Lay recently released two limited-time flavors available only at Target. They've actually changed the formulation on a base chip and dubbed it “6 Grain Medley,” which consists of the following: corn, wheat, oats, buckwheat, kamut and quinoa. Yes, quinoa, long the favorite of the vegetarians, made the cut. Unfortunately, there's not much difference between the “6 Grain Medley” and the original.
The difference comes in the flavor dust, which comes two ways: Onion & Thyme and Parmesan & Herb. The Onion & Thyme is slightly disappointing, sort of a more polite and duller version of their French Onion (a personal favorite). Their Parmesan & Herb, however, has shades of tomato, cheese and basil, which makes me think that Caprese would've been a better name for it.
I am, however, still disappointed that I've not yet encountered their new permanent flavor, Jalapeno Jack; and I'm still miffed that I missed out on Cinnamon Sun Chips before it came and went.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.