Cheez-It Pepper Jack Flavor

Can you improve upon a classic?

The Attraction:
I love Cheez-Its! I've been eating them since my early 20s. I used to like Cheez-Its so much and perhaps just cheese so much in general that I use to make my own Cheez-It sandwiches; 2 Cheez-Its crackers with a compressed canned cheese filling in between. Oh those were the days! I used to line them up on my stomach while watching TV and proceeded to eat them one by one. So when Sunshine (a Kelloggs company) released new cheese flavors for them, I was super excited! First up, Pepper Jack.

The Review
Other than the huge splash on the box noting what flavor was inside, these Cheez-Its don't look very different to me from the box. "Can they possibly mess this up?" I thought to myself.

I opened the box and the smell is subdued in comparison to the original Cheez-Its. There's not such a strong smell pouring out of the box, but generally speaking, pepper jack cheese isn't a strong smelling cheese. I pick one up and upon closer inspection, I notice that some crackers have black specks on them. That's got to be the pepper in the "pepper jack". I dig in and sure enough they taste different from the original. It's not quite as salty and forward with it's cheese flavor. Towards the end of the first cracker I had, I got a slight hint of that spicy pepper "kick", if you want to call it that. "Hmm, not bad".

Those black spots are the pepper jack!

The Sweet:

I like that the cracker mimics the cheese itself; a bit more laid pack with it's "cheesy" flavor, followed by the peppery finish. 

The Bitter:
I prefer more of a peppery or spicier "kick" on my pepper jack cheese flavor. Perhaps double the amount. At times I didn't even notice any spiciness.

Conclusion:
The folks over at Sunshine didn't mess this up. I can see how fans of Cheez-Its that would like a little heat might be fans of this. For me, it wasn't quite spicy enough, but that's not really a fault of the product, that's just my preference. Sunshine was smart enough to create another version of Cheez-Its for people like me, Cheez-Its "Hot and Spicy"! You can bet I'll be trying that soon, but for the casual snacker that wants a departure from regular Cheez-Its, but isn't a fan of strong spicy flavor, you may find that Cheeze-Its Pepper Jack flavor is just what the doctor ordered.

Video of the Week
At this point you've must have seen or at least heard about SNL's 40th Anniversary show. What's equally interesting to music fans is what happened after the show as told by Jimmy Fallon. Dang, wish I was there...

"..and then there was Paul McCartney..."

Lotte Toppo Coffee and Vanilla Ice Cream Flavor

OK, I may have eaten some before I took the photo

The Attraction:
Admittedly, I didn't pick this item up. The little lady grabbed a box of these out of curiosity. I didn't think much about them, but then I thought, why not put them to the SneakASnack test!

The Review
I had no expectations when I tried these. OK, I had low expectations when I tried these. We've all had Pocky up to this point, so I thought this wouldn't be much different from any other knockoff that I've had up to this point. How different could it be? As much as I enjoy an occasional Pocky myself, what else needed to be said?

Lotte has always been one of my trusted brands for snacks. Though I may not love every single offering they have, their products are always made with high quality and care. Even with that, I casually grabbed a stick of Toppo thinking it would just be a throw away snack for the moment. When I picked it up, I did notice that it was thicker and denser than a Pocky. About twice the weight. I thought that was odd. There was a smell of coffee, which I'm not even a fan of, but I how bad can one stick taste? Here goes nothing...

I bite in and as advertised, there is a coffee and vanilla flavor, but it's well balanced. The coffee flavor is present, but not overwhelmingly so. There's enough to know it's there and the vanilla flavor helps mellow it out. Also surprisingly, the stick itself is not like a cracker; it's not dry on the inside. It's moister, more like the outside of a Fig Newton in the middle, but with a crisper shell. Other than being in stick form, these are not like Pocky at all!

I'm like a reverse Pocky!

The Sweet:

Great coffee flavor, without the bitterness, balanced out nicely with the vanilla ice cream component. Moist may not be quite the right word for it, but it is not dry, which gives you a nice texture when you bite into it.

Doesn't look like much, but don't let that fool you

The Bitter:
Coffee lovers may want a stronger "hit" of coffee flavor.

Conclusion:
I'm not a fan of coffee flavored anything, so you can imagine my own surprise how much I enjoyed this product. Sometimes letting go of expectations is the best thing you can do. In the case of Lotte's Coffee and Vanilla Ice Cream Toppo, it was just what I needed to let go of what I thought I knew and be pleasantly rewarded with this new snack discovery.

Video of the Week
I've been to several massage spas in my day, but never have I gotten the full array of spa treatments like Conan O'Brien... and after seeing this, I may never want to.

This was my favorite part!

Calbee Hot and Spicy Potato Chips

Is that a yellow potato that looks like Mr. Peanut?

The Attraction:
Who can resist a smoky red package that says hot and spicy? It also says "crispy crunch" with no real description of flavor...sign me up!

The Review
What flavor is hot and spicy? Isn't that redundant? Anyway, I was anxious to try these as I've seen this item in so many Asian grocery stores that I suppose it must be good...at least I hoped so.

I tore open the bag and there was a aroma of American BBQ flavored chips! Ahh...so that's what "hot and spicy" means, but how does it taste? I pull a chip out and it's clear that these guys are fried to a nice crisp. I take a bite in and sure enough, there is a nice crunch. Flavor-wise, it's reminiscent of Lay's BBQ-Flavored chips, but not as sweet and a step spicier. Oh, I think we'll get along just fine.

I'm crispy...

The Sweet:

The flavor hits the spot with it's "hot and spicy" = American BBQ flavor. It delivers it's spicy, yet slightly sweet flavor via a nice crispy chip without an oily residue. 

...and crunchy!

The Bitter:
It was hard to determine what flavor this was from the package. I understand that this item was predominately marketed to the Japanese masses and for all I know, it could perfectly describe the flavor on the inside in Japanese on the package, but for us non-Japanese readers, it's not nearly as clear. Perhaps "sweet and spicy" might be more accurate.

Conclusion:
Calbee delivers an item in many ways doesn't feel like a new product; it comes across more like an improvement on an existing item. It takes an American favorite, the BBQ-flavored chip, and does a better job of it by making it crispier, adding a touch more heat and dialing back the sweetness a tad. I know everyone's preferences vary, but for me, the final result is chip that sets a new standard of what potato chips should taste like.

Video of the Week
My pal Grace was "kind" enough to get me a package of these Korean noodles. How nice, I thought. Then I hopped online and found all these people in pain from eating these noodles. The question is with all this evidence, should I eat it? I'm even more curious than ever...

Here are all the videos of people eating these noodles I found on Youtube.

I think these noodles turned this girl
into a woman by the end of the video.

Cheetos Korean BBQ Flavor

Will they be "Greeeaatt!"? Oh wait, wrong cat

The Attraction:
My pal Grace hooked me up with a bag of these at her last trip down to a Korean grocery store. She knows I'm a fan of international variations of popular American snacks, so this was a natural fit for me!

The Review
I've been eating Cheetos since I was a kid. Who could resist a delicious fried corn snack with a strong cheese flavor? Not this chubby kid. Granted, due to my desire to look more like The Rock and less like Jonah Hill, I've been eating them far less frequently. Still, I have a job to do. Let's see if these cousins of the American Cheetos I've been filling my body with are as tasty as their originators.

When I peeled open the bag of Cheetos, I was expecting a wave of bbq smell to come pouring out of the bag, but it wasn't the case with these Cheetos. They just smelt slightly of corn. In addition, they are also much paler then their US counterparts. I guess there's no reason why they would be orange-colored if they don't have cheese flavor. I go ahead and dig in and like many Asian variations of American snacks, the flavor is subdued. This is usually the case due to the Asians in Asia finding US snacks too "flavorful" or too strong.

The flavor strikes me as familiar, yet unusual. These Cheetos are far less savory than the cheese-flavored ones. They have a slightly sweet finish to them. At first, they bring to mind Wise's Onion Flavored Rings, minus the onion flavor and with far less salt. The more I eat, the more I think they may even have a very distant relation to Kellogg's Corn Pops. It's not nearly as sweet, but that'll give you an idea of how far from overly savory it is. It also doesn't seem as oily, but with that, not quite as crunchy as well. Don't get me wrong, they are crunchy, but if a regular Cheetos in the States has a 10 crunch, these rate about a 8 on the same crunch meter.

"I feel so naked without my cheese flavored coat on!"

The Sweet:

Granted, these don't crunch quite as well as the US ones do, they still do have a great snack texture to them. Their subdued seasoning doesn't send your taste buds into overdrive, but delivers a steady understated flavor that won't tire out your snacking experience in one sitting.

The American "Jersey Shore" version
of Cheetos I'm used to

The Bitter:
These aren't savory! That's not really a bad thing, more like something you should be aware of before you buy them in hopes of scratching that savory snack itch. These won't hit that savory snack spot.

Conclusion:
I'm really not too sure how I feel about these innocuous little snacks. On one hand, I like that they don't hit you over the head with overwhelming flavors, but it's also that lack of "umph" that makes these treats not stand out of the snack crowd in any particular way.

At the end of the day, I think it's like a mediocre date; it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It was OK....and as in snacks as it is to love, I'm looking for more than just OK.

Video of the Week
I've been thinking about this long and hard; what if this blog business never pans out? No one stops by anymore to read my comments, then what would I do?

Maybe I can be a "boyfriend" in Japan. (Note to self: Learn Japanese)

I wonder if they have any US openings?