The All-Star Weekend is finally here, except for the four teams that have to play tonight. But we can finally take a break from the daily grind of the season and take stock of what has happened. The Los Angeles Lakers are 41-12, are No. 2 in offense and No. 5 in defense, LeBron James is leading the league in assists while Anthony Davis leads the Lakers in scoring and now has his own signature potato chip.
Yes, in celebration of not having to be serious for a minute, we are going to focus on an accomplishment from Davis that has gotten significantly less attention than his scoring and his shot-blocking. His potato chips, the new “Ruffles Lime & Jalapeño By Anthony Davis,” are incredibly bizarre! And I mean that in a good way, kind of like the way Davis can contort his Super Stretch arms around several defenders for a dunk.
Let’s start with some of my bonafides in the chip review game. I grew up in Salem, Oregon, home of Kettle Chips and also neighbor to the legendary Tim’s Cascade Chips to the north. While many of you may now see Jalapeño Kettle Chips in your stores nationwide, a true Chip Historian like myself is here to let you know they totally ripped that off from Tim’s. I take no pleasure in reporting this. But the thing about chips, food in general and even innovation in a very basic sense, is every idea has been stolen. I’m sure Tim’s ripped off a couple of Kettle Chips recipes. But that’s beside the point, innovation is always taking from something you’ve seen before and adding your own flair to it. This is what Anthony Davis did, mixing classic Jalapeño potato chips with a Tostitos “Hint of Lime” inspiration.
“When you’re different from everyone else, you can choose to hide it, or you can choose to own it. You should.” — Anthony Davis, on the back of his signature Ruffles.
Have you ever been to a Pho restaurant? Pho, for those who are unaware, is an incredible Vietnamese beef noodle soup. It’s great for hangovers and cleaning the hell out of your sinuses. I bring this up not because the chips reminded me so much of the soup, but because they reminded me of the plate of garnishes that always accompanies the soup. Thai basil, freshly sliced chiles and freshly cut lime. As soon as I opened the bag and ate a couple of handfuls of the chips, that was the immediate vision I saw. I immediately felt like I was at Pho Oregon or one of the many great Pho places I go to where I live now. It had that blast of lime flavor in the front and the Jalapeño bite in the back, which if you don’t like spicy stuff, you probably just gotta avoid.
Does Anthony Davis like Pho? Is he a big Pho guy? I know he wouldn’t have trouble finding it if he does, but I do wish to know what the true inspiration was to Davis. But he already talked about it in a press release and he probably won’t again. Who knows, but I can’t dissuade someone for thinking about, what if we put jalapeño and lime together because that is one of the classic combinations in the world of cooking, not just with Vietnamese pho because I said it does.
It’s also not quite just Lime & Jalapeño as they added a little bit of buttermilk and sour cream, as well as garlic powder and “herbs,” which is why I got some of that herby aroma that I associate with pho.
With all of that being said, I don’t have much more to say on this front. They are chips that, if offered to me, I would eat again. And while they aren’t going to be my first choice the next time I’m looking for a chip, potato or otherwise to snack on, I can guarantee that the next bag of chips I get won’t remind me of my favorite hangover soup. That alone is worth giving props to Davis for. Bravo Anthony, you did own it.
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