McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeño Fritos
Frito-Lay North America, Inc.
$2.69

A few months back, I reviewed Dwight Yoakam’s Chicken Fries, Buffalo Bites and Macaroni Mouth Poppers, and noted that someone like country singer Dwight Yoakam would probably never put his name on crappy food. Unfortunately for me, I was wrong about that.

Fast-forward to about a week ago, when I was at my local Target and noticed that another country singer—one Mr. Tim McGraw—has his own food product in an EXCLUSIVE flavor of Fritos, called McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeño. While McGraw and his chest hair might not be quite as trustworthy-looking as Dwight Yoakam, he does have a hot wife, and pretty nice hat and has even gone through the trouble to put his completely illegible autograph on the bag, right next to his photo. I decided that that was enough for me to try the product.

On a side note, after looking these up online, I see that they’ve been around in certain markets since April and possibly earlier. Chicago doesn’t really get to be a test market very often, so once these were given the green light (and rightfully so) by the rest of the country, we’ve finally got them. Come on, guys, we’re a lot closer to Nashville than some of these test markets, and country music is a lot more popular in these parts (or rather, if you drive about an hour-and-a-half in any direction you will be amid hordes of country music and NASCAR fans, as the two tend to go hand-in-hand) than I’d like to admit.

As far as Frito-Lay snacks go, I’d probably say that Fritos aren’t my favorite, ranking somewhere below Doritos (original Nacho Cheese and those limited edition cheeseburger ones are favorites), Cheetos (Flamin’ Hot, please) and Funyuns. Doritos were available in a jalapeño flavor late last year, but they weren’t very spicy and tasted pretty much like every other flavor that’s come out in the last couple of years.

But Frito-Lay got it right this time, as Tim McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeño Fritos are one of the best chips that I’ve tasted in a very long time. They have the crisp flavor of a fresh jalapeño (not the acceptable but diluted flavor of your run-of-the-mill pickled move-theater-nacho jalapeño slices) without a great deal of the burning. Yes, there is still burning, as it’s about a notch below the aforementioned Flamin’ Hot Cheetos on the Scoville scale, but they still pack a punch. Fritos are just bland enough that they allow the flavor of the jalapeño to shine (or burn, as it were) while providing a wonderful texture. If you’ve got a sensitivity to spicy food, you might be a little uncomfortable, but those of us that aren’t wieners, these are delicious. The only bad part is that they’re limited-edition, so get them while they’re still around. In all honestly, Frito-Lay would be well-advised to put the kibosh in the Chili Cheese flavor and replace them with these as a permanent fixture—they’re that much better.. It’s kind of like if these Spicy Jalapeño ones were Johnny Cash, the Chili Cheese ones would be…

Never mind.

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