Durty North

I was surprised to see Old Dutch potato chips available in every corner store in Canada. I know it simply as a small regional brand in the US, based out of St. Paul, MN. Apparently early on in the company’s history, they opened a plant in Winnipeg and have become a major player in Canada’s chip game. Its trucks litter provincial roads bringing all types of Old Dutch products to stores and gas stations, in a long line ranging from cheese curls to their brand of tortilla chips, Aribas. As for the potato chips, I stuck to the old style rather than the kettle-cooked line, and tried the Dill Pickle and All Dressed. The former was adequate if unexceptional: An MSG-sprinkled dill flavor over a modest chip. It was the cryptic “All Dressed” though which intrigued me and still does to this day. An informal poll of random Canadians proved unhelpful, apparently most people have no idea what "All Dressed" even means – I certainly don’t - though conjecture has put it as having all the flavors (an impossible feat). It tasted to me like Walker’s Cheese and Onion flavoring, and I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of the dressing, certainly betraying its name. Rather than being absolute it tasted to me like a bit of garlic, onion, and cheese. (No - vinegar! - ed.) The Old Dutch tortilla line is boisterously called ARIBA and I will say their nacho cheese chips are delicious. Tasting to me like the Bravo brand bodega staple, they have a little more corn flavor than your original Dorito and still make you want to lick the flavoring from the chip. All solid!