Let the chips fall … into outlandish flavors

The Tavern at Phipps: 3500 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta. 404-814-9640, www.thetavernatphipps.com.

Wisteria: 5:30-9 p.m. Sundays, 471 N. Highland Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-525-3363, www.wisteria-atlanta.com.

It was daring. It was bold. It was a sloppy, creamy mess of salmon, capers, red onions, and lobster velouté littered over a basket of fresh chips. Love at first bite. And no one would eat them but me.

That was a good 15 years ago. I’d discovered this fishy chip creation at the Tavern at Phipps. The oily fish, briny capers and creamy sauce came together in a munchable medley to accompany the salty chip. But in those days, topping chips of any kind in such fashion was something of a novelty. Friends gave me the side eye as I tried to sell them on the concoction. Just too weird.

I guess I was ahead of my time.

But now, years later, Frito-Lay, the snack division of PepsiCo Inc., thinks we’re ready for more inspired chip flavors. You’ll soon see evidence of this as the four finalists in the Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest start hitting supermarket shelves. The contest, in its third year, invites participants to submit flavor creations that run the gamut from wasabi ginger and cheddar bacon mac & cheese to mango salsa and cappuccino. (Yes, you read that correctly. Cappuccino.) People can then vote online for their favorite through Oct. 18.

But are metro Atlantans ready to embrace the new flavors headed our way?

Well, those seafood chips at the Tavern are still on the menu. That’s a good sign. And Scott Serpas is making a similar dish at his eponymous restaurant in the Old Fourth Ward. His version, which he calls “a chip on steroids,” layers the crispy potatoes with house-smoked salmon and chipotle cream cheese. “People go crazy over them. I can’t keep them in house,” he said.

Atlanta chefs have been adding flavors to chips for awhile. Take the Buckhead Diner, which immediately became known for its iconic Maytag blue cheese potato chips upon opening in 1987. “They were the talk of the town,” according to chef Pano Karatassos of Buckhead Life Restaurant Group.

Today we see other chefs playing with chips. Jason Hill, owner of Inman Park’s Wisteria, makes sweet potato chips to pair with black-eyed pea hummus. Chris Hall and Ben Barth of Atlanta’s Local Three Kitchen & Bar created the “redneck refry,” chips topped with bacon-black-eyed pea refried beans and jack cheese.

Hall and Barth also tinker with other “gas station foods,” as they call them. On the Local Three menu, you’ll find popcorn in funky flavors, much like the Lay’s chips. Think ham and cheese with dehydrated country ham and cheese powder. The buffalo blue cheese also sounded intriguing.

These chefs know metro Atlanta’s preferences. As for the finalists’ seasonings in the Lay’s contest, well, that remains to be seen. Serpas thinks that “the new generation is looking for new flavors and unique ideas.” But Karatassos is skeptical. “Down South we do love our chips, but we are particular about our flavors,” he said.

I tasked these chefs with creating a flavor for Lay’s as if they were consulting. What would metro Atlantans cotton to? Hall and Barth would create a “low country boil” potato chip with dried shrimp, dehydrated sausage, old bay, lemon and butter solids. Karatassos would capitalize on the Greek yogurt craze and craft yogurt chips like coriander, cucumber or preserved lemon.

In fact, after our conversations, both Hall and Barth and Karatassos have decided to launch their own product development and will offer these creations in their restaurants once perfected.

Now, those are some chips I could dig into. Cappuccino? Not so much.

Maybe I’m not so ahead of my time.