In the above review, I went into what a “pasta cracker” is, so if you need an introduction, head there. Otherwise, I’m just going to jump right in.
Even though I found Specially Selected’s marinara pasta crackers to taste pretty good, I did mention that there would have been no way I would have been able to detect that they were marinara-flavored if I was blindfolded. It tasted nothing like it. So I decided to try their other flavor offering, garlic and olive oil, as it seemed like that flavor profile would be a lot easier to hit in chip form.
My theory proved to be correct, as this definitely is way more accurate than the marinara version. Olive oil even happens to be second on the ingredients list, and you can tell just from sampling a bite: I was expecting the garlic to take front and center, but it’s actually the olive oil that does, followed up close behind by the expected garlic. I also think these are a little bit stronger than the marinara ones, so you’re probably going to want some gum, or at the very least, mints, if you’re going to be talking to anyone right after eating these.
Although I didn’t get a chance to do so, I think dipping these in some French onion, or even some ranch veggie dip would probably take them to an entirely different level. Maybe someone will give that a try and let me know how it goes. Straight out of the bag, though, these have a nice, light texture and big crunch that does hit the spot. The only downside to the stronger flavor, is I seemed to get sick of these a lot quicker than I did the marinara ones. Then again, I don’t think garlic and olive oil are two flavors that anyone can really pig out on for that long to begin with.
Overall: 6.5/10. Even though these are more accurate than the marinara pasta crackers, I still think I prefer those. For starters, garlic and olive oil are a lot stronger flavors than tomato, so these tend to get to be too much after a short snacking session, and I have to stop eating them. The light texture and crunch is nice, and the $2 price tag (per 5 oz. bag) provides some good value. On a side note: They would probably be very good in ranch or French onion dip, something I’ll have to try at some point in the future.
