Junk Food Nation, over the weekend, I could’ve sworn I saw a dude on a date use a Groupon or Livingsocial coupon to pay for the meal.  Immediately, I thought, “Bad form!” I asked the Junk Food Gal for confirmation. She hesitated.  “On a FIRST date?” I asked.  She winced – I had my answer.

It got me thinking, is it EVER appropriate for a guy to use a Livingsocial or Groupon on a date, ever, even if it’s NOT the first date? I say NAY. First of all, what kind of message are you sending? “I like you…just not enough to pay full price on this meal. I’d prefer to save $15 and increase my chances of going home alone.”

Second, is there anything more awkward that taking that random folded sheet of paper out of your pocket and handing it to the waiter secretively with your credit card?  “OOhhhhh what’s that, a secret note for them to bring champagne and an engagement ring to our table?” “Nah….just wanted to get $40 for $20, baby.  Gratuity not included.”

Third, what does this say about your pre-date planning?  Guys, if you really want to use a Groupon on a date, excuse yourself from the table and walk over to your waiter while he’s back polishing silver or something.  Hand him the Groupon then, and ask him to take the amount off the bill before the check even arrives at your table – better yet, before the meal even arrives – and then insist on paying when the check arrives to cover any evidence. The waiter might roll his eyes at you, but eff him.  (And pray the waiter doesn’t come back over during the meal to happily announce, “Sir, your Groupon has been rejected!”)

Finally, if you’re going to use a Livingsocial or Groupon during a date, and you’ve managed to hide it from your date…stop doing math out loud while you’re ordering.  “Ok, the fish…that’s $17, plus your entree, that’s $18, plus an appetizer, that’s $8, that’s $3 over….yeah I can handle that…”  Smooth move, stud.

Anyways, moving on.  Junk Food Nation, the past two days, I reviewed the NEW DORITOS JACKED line of chips: ENCHILADA SUPREME and SMOKY CHIPOTLE BBQ (go back and read them if you haven’t already). I thought I’d keep the ball rolling with a semi-classic; the Doritos that came out right as the year changed.  Today’s junk food is a double review of Limited Edition Taco Doritos and Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos! Both are retro callback flavors in retro callback packaging.

Limited Edition Taco Doritos and Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos: The Money Shots

To be fair, I think the Taco Doritos re-release came out much earlier, but the Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos came out in 2012 around the same time as the Salsa Rio Doritos, already reviewed on this blog.

Limited Edition Taco Doritos: The Money Shot

According to Wiki, the first flavor or Doritos ever WAS Taco, back in 1968.  So these Limited Edition Taco Doritos are a real callback, and I’m assuming they follow the old formula, not the formula of the recent Doritos: Late Night Tacos chips (see my friend The Impulsive Buy’s review). I liked the Late Night version…hopefully these will hold up.

Limited Edition Taco Doritos: Sombrero or one of those cute salsa hats with dip on top, chips on bottom? You decide.

Limited Edition Taco Doritos: Taco seasoning galore!

Limited Edition Taco Doritos: previewing the future package

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a chip advertise for how that same chip’s packaging will change in the future.  Limited Edition Taco Doritos – good on ya.

Limited Edition Taco Doritos: standard look

Limited Edition Taco Doritos

Limited Edition Taco Doritos tasted good, but IMO, kind of generic.  Yes, there was great Doritos crunch as usual.  But for a Dorito that doesn’t have cheese as it’s main focus, they really needed to step up the flavor game, and to me these fell short.  I tasted onion, garlic, a little cumin, and some general buttermilk savoriness.  But there wasn’t a ton of paprika flavor or anything that would remind you of, say, taco beef.  It lacked the heavy cumin punch that the Late Night Tacos version had, or even that the JACKED Enchilada Supreme had.  Definitely still tasty – but pretty non-descript to me.

Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos: The Money Shot

Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos have already been reviewed by plenty of my blogger contemps: The Impulsive Buy, The Fat Guy Food Blog, my friend Adam from Grub Grade, and the So Good Food Blog. Let’s throw my spin on the stack, shall we?

Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos: the retro logo is perfect, even if the onion sort of looks like a garlic clove.

Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos: does it worry mean that sour cream and onion powder are both low listed ingredients after tomato powder? Yes it does.

Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos: lightly speckled with red and green

Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos: green and red like Christmas morning

Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion Doritos tasted better to me than the Taco Doritos. If you want me to be blunt, I echo my fellow bloggers: these basically tasted like Cool Ranch Doritos to me with the onion powder quotient kicked WAY up (and the tang of ranch dialed waaaay down)!  I cook a lot, so I know what onion powder tastes like – and this was doused with it.  Wooo.  Very creamy tasting, owed in most part to the buttermilk and sour cream ingredients, I’m sure.  Add to that a ranch-like mix of vegetable taste, and then add even more onion powder to enhance that flavor, and you have the flavor profile.  It lacked the tang, however, so the ranchy-overtones were kinda muted, and bought the overall impact of the flavor way down.

Of course, i rather enjoyed that these were a bit muted…in today’s world of flavor blasting (which I endorse), it’s nice to have a change of pace chip.  And this chip reminded me of how Doritos used to be before they started to really cake on the seasoning in the 1990’s.

So, verdicts: Taco Doritos…meh.  Maybe a 4 out of 10.  And Sour Cream and Onion Doritos…eh (better than meh) maybe a 6 out of 10.

Thoughts? Hit me in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page. Sincerely, Junk Food Guy