Montgomery Inn, Grippo's bring back legendary Saratoga chips

If you’re of a certain age, you might remember a particular potato chip younger folks might not. The Rib King BBQ Saratoga-style chips were the result of a collaboration between the late, great Husman’s potato chip company and Montgomery Inn (not to mention a favorite of mine when I was in my twenties and thirties). They disappeared from store shelves more than a decade ago when Husman's, then under new ownership, decided to discontinue the chips.

Now, thanks to a collaboration with Cincinnati-owned Grippo’s, those Saratoga chips are back. The new chips, which are available in both a wavy and plain version, just hit the shelves at Kroger and will soon be available at United Dairy Farmers and other local groceries and markets. They will join other Grippo’s favorites such as Sweet Maui Onion, Horseradish & Cheddar and their own famous barbecue chips.

For the uninitiated, Saratoga chips are a mainstay in Greater Cincinnati that can be found on the menus of some of our most historic restaurants, including LaRosa's, Ron's Roost and Zip's, among others.

According to Montgomery Inn co-owner Dean Gregory, his father (and Montgomery Inn founder), Ted Gregory, was the first person to introduce them to Cincinnati.

As the story goes, when Ted Gregory's own father immigrated to the United States from Greece, he settled in Saratoga Springs, New York. When Ted grew up and moved to Cincinnati, he would return to his hometown to watch the horse races. He eventually fell in love with the town’s namesake chips and decided to put them on his menu, along with a side of barbecue sauce, when he opened Montgomery Inn. Pretty soon, other places followed suit.

The Inn's original collaboration with Husman’s started in 1992 when an executive from Curtis Burns Food Inc., which then owned the company, visited the Montgomery Inn Boathouse on the East End. During his meal, the Inn's executive vice president Evan Andrews, suggested adding their famous thick-cut chips to the Husman’s line up and Curtis Burns took him up on the offer.

While Evans originally suggested selling the chips plain with packets of Montgomery Inn sauce included in the bag (because you ALWAYS dip Saratoga chips in barbecue sauce), Husman’s wanted to simply flavor them with the Inn's signature sauce, instead.

It looks like Evans finally got his wish. Unlike the Husman's collaboration, the Grippo's Saratoga chips will be available as a barbecue chip, which is wavy, and a plain Saratoga chip that is meant to be dipped in sauce.

Speaking of sauce, Montgomery Inn has also released a new, no-sugar added barbecue sauce that's exceeding their expectations in terms of popularity, according to Evans. The decision to launch the new sauce was based on market research and the success of other barbecue sauce companies that have released their own no-sugar-added versions. “The market is growing and gaining more and more prominence,” Andrews said.

The sauce has other health-conscious bona fides as well in that it's gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free and fat-free, too. According to Evan's, the no-sugar added sauce is a bit more expensive because the apple fiber they use to flavor it is about seven times the cost of cane sugar. You can find it, likely in the sauce aisle (or near the potato chip aisle, where it will be displayed along with the new chips) at your local Kroger.

“This generation is much more conscious of what they let their kids eat versus what our kids ate," Evans said about the new sauce. “We've had a lot of parents already call us about it.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Montgomery Inn, Grippo's bring back legendary Cincinnati potato chip