Herr’s Flavored by Philly competition features chips inspired by local pierogi, stromboli and ravioli.

Chips inspired by ravioli, stromboli and pierogi – all based on products from family-owned businesses in the Philadelphia area – are entering this year’s Flavored by Philly competition, sponsored by Herr Foods, the Chester County snack maker , itself a family. -managed business.

The lineup: cheese and marinara ravioli from Talluto’s, potato pierogi from Mom Mom’s Kitchen and stromboli from Romano’s, which invented the baked deli sandwich in 1950.

Limited-time bags of chips are in stores today and voting closes August 9. The person who proposed the winning flavor will receive a $5,000 prize, while the company behind the flavor will win $10,000.

» LEARN MORE: Tour the Herr’s Factory in Chester County

Last year’s winner was a riff on Corropolese Bakery’s tomato pie, which bested flavors based on John’s roast pork sandwich and Korean barbecue wings from Mike’s BBQ.

The Herr’s competition began in 2022 with generic flavors: “Wiz Wit,” “(215) Special Sauce” and that year’s winner, Long Hots & Sharp Provolone.

This year’s competitors all said they were impressed by the interaction between themselves and Herr’s to define the flavors. “It was rehearsed several times and we were all unanimous on the final product,” said Mom-Mom’s Kitchen partner Ryan Elmore, whose pierogi are critically acclaimed.

Herr dropped off samples, so I can provide tasting notes. There was no clear winner in my family.

Mom’s kitchen

Ryan Elmore and Kaitlin Wines started selling Polish food from a cart in Northern Liberties in 2014 before opening a taproom in Bridesburg in 2018. They had high hopes for 2020 after a Dinners, drive-ins and diving Guy Fieri’s praise for the cheesesteak pierogi when the pandemic forced a pivot to selling their frozen foods. As business thawed in 2021, they opened a takeout window at 1505 South St., next to Bob & Barbara’s Lounge. In the coming weeks, Mom-Mom’s will join Carbon Copy in a new tasting room at 3124 Richmond St. in Port Richmond.

The chips – potato on potato – have a creamy, almost buttery, sweet onion flavor. “We built it around sour cream and onion chips, but instead of the brighter flavor of scallion and chives, we leaned a little more into the caramelized onions so they had sweeter notes,” Elmore said.

Romano’s Stromboli

A stromboli is neither a calzone nor a panzarotti (another Italian dish invented in the Philadelphia area). The original is an oven-baked sandwich – ham, Cotechino salami, cheese and peppers in a bread dough pocket, with no tomato sauce inside – which has been the flagship of the family’s local pizzeria for 74 years Romano in Essington, Delaware County.

During the Depression, Italian immigrant Nazzereno “Nat” Romano sold tomato pie from a cart in South Philadelphia. In 1944, the widower brought his son, Peter, and daughter, Ceil, to live in Essington, a manufacturing center along the Delaware in Tinicum Township, and opened a pizzeria.

Business grew thanks to nearby shipyards and major employers like Scott Paper and Westinghouse. Romano, a stonemason by trade, has built a new pizzeria nearby.

In January 1950, Romano cobbled together a meat and dough roll for lunch. He put one on the counter and asked Bill Schofield, Ceil’s future husband, to name it.

He called it a Stromboli, after the hottest film in America: the Roberto Rossellini film starring Ingrid Bergman. Their price was 45 cents (now $19.99).

“I was there,” said Peter Romano Sr., 92, whose son, Peter Jr., 70, now runs the store. All four Romano children – daughters Diana Romano Ellixson, Bonny Romano Werline and Denise Romano Collins – worked there at one time or another. (Say the last name “ro-MAN-oh,” not “ro-MAHHN-oh,” because Delco.)

After manufacturing jobs left Essington, Romano was fortunate to do business at the growing Philadelphia International Airport, a mile and a half away. The pilots and flight attendants stopped at Romano’s on their way to their hotel. The scheduled arrival time of a scheduled flight was 20 minutes after the 11 p.m. closing time. “They would call out their in-flight orders from the plane and say, ‘Wait for us.’ We’re coming,” the elder Romano said. The humble shop thrives on loyal locals and curious onlookers motivated by TV cooking shows.

The flavor profile of Romano’s chips is based on the “special hot” variety, which is enhanced by hot banana peppers. We got some slightly garlicky cheesy undertones and punch from the jalapeños, but it’s not a “hot chip” at all.

Talluto

Joseph Talluto, the son of Sicilian immigrants, was a chef at Philip’s Restaurant in South Philadelphia. In 1967, at the dawn of his sixties, he pursued his dream. He sold the family home for $7,500 to buy a $7,400 ravioli machine and opened a pasta business in a building he owned at 61st Street and Elmwood Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. He and his wife, then homeless, lived in an apartment above the store.

His son Joe Talluto had just returned from Vietnam and was considering becoming a sheet metal worker. His father insisted that he work for him. Their pasta business grew in the 1980s, thanks to white-tablecloth Italian restaurants. “Pasta then became a centerpiece of the plate and it was the only centerpiece of the plate that didn’t shrink when you cooked it,” said Joseph Talluto, Joe’s son and the third generation. last week.

The company has expanded into wholesale — there’s a 60,000-square-foot facility in Folcroft, Delaware County — and into retail with stores in Philadelphia’s Ridley Park Italian Market and Norristown.

Joe, married to Carmella, died in 2019 at the age of 74. Their children – Joanne Talluto Brown, Jennifer Talluto, Angela Talluto Storti and Joseph Talluto – now run the company, which has 100 employees. “They are truly the strength of this company,” Talluto said.

Talluto Chips taste remarkable like Ravioli in Talluto’s Marinara, which is “designed to let the brightness and fruit of the tomato shine through,” Talluto said.

On the chip, the first taste is tomato (tomato powder, parsley, basil and a hint of garlic), then comes a cheese flavor which is not cheese at all but torula yeast, a popular ingredient that provides umami.