Washington Post: Route 11 Potato Chips

It's crunch time!

Make sure that you pick up today's Washington Post and check out my Sunday Business feature on the Route 11 Potato Chip company in Mount Jackson, Virginia.

(I had to do a lot of very thorough journalistic-type research on this one, folks -- bag after bag of dedicated journalistic-type research. I do it because I care.)

The story begins:

     Being a small fry can have its advantages. Take the Route 11 brand of sweet potato chips. The snack-food giants — Frito-Lay and such — haven’t taken up the challenge of this more fragile of the tubers, which tends to caramelize and burn during mass production.

     But for a snack food maker that’s used to taking its time, this is a sweet and profitable niche.

     Welcome to the world of Route 11 Potato Chips, a small Virginia chippery in the rustic Shenandoah that has been cooking up Kettle-style cult favorites for more than 20 years.

You can read "Route 11 Finds Success..." by clicking right here.

And for more on Route 11 Potato Chips, go to this spot.

Photo by the mighty Jahi Chikwendiu!

The Washington Post: Now Showing at Drive-Ins

It looks like I'm the designated "drive-in guy" this Summer.

Take a gander at my Sunday feature in today's Washington Post. The article is about the Family Drive-In (near Winchester) and the state of the outdoor movie experience.

In a few hours, cars will roll into the Family Drive-In Theatre and settle into neat lines next to row upon row of waist-high speaker poles. For tonight at least, that is just as it was during the first show in 1956.

“These speakers and posts are getting harder to deal with because there’s only one manufacturer that still makes the parts,” says James Kopp, manager of the Stephens City, Va., theater. “It’s in Kansas City.”

Click here and read, "Now Showing..." 

And don't forget to read the sidebar, about the history of the drive-in.