Romano’s Stromboli crowned the greatest Philly potato chip flavor of them all for 2024

Stromboli-inspired potato chips topped ravioli- and pierogi-flavored competitors in this year’s “Flavored by Philly” contest sponsored by Herr’s Foods.

The Chester County snack company on Wednesday crowned Romano’s, the Essington shop where the baked Italian turnover was invented in 1950, as the top vote-getter over local companies Talluto’s (cheese ravioli and marinara) and Mom-Mom’s Kitchen (potato pierogi). Herr’s said the vote count was up nearly 50% year over year, with 26,360 tallied online. The finalists, culled from a thousand submissions, were announced in June, when bags hit the shelves. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

Romano’s won $10,000 — which it donated to a charity — and John Lishok, who submitted Romano’s nomination, will receive $5,000. Talluto’s and Mom-Mom’s each will receive $2,500, and their nominators will be awarded $1,000.

Nazzereno “Nat” Romano invented the stromboli — not to be confused with a calzone or panzarotti (another Italian delicacy invented in the Philadelphia area). The original is an oven-baked sandwich — ham, Cotechino salami, cheese, and peppers in a bread dough pocket, no tomato sauce within — that for 74 years has been the signature product of the Romano family’s corner pizzeria in Delaware County. Romano’s son, Peter Romano Sr., now 92, ran the business for years and ceded it to his son, Peter Jr.

Bill Schofield, Nat Romano’s future son-in-law, named it after the hottest ticket in America: the Roberto Rossellini movie starring Ingrid Bergman. The stromboli were priced at 45 cents; they’re now $19.99. The “special hot” version, which the chip was modeled on, came along later.

In interviews in June, the competitors said they were impressed at the interplay between themselves and Herr’s to nail the flavors. “It went back and forth a number of times and we all were unanimous with the final product,” said Ryan Elmore, a partner in Mom-Mom’s Kitchen.

The stromboli chips got a kick from hot banana peppers. You could pick up mildly garlicky cheese undertones and oomph from jalapeños but it was not a “hot chip,” in the least.

Last year’s Herr’s winner was a riff on Corropolese Bakery’s tomato pie, which outpolled the flavors based on John’s Roast Pork sandwich and Mike’s BBQ’s Korean BBQ wings.

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