KuKuRuZa Gourmet Popcorn

I had a very pleasant experience with your booth at Brews at the Zoo event at Woodland Park. Your reps were so friendly and they gave me a bag of the Maple Bacon popcorn. OMG. At first, you get the maple, but then the bacon kicks you at the end of it. Sooo tasty. I’ll think to come visit sometime when I’m in Ballard — cute packaging too! What a good gift this will be for the holidays! Cheers

So many unique flavors and all of them tasted great. Lots of savory options so it’s not like this place is just fancy Carmel popcorn or anything like that. Sriracha flavor was awesome, cheddar and caramel seems like crazy talk until you find out it is delicious! Too many varieties to mention here. Employee was friendly even though they were about to close and didn’t mind our indecision as we picked our popcorn.

We got the flight pack which includes sample-​sized bags of 7 flavors. We tried jalapeño white cheddar, truffle fromage porini, vinegar + sea salt, and kettle corn. The flavors were okay. The kettle corn wasn’t as sweet as most places, which I prefer. Out of all the flavors we had, I liked salt & vinegar the most. They heat-​seal the bags so they stay fresh for a few months so you can savor.

There aren’t too many gourmet popcorn shops that I know of, so I am going to go ahead and give Kukuruza 5 stars, because why not? I had a delightful experience stopping in there today during my lunch break. I’ve long looked at this storefront wondering how good it would be, and so on my break today, I ventured in. Being dairy sensitive, I was pleased that they had 4 varieties that I could have. When I asked if they had any dairy free varieties, Henry said «yes we have four vegan flavors». So to dispel a previous Unilocalers complaint, it looks like Kukuruza has advised their staffers to identify the vegan varieties.
In any event, I opted to try the four vegan varieties: kettle corn, coconut oil & nutritional yeast, vinegar & sea salt, & seasonal fruit (grapefruit & kiwi). I actually loved them all — but I decided to go with Henry’s recommendations to take home — which was the kettle corn & seasonal fruit. All of the popcorn was fresh and fluffy on the inside, and slightly crunchy on the outside. I liked that it is made in small batches in Seattle, and delivered daily (or every other day) to their satellite locations. Not only that, but their seasonal fruit popcorn is flavored using real fruit purees — not some junky corn syrup with fruit flavor and red #4.
They have a variety of sizes and combinations, and it really is a «choose your own adventure» type of places. I loved the customer service, and the fact one can try each of their flavors before buying. I’ll be back for sure!

Jameson offered exceptional service to this visiting out-​of-​towner looking for an edible gift to bring home to his significant other. Kukuruza people, give him a raise. Than maybe change the name of your business, because it’s sort of stupid and doesn’t exactly make me think of popcorn. Actually, it makes me think of the vuvuzela, which is completely unrelated, but really annoying and also a stupid sounding word with negative connotations. But you know what? I don’t operate a successful gourmet popcorn business, so don’t listen to me.
I loved the Walnut Shortbread and Cheese/​Caramel mix popcorns. The one with jalapeño was also tasty. Did you know if you hold down the ‘n’ key on your Mac, a little menu will pop up with optional characters so you can type the ‘ñ’ with tilde in jalapeño? If you don’t have a Mac, I don’t know how you can do this, so you should probably go get a Mac (five stars for Apple products, sorry haters, but I can type an ñ just like that. It’s pronounced «enyay»). Jameson let me sample everything and wasn’t even passive aggressive about it like I would probably be and like most Seattle people in general seem to be. Actually, Seattle people are less passive aggressive than San Francisco people, from my limited experience, but everyone does seem to ask me how my day is going, especially when I’m getting coffee. Oh, Seattle coffee is 5 stars, by the way, no matter where you get it. I mean, I’m sure they have shitty coffee, but I was hiking along the coast and happened upon a little snack shack, and even the coffee there was good. But don’t ask me about my day. It’s invasive. Jameson did not do this. He focused on the kukuruzas, which is what I was there for. I left with three bags and my girlfriend loved it, so I’ll certainly be back for more free samples in the future. Or maybe you guys should just open one up in New York City? It’s bound to happen sooner or later. We have everything, you know. We have to have everything. We’re that entitled.

You stand in line to sample their popcorn. Better be patient if you get someone ahead of you who won’t leave until they’ve got their fill. There are at least 20 types.
Once they’re done, then you get to sample. A second person takes your order.
This entire process could be improved if they’re willing to let multiple people sample at the same time.
The flavors are interesting: savory cheesy types and sweet ones.
You can buy them in bags of 3 sizes or buckets. I opted for a sample of 7 small bags.
When you sign up for their newsletters I’m told their 10% coupon only applies to the month’s featured flavors.
Seems they have stores internationally.
I doubt I will be back unless an interesting flavor is released because there are special deals only available on their website.

Even though my orthodontist would be horrified, I’m on a popcorn kick lately, mainly because I tried G.H. Cretor’s Chicago mix flavored popcorn and I’m completely addicted to anything crunchy, salty and sweet (please refer to chocolate covered pretzels, salted caramels, etc). Their caramel and cheese popcorn mix is incredibly delicious, fluffy, crunchy, fresh, and it’s worth the 2 hours to scrub it out of my teeth afterwards (TMI, sorry). It’s banned from my kitchen due to my lack of self-​control.
So this current obsession led me to final try the popcorn at Kukuruza. It’s got a prime location right on Market on Ballard Ave and it’s been there a few years, impressively. On an afternoon stroll I stopped in and tried the maple bacon, Chicago style, and Hawaiian sea salted caramel. $ 5 for a small size. Ouch.
The popcorn was completely STALE. All of it. Sorry to yell it at you but it was shockingly bad. It instantly got lodged in all my teeth and I ran for my toothbrush! I read the other Unilocal reviews and maybe I went on an off day? Some of the good reviews must have tried fresh popcorn. The smaller pieces were mushy and soft. The bigger pieces were hard to chew. You’d think they’d be able to keep a relatively simple ingredient product fresh. Sure, they make it downtown and bring it up to Ballard. But how? Via the moon?
In a prime location such as Market St in Ballard, one would hope to serve fresh product. This location is a major skip. A massive bag of G.H. Cretor’s Chicago Style popcorn is fresh and waiting for you at Bartell’s for $ 2.49. Tell it I said hi.

*After many years searching for salt and vinegar popcorn it has arrived, I used to buy it regularly at the old Larry’s market
*Not cheap popcorn but all of them are high quality and great ingredients
*I am bummed I didn’t think of this idea, really well packaged operation

It is very simple, this is a wonderful addiction. No need to over think it. Yummy

Fraud Fraud Fraud — Here’s the deal; if you don’t want to honor a «groupon» (or Gilt City in this case), don’t offer one.
Here’s the story–
I purchase a Gilt City promotion for a 6.5G tub of popcorn
I walk in to redeem my purchase
The young lady behind the counter tells me:
«We don’t have any 6.5 G tins»
This is a lie, I point out to her, there are 3 in the window, and 2 behind the counter
«Those are dented, and I can’t sell them»
ummm…OK, I tell her… I am just fine with a dented tin.
I ask her to talk to a manager, after which she quite literally pretends to make a phone call to someone. Then tells me she still can’t sell it.
OK, I say, I’ll take a smaller tin that is not dented
Well, she says, that is not what you bought…
This is a piss poor operation, that clearly is out to defraud local patrons, and should be avoided at all costs.
Popcorn is bad for you anyway…

The popcorn flavors here are great. No dispute on that fact– however their was a Unilocal review that discussed the employees lack of knowledge when it comes to product ingredients and that is correct. Went to the Ballard location to pick up a bag of the salt and vinegar which is my favorite brought my sister with me– the employee working was friendly and greeted us told us the popcorn is all vegan etc etc– my sister has an allergy to soy and before trying any popcorn she asked if the product contained soy and the employee repeated «it’s vegan so no.» We both kind of looked at her perplexed and my sister said «soy is vegan.» And then I said «all vegan means is you do not use animal products.» Then I bought my salt and vinegar and we left. Such a shame that kukurazu does not take the time to educate their employes on what health/​nutrition terms mean. This place could easily be 5 stars if they only took an extra step and maybe printed out a sheet that includes ingredients and what soy free, vegan, gluten, dairy etc all mean. I’ll still buy my salt and vinegar but I can’t bring anyone there who is has allergies or special dietary needs due to the lack of knowledge about the product ingredients.
After writing this the first time I realized I have to lower the stars– the employee said «all the popcorn is vegan», and repeated that when we asked about the soy. But they clearly sell non vegan products ex. Butter and brown sugar– white cheddar popcorn– Chicago style– and they have popcorn drizzled with chocolate. So the phrase «all our popcorn is vegan» is grossly incorrect, and obviously a reoccurring problem. So two stars it is.

I walked up and the guy was handing out samples. I’m vegan and asked if he carried any vegan flavors. He looked at me and confidently said «all of them are.» I asked, «really!?» He told me yes. I literally asked him 5 times, and them walked out to look up the company online to find most we’re made with butter. I went back in the store and asked him if he knew what vegan meant and he just looked at me dumbfounded. I told him to stop telling people the popcorn was vegan.
I called the corporate office and told them they needed to educate their employees.
You guys suck.

Good popcorn at a fairly good price. The popcorn flavors are a little hit or miss. Some are good, some are not so tasty. Occasionally I’ll get a batch that is a bit stale. The Brown Butter and Sea Salt is always a favorite. And the counter people are top notch.

Good grommet popcorn experiences but they must improve their service.
They opened store in Tokyo and for some reasons, they are doing very well (quite frankly much more popular than here). So, I decided to give their popcorn for my friend who is visiting from Japan.
I ordered a flight carton, consist with seven flavors of small packages. They packed seven bags by two employees… well… the volume was very inconsistent :(the lady kindly stuff as much as popcorn for each bag she worked on, but the guy didn’t. I suspect he left some room in a bag so he can seal easily. They need to train their employees or add weight scale in their process.
The obvious inconsistent looking gift package was not giftable. So I end up with eat the gift package myself and bough a gift at Fran’s chocolate for my friend.

Music: 90’s
Layout: Small, however, well organized. The popcorn displayed in the glass case was like looking at a peep show.
Price: reasonable
Customer Service: 5 out of 5
I tried the salted caramel popcorn which actually had a balance of salty and sweet.

They gave away free Popcorn for their Anniversary, how cool is that? I didn’t even know they had a location in Ballard!
The popcorn was just as good as the downtown location, I went with the s’mores flavor this time, and was quite impressed. Their caramel corn, which was the base of this flavor, is really top notch (sure, no Garrett’s, but we can’t be picky).
This location has less flavors to choose from than the downtown location, I was sad to not see my favorite Buffalo and Bleu Cheese, but seeing as I am in Ballard more often than Downtown, it’s nice to know I can grab a bag of tasty popcorn for later.
Thanks, KukuRuZa!

I remember being relatively confused when KuKuRuZa arrived on the scene. I thought it was a creative sounding name but sadly, I wasn’t curious enough to check it out. Until I was walking down Market Street and happened to grab a sample from a salesperson on the street. I took the little white cup and kept walking. I literally stopped in my tracks and did a double take. I was in love.
The store is very small — just enough room for a counter to display the popcorn and the register. Samples flow freely. I would be surprised if anyone could walk in that store and come out empty handed.
Prices start at $ 3.49 for a small bag and go up from there. The fancier the flavor, the more expensive the bag. Is it expensive? Well, that depends. I’m not a huge popcorn fan and I ate an entire small bag by myself in no time flat. It’s not expensive to me because I think I’m getting exactly what I pay for — a high quality product at a reasonable price.
One of the most helpful things they have there is a card with pictures and names of all their flavors to take with you. The resealable bags are awesome (not that you’ll ever need it) and they have punch cards. Punch cards. Oh, no! Not only is their product super good, but they intend to give you a free medium bag after your card is filled. Evil! If your goal is to have me eat more of your yummy treats, then mission accomplished KuKuRuZa.
My favorites are the Hawaiian Salted Caramel (probably their most popular), Tuxedo, and Classic Caramel. If you’re not sure, please stop in and grab a sample. You won’t be sorry and you’ll keep coming back for more.

Awesome popcorn!
They have samples of a couple flavors out for you to try and you can sample any other flavor you want to try.
Flavors are creative and delicious. I loved the Hawaiian Salted Caramel and the Fancy Nut Caramel.
A small bag (1 quart) is about $ 5. A medium is 2 quarts and is about $ 10. Prices may seem a bit high but for the quality and unique flavors I think the prices are fair.
I’ll be keeping KuKuRuZa in mind for gifts and when I want a sweet treat!

So everyone knows about Kettle Corn, right? It’s sort of G-​rated, light entertainment, sweet and satisfying but totally non-​threatening.
KuKuRuZa Gourmet Popcorn is a totally R-​rated, in-​your-​face, completely addictive thrill ride.
First, they lure you in with great service (the tiny pixie behind the counter must have been some sort of ninja) then they give you free samples of every flavor if you so desire (but you should taste no more than two, maybe, three or your mind starts to whirl).
After you’ve picked your poison and paid the big money (small bag of specialty flavor is $ 5.99 basic flavor $ 3.99) you wander out to the sidewalk and here is where it hits you, full-​frontal flavor attack. I am so glad I was friends or I might have fallen and not been able to get up. I had a bag mixed with rocky road and cinnamon bun and after snarfing a few handfuls of the nectarous nuggets I had to give the bag to my beau for safe keeping, or I would have eaten it all, right there on Market Street. Keep in mind it is very, very sweet, and some flavors more closely resemble candy than popcorn.
We tried the seasonal stuff, peppermint cocoa and eggnog brandy, classic caramel and maple bacon. I didn’t eat the maple bacon but my sister stopped talking after her first bite so I’m guessing it was good, because my sis can TALK.
They were out of the truffle and porcini which is probably a good thing, as I was pretty much near sensory overload.
Great for Ballard, bad for me.

We tried the hawaii’an sea salt caramel and the chicago mix and were sold. Both were crunchy without being too hard. The service was nice, but the space was dead inside.
Apparently Kukuruza is the Russian word for popcorn and the owner is part Russian.