About Tony B's
A steak chip sounds like a gimmick right up until the bag is empty. Tony Balestreri was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where, as the brand tells it, he fell for meat and the art of live-fire cooking, winning whole hog smoking competitions and crafting specialty sausages. He moved to Chicago in 2011 and made his mark on that city's culinary scene. He helped open Red Door in the Bucktown neighborhood, worked as sous chef and head of the meat smoking program at Kimski, and was head chef at Marz Community Brewing and the Welcome Back Lounge. From there he became, in the brand's own phrasing, the CEO of Steak Chips. The pitch combined what he liked about beef jerky with the easy snacking of a potato chip. The site's FAQ still fields questions about Kickstarter rewards, and the home page promises something that crunches like a chip and is seasoned like a five-star steak.
What makes Tony B's different
Tony B's calls the product a Steak Chip, and the brand is specific about what that means. According to the manufacturer, the chips are made from premium beef that is precision sliced, which its FAQ defines as cut like a very thin steak rather than ground, pressed and cooked like a burger. They are cooked in small batches in the United States, and every flavor is credited to Chicago chef Tony B himself. Crunch is the point; the brand says plainly that these chips crunch. The recipes are tied to places, too: China's Sichuan province for Peppered Chips, Korea's gochujang for Gochu Bang, Thailand for Coconut Curry. Tony B's says the chips are gluten-free, Keto and Whole-30-friendly, high in protein, low in fat, and made without MSG or nitrites.
Tony B's flavors we carry
Everything here is beef, so start with our beef jerky chips collection if you want to compare these with the other crunchy formats we stock. Peppered Chips is built on Sichuan peppercorn, which the brand describes as neither hot like chili peppers nor pungent like black pepper, with slight lemony overtones and a warm, aromatic sensation; it sits more naturally with our peppered beef jerky than with the fire-breathers. Gochu Bang (Spicy) is the one labeled spicy. It takes its name and its fragrant kick from gochujang, which the brand describes as a sweet and spicy fermented chili paste, rounded out with ginger, garlic and soy, and it belongs alongside our spicy beef jerky picks. Coconut Curry heads to Thailand: smooth coconut, a smack of curry tang, fresh lime zest and a sprinkle of coconut flakes, with no heat called out on its page. If your tastes run that direction, browse more unusual beef jerky flavors while you are here. The flavors we stock are in the grid above.
Who it's for
Reach for these if you want beef-jerky flavor with the snap of a potato chip instead of a long chew. Heat tops out at Gochu Bang, the only flavor the manufacturer labels spicy; Peppered Chips is described as warm and aromatic rather than hot, and Coconut Curry calls out no heat at all. The brand describes every flavor as gluten-free, Keto and Whole-30-friendly. The site does not publish an ingredient list or a Contains line as text, and Gochu Bang's own description mentions soy, so read the bag if you are managing allergens.
JerkyBrands is an independent retailer; the Tony B's name and logo are trademarks of their owner.
