The Look: Palm trees, a big wave and a surfing Maui onion are printed on the foil bag. Inside, the chips themselves are all curly and thick. They’re what I’d call a golden yellow colour, not much different from the regular salted potato chips I’m used to. They look more gnarled than standard potato chips – more or less like kettle chips.
The Pitch: There’s a blurb on the back about why Maui onions are “so unreal.” Answer? They’re happy onions with a penchant for surfing. Whatevs.
The Catch: Hardcore foodies will note that these are not the true and original Maui potato chips. There’s a little Frito-Lay logo on the bag. They’re “Maui style,” remember. Also, “Maui onion powder” is waaaaay down near the end of the ingredients list – the second last component in the last ingredient listed – even though they’re the “Maui Onion” flavour.
The Taste: Yummy. The flavour is nice and oniony, like sour cream and onion without the sour cream. Salty, but not excessively. Super crunchy with a nice hard texture, but bite into it wrong and you’ll spear the roof of your mouth. They feel thicker and more substantial than regular chips, like kettle chips under a different name.
—
RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $1.59 for a 77.9 gram (2 3/4 oz.) bag (specific much?) at an ABC Store in Honolulu.
Value for cash money: Just fine.
Availability: Hawaii! (And, presumably, other states, too.)
Nutrition?: 420 calories per package. Eek. A fair range of vitamins. A hefty amount of fat. Some protein, some fibre. But that calorie count is one hell of a deterrent.
The verdict: I’d buy ‘em again. Shame about the calories, though.
Yum! The perfect trifecta of Salty, crunchy, greasy.
Is there any better combination? I’ve got a couple more bags of curious chips sitting in NEAROF HQ, waiting to be consumed and photographed. 🙂 I know, I know. The things I do for this site … 😉
I’m partial to Dirty Chips’ Maui Onion.
Any idea where one could track down these Dirty Chips you speak of in Canada? I checked out the site you linked to, and some of the flavours look delish.
Ohhhh…..look forward to more chip reviews