El Ranchero Mild Hot Tortilla Chips (14 oz. bag)

Item Purchased: El Ranchero Mild Hot Tortilla Chips (14 oz. bag)
Location Purchased: Jewel / 1341 N. Paulina Ave. / Chicago, IL
Price: $1.99 + tax

Review: There isn't a sliver of doubt in my mind that El Ranchero makes the finest tortilla chip on this side of the Rio Grande. The variety in the green bags that only have salt are the absolute tops in the tortilla arena. The chips are substantial hunks of baked/fried corn chips with a body to them. It's rare you'll find a broken chip in your dip with El Ranchero, because these chips pack thickness, flavor and crunch into every little fragment.

Though fundamentally the same as the salted variety, the mild hot Ranchero chips don't deliver in the flavor department. Because they are dusted with an extremely weak and almost tasteless amalgam of chili powder and other spices, these chips just annoy me. Even when you get a chip that is packed with the flavor dust, you don't get what you expect. For the most part, these taste like their yellow-bagged brother which come with no salt added. That's fine, but something has to be said for false advertising. These chips are simply mild and not hot at all.

Still, El Ranchero Mild Hot chips are a damn sight better than any other tortilla on the market.

Rating: 3 / 5