Fritos

Tapatio-Flavored Cheetos and Lay's to Debut Nationally NEXT WEEK!

Everyone who follows the food world knows the phenomenon that is Flamin' Hot Cheetos, a product created by a Mexican that's now the scourge of elementary schools everywhere. Well, those namby-pamby administrators better get ready to worry again: next week, Frito-Lay is debuting two new flavors in th ... More >>

Frito-Lay Gets Huge Bill In California Sales Staff Wage Cheating Case

Frito-Lay, makers of the popular Fritos, Tostitos and Doritos chips, routinely cheated more than 2,100 sales employees out of money owed for overtime work in California, according to a class action lawsuit. Earlier this year, the Texas-based snack food company agreed to settle the case before a ... More >>

Slater's 50/50's New Menu Items Will Make You Drool (Fritos Crunch Burger! Beer Cheese Fries!)

Slater's 50/50, the restaurant that's caused many weak souls to ditch their diets and never look back, has done it again. And in this round, instead of bringing us one new jaw-dropping, in-your-face monstrosity, they're bringing us several. Get ready to drool.  

'Hot Cheetos & Takis': An Awesome Song Made By Awesome Kids

Kids (and all other humans with taste buds) looooooove Flaming Hot Cheetos. They love it so much, it makes them crazy. And apparently, it also makes them burst into song. A group of Minneapolis youngsters from an after-school program called North Community Beats and Rhymes have come up with a b ... More >>

Lay's Offering $1,000,000 For A New Flavor Idea

Remember how great an idea Tapatio-flavored Fritos was? Now the Lay's part of Frito-Lay has enlisted Eva Longoria to ask its fans to submit via its Facebook app or a text what the next great flavor should be.

How Doritos Were Born At Disneyland

Adapted from 'Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America'

One Nation, Under Tacos

An excerpt from 'Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America'

Tostilocos Gets Their Day in the National Sun

​For seemingly ever, tostilocos have governed the diet of Mexis in Orange County yet proven almost impossible to cross over to gabachos--even those of the hipster set. Not sure why: the concoction of chips topped with fruits, peanuts, onions, salsa--really, whatever the hell you want--is like Frit ... More >>

Disney Releases Dole Whip, Churro Shirts

​ If you're an avid Disnerd like yours truly, chances are you've enjoyed both a Dole Whip outside Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, and a warm cinnamon and sugar-covered churro from a snack cart during a visit to the park.Well, guess what? You can now wear your love for both of these tasty D ... More >>

The Five Most Influential Cities in the Development of Mexican Food in the United States

​SO...my much-promised book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America finally hits the bookstores next month (April 10), and review copies are slowly making their way around the nation's newsrooms. So I might as well start giving out bits and pieces to entice ustedes to preorder the damn thing ... More >>

HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS: One From the Cart

[Hole In the Wall] A Santa Ana food cart makes bacon-wrapped hot dogs and other Mexican street treats

Four Big Facts The Daily Got Wrong In Its History of the Burrito

​Here's to hoping my Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America is hitting the cultural caliente list at the right time--and it is, if you go by recent histories on Mexican food published by mainstream publications. I know Smithsonian Magazine is working on something because they called me for c ... More >>

Were Doritos Invented at Disneyland?

​Over the weekend, I gave my short history of Mexican food in Orange County at the Segerstrom Center's Samueli Stage as part of its hosting of the awesome, ribald Chautauqua! show. Since I doubt I'll ever grace any stage at the Segerstrom again, I decided to focus my 10-minute lecture on OC's two ... More >>

Five Great Minnesota Versions of Hotdish (a.k.a. Casserole)

​As winter approaches, with its occasional rain and frigid mid-50s-high temperatures, people break out the sweaters, boots and think about hot, stick-to-your-ribs food. In the winter, a lot of baking happens and a lot of lasagne, but when it's chilly out, I think of the time I spent in Minnesota a ... More >>

Top Chef: Texas--Five Predictions

© Bravo​ Did you watch last night's first episode of Top Chef Texas? Episode summaries are usually Edwin's beat, and he usually weighs in toward the end of the season after we've learned which cheftestants to root for. I'm going to take a different approach at the head-end of the season and make ... More >>

Five Mexican-Food Empires Started By Americans Ripping Off Unnamed Mexicans

One of the few cases in Mexican-food history in the US where a Mexi wasn't ripped off by gabachos...​Michelle posted earlier today about how the man credited with creating Fritos, former Frito-Lay executive, Arch West, just passed away in Dallas. First thing I told her? "The origin story for Dorit ... More >>

Five Foods That Taste Better Processed

Flickr user xiaming​I love fresh food. I love cooking from whole ingredients. I go slightly insane when I can't have plenty of fresh vegetables with my meals, and I live in Southern California, where we have a year-round growing season and farmers markets that make even people from other produce-r ... More >>

Book on the History of Fritos® Just Released

​I'm not the only one writing books on the history of Mexican food in the United States. Just this week, Kaleta Doolin released Fritos® Pie: Stories, Recipes, and More via Texas A & M University Press. Doolin is the daughter of Charles Elmer Doolin, founder of Fritos. We're going to interview ... More >>

Study: Eating Fatty Foods Triggers Natural Marijuana-Like High in Body

Dos Chinos fries INSANITY...​You eat one French fry, you need another. And another. Soon, the basket of fried sticks is gone--then, you start picking away at your friend's fries. Same thing happens with chips and any fatty foods: the munchies.It's not because you're fat, tubby. It's all a part of ... More >>

RIP Crappy School Lunches, or: Six Legendary Cafeteria Menu Items

Flickr user john.murdenA farewell to childhood. ​It's the end of an era. The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Trustees has banned flavored milk in school cafeterias, and corn dogs and chicken nuggets are also off the menus. Who knows what's next? No word on whether OC schools are ... More >>

Le Cafe Is a Non-Smelly Deli

[Hole In the Wall] This Costa Mesa spot does the impossible: serve great office-park cuisine

Trader Joe's Baked Jalapeño Cheese Crunchies Rather Bland

​Trader Joe's is legendary for taking the ideas of other food producers, improving on the product, then selling them at its stores under the Trader Joe's name. So on a rare trip to the store, I figured the above snack would improve on Cheetos, not only in the health arena, but also in the flavor-- ... More >>

Taco Bell Makes Shells Out of Nacho Cheese Doritos

Taco Shells Made from Doritos Movement​Chips in menu items seems to be the best idea ever for Taco Bell these days (see: the Beefy Crunch Burrito, aka the one with Flaming Hot Fritos in it). Now, we're hearing that the Irvine chain has made a taco shell entirely out of Nacho Cheese Doritos.

A Review of New Sun Chips Flavors

Edwin Goei​I have a love-hate thing with Frito-Lay. I hate some of their products but love others. Sun Chips goes in the "love" column. I don't buy into the idea that they're really any healthier than a regular snack chip. Junk food is junk food. Furthermore, I think their "multigrain" compo ... More >>

NY Times: Food Companies Using Smaller Bags To Hide Rising Costs

Flickr User Jametiks​The New York Times published an enlightening article that reveals something currently happening right under our noses: food companies, trying to maximize profits during lean times, are simply giving us less product and charging the same price. They're taking advantage tha ... More >>

Hey, Look: Wasabi-Flavored Dorritos!

Vickie Chang/OC WeeklyWasabi! Dorritos! TOGETHER!​Spotted at the City of Industry Costco location: Giant bags of Wasabi-flavored Dorritos. Are they delicious? And are they really that nuclear green color?

Tapatio-Flavored Fritos Making Nationwide Debut IN TWO WEEKS!!!

​See that bag of Tapatío-flavored Fritos? It's now half-gone because I've limited myself to a daily fistful of the manna ever since we broke the news earlier this month they were debuting. It wasn't Lenten denial, but rather not knowing when they'd appear on store shelves outside random Costcos.N ... More >>

Tapatio-Flavored Fritos Now Available at Costco, Coming to a Store Near You

​Last week, I interviewed the Saavedra family, the clan behind the wonderful Tapatío Hot Sauce, for my book on the history of Mexican food in the United States. I might release some details of it later, but this one can't wait a year: Sometime in February, Tapatío-flavored Fritos hit Costco, the ... More >>

Gross Or Genius? Taco Bell's Beefy Crunch Burrito Is Stuffed With Flaming Hot Fritos

​Taco Bell's new, limited-time-only Beefy Crunch Burrito sounds like the culinary creation of a drunken frat boy.Dude, you know what would be awesome in this burrito? Flaming Hot Fritos. Fuck yeah!  That's exactly what it is--a burrito stuffed with seasoned ground beef, nacho cheese, sour cre ... More >>

Dress Like a Chicken Nugget, Get a $2 Chipotle Burrito

Chipotle.com​Ever wanted to dress up like a slice of bologna, a bag of Fritos or a Twinkie? Chipotle has a deal for you. 

Cancer Wasn't Killing Jack Jessee Fast Enough, So Did His Wife and Stepson Hire a Hit Man?

[Moxley Confidential] The New Math On How Many Mike Carona Campaign Contributors Got Badges

Avocado Pizzas at Stonefire Grill in Irvine

Pizza isn't something you'll see very often on this blog. Don't get me wrong. I eat plenty of it. But this is Orange County, not Chicago or New York. Pho, tacos, and ramen we got in spades -- just as good as those served in in Vietnam, Mexico and Japan, some might say. But pizza? So far, what ... More >>

This Hole-in-the-Wall Life

Breaking Into the Upper Crust: New York's Upper Crust Pizza

!Ask a Mexican!

Special Music Edicion

Fat Like Me

A pigs-eye view of the Happiest Place on Earth

I Steel Them From You!

10 Mexican-bashing songs from the rock & roll canon

Disneyland Primeval

A pre-Eisner photo history of Walts unreal world

Prison Blues

Visiting time at Wasco State

Diary of a Mad County

Let the Bastards Burn!

Wait a minute: Thats us in Birks war between the Californias