I once had a vivid dream that I traveled back in time to 1980. I don’t exactly remember why I’d chosen to time travel to that particular year, but I do recall being acutely aware that I had to avoid running into my parents at any cost. I also recall eating at a McDonald’s and being freaked out that I received my fast food in un-biodegradable Styrofoam containers. Faster than you could say “Marty McFly,” my alarm clock started buzzing, and I was whisked from my 80’s dream world, back to the present. I still have no idea what instigated my impromptu fast food run across the space-time continuum. Guess I was seriously jonesin’ for some junk food.
Which brings us to Doritos. Thanks to them, not only can we time travel in our sleep, we can also time travel at snack time! Old-timey, discontinued flavors, Sour Cream and Onion and Salsa Rio Doritos are out once again, sold in jaunty retro packaging, which I am assuming is Doritos’ attempt to duplicate the success of its re-released, late-60s era “Taco Flavor.”
Sour Cream and Onion Doritos were originally introduced in the early 80’s (…so I guess that means I could’ve bought some of those in my dream instead of destroying the environment with Mickey D’s). It’s strange that the Doritos people think we’d want that flavor again NOW, especially considering that we already have, like, eight thousand other Doritos flavors that more or less duplicate or improve upon the simplicity of sour cream and onion. Anyway, having come back to us now in the 21st century, Sour Cream and Onion Doritos have a robust onion flavor, which is balanced nicely by the sour cream taste. Not bad. But I can’t really tell the difference between this and Cool Ranch — a fact that does little to convince me that this flavor needed to be re-released.
Salsa Rio Doritos are also visitors from the recent past…this time, from the late 80s. And we all know how awesome the late 80s were! I’m looking at you, Gorbachev! Just like glasnost, Salsa Rio Doritos are bold and delicious. These chips approximate the flavor of fresh tomato salsa with chopped onion very well and even have a little kick of heat. It’s interesting to note that this flavor had the shortest shelf life of the two when it was first introduced 25 years ago. Maybe people were too busy being coked up and rocking out in their leggings and Members Only jackets to Terence Trent D’Arby to go shopping for salsa-flavored tortilla chips.
I posit that Sour Cream and Onion and Salsa Rio Doritos have come in special Limited Edition retro bags so that they will attract more attention. Well, it worked. I like the detail and both flavors make charming little additions to the Doritos flavor spectrum, even if their Limited Edition status means they won’t be around forever. Not unlike Terence Trent D’Arby.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 bag (28g) – Sour Cream & Onion – 290 calories, 17 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 380 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 4 grams of protein. Salsa Rio – 290 calories, 16 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 430 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 4 grams of protein)
Item: Limited Edition Doritos (Sour Cream and Onion & Salsa Rio)
Price: $1.09 (on sale)
Size: 1 ounce
Purchased at: CVS
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Sour Cream and Onion)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Salsa Rio)
Pros: Time traveling in your sleep. Retro packaging. Two swell additions to the pantheon of flavored tortilla chips. Delicious, fresh tomato salsa flavor. Glasnost. Terence Trent D’Arby.
Cons: Styrofoam fast food containers. Being too coked up to care about salsa. Sour Cream and Onion tastes similar to Cool Ranch. “Limited Edition” means these Doritos won’t be around forever.
Still waiting for the Jumpin’ Jack variety to get its return…
Sour Cream and Onion Doritos were actually introduced in the late ’70s, but anyway… yeah, yeah, yeah… I’ve heard the arguement over and over about the Cool Ranch similarities, but I disagree. I enjoy the flavor much more than Cool Ranch, or at least I did “back in the day”, and I may be wrong, but I think they may have had more of a flavor kick back then than they do now. Whether or not this has anything to do with when Frito Lay eliminated the trans-fat from their chips, beats me… I still think the SC&O flavor could stand on it’s own when pitted against Cool Ranch on the same shelf, and in fact, I get sick and tired of seeing so many “spicy” flavors of Doritos crop up. Those get pretty repetitive too. Another mellow flavor to choose from is fine with me. You should also know there is a rabid fanbase for these, who have been waiting 30 years for their return… There are even Facebook pages and petitions devoted to bringing them back. All I have found are a few bags a number of weeks ago, on one particular day, and then they just suddenly disappeared. poof!! I have been looking hard for them too, at places that are SUPPOSED to have them. I think that many of the old fans are just hoarding them, to the point where many people will never even be able to get their hands on them. Too bad… Yeah, a lot of it may be hype, but there are many of us who grew up with these, and in a way, maybe it takes us back to a simpler time when we used to eat them. LOL!! Who knows…
I love me some river salsa.
I felt the same about the Sour Cream and Onion ones. Just like Cool Ranch. If I found Cool Ranch to be too strong and I wanted that kind of flavor, but milder, I would reach for those.
I was half expecting the flavor from those thick Xtreme Doritos like the ones I had when I was in college. But then again, I’m glad they weren’t the same. That flavor doesn’t have the greatest memories.
I grew up eating Sour Cream and Onion flavored Doritos — unfortunately, they aren’t the same ones. The flavoring is what I remember eating but it’s way milder than when I was a kid. If they doubled the amount of coating, you would have the original flavor from the 70’s. In fact, the coating was so thick, sometimes the chips would be black at the bottom of the bag.
Tierial ~ Yeah, that pretty much sums up my thoughts on it. The flavoring seems skimpy this time around.
So appetizing, but then I’m reminded of the whopping calories being packed in a single ounce and I’m quickly drawn away. I LOVED the original flavored version of the chips – That’d be nacho cheese, right? – before I got my hands on the Cool Ranch edition and never turned back! Only in a generalized comparative sense (as I don’t remember exactly how the Sour Cream & Onion flavor of Doritos tasted like, but I’d imagine is similar to all the other chips on the market of that flavor) I can say the two don’t taste alike. I find Cool Ranch to be an amazing flavor, and Sour Cream, however good, to be too typical and boring.
Anyway, a well written review here! Thank you!
The Salsa Rio flavor is VERY good!! After a few, they start to get spicy, so be aware of that. Otherwise, go for that flavor.
The sour cream and onion are delicious! They are way better than the Cool Ranch which for me are too strong. There’s different flavorings like the onion flavor. The Cool Ranch ones I got completely sick of a long time ago. People were saying the same thing about The Wild White Nacho that they were exactly the same as Nacho Cheese. That too wasnt true, The Wild White Nacho had a slightly milder taste with a more distinct hint of the garlic powder/seasoning. I really loved those things and the Sour Cream are the best thing since. All Dorities has been making for the last 10 years is freaking spicy ****! More than half their flavors are hot and spicy, they can keep them.
Cool Ranch and Sour Cream does NOT taste a like. I use to get a bag of sour cream and onion doritos everyday when I was a kid. When the removed those andleft the cool ranch I was devastated! Hey I was a kid 🙂 As much as I would liek to agree and say they taste the same I can’t because they don’t. Sour Cream and Onion disappeared almost daily at my Walmart when they brought them back, which seems like people are interested in them. I turned a few people on to them and they also agree they are delicious and can give cool ranch and run for its money, but once again they are gone and the nasty ones are left for us to eat if we wish. I know now that I am older my tastebuds have changed, but they taste like the same sour cream and onion I remember from my childhood! Frito Lay sucks for not even trying to promote them!
I remember sour cream and onion being so deliciously thick coated with flavor that they were greenish, I so what some now!!!
YOU SHOULD BRING BACK THESE CHIPS FOR REAL BEST CHIP EVER YOU KNOW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Were can I buy the doritos sour cream and onion I am from San Antonio texas please get back to me,thank you