We are in tortillas heaven

I have recently become addicted to tortilla chips and usually have a bag of them in the house to just munch on when I get hungry, sometimes with salsa (especially the really good homemade salsa from GG's mom), sometimes I get stuff to make guacamole, but most of the time I just take a few out of the bag and munch on them. I have always been a fan of tortilla chips and when I wanted something to snack on, they were one of the options I would look for sometimes, but they shared time with pretzels and potato chips. Well, since I moved here to the Chicago area, it has become almost always tortillas and rarely potato chips and pretzels have really faded away in the snack food preferences. I blame my most recent love of tortilla chips on two factors. One, GG also really likes tortilla chips and so this snack is something we can both enjoy. Two and honestly far more importantly, there are a lot of really really good tortilla chip companies in the area. There is of course Frontera Grill products which are made by Frontera Kitchens, Rick Bayless's company. Bayless has three restaurants in the Chicago area and his chips are really good, but I don't even usually count him when I think of tortillas in the Chicago area. I think of him as a more national product, which I am not sure is fair as I am not sure he is really is national. But he is a chef on PBS and I used to watch him when I was still living in NC so somehow he has lost that local appeal for me. But his chips are really good and I really want to go down to all three of his restaurant at some time, not on the same day though obviously. The next chip company is Del Rey Tortilleria. These are great local chips. They also have at least two stores in Chicago in which you can watch them make the tortillas and buy them pretty cheaply. The next ones are a bit thicker than the others, but again are just really good, El Ranchero . The final chips and my favorite of the bunch are El Milagro. These chips come in a paper bag while the other ones are in the regular cellophane bags. The paper bags give them a nice distinctive look. I have no idea if this actually makes them that much better, but I do think they are the best. Although, I do have my preferences any of these chips are better than any of the national brands, Doritos, not to name names or anything. So if you live in the Chicago area or are visiting the Chicago area, you should get a bag of any of these chips if you have never tasted them before.