Hard Times Cafe offers Frito Chili Pie in a bowl, topped with cheese, diced tomato, and sour cream. Good stuff.
Addendum: why do the ads want me to be a police recruit?
Frito Pie or Frito Chili Pie. I remember one place I worked had a machine that dispensed heated cans of soup, chili and spaghettio’s. That and a bag of fritos was lunch many a time for me then…
They are indeed called walking tacos in Iowa as well.
…and with frito pie it didn’t?
Not nearly so much, no. I don’t have any alternate meanings for “frito” in my subconscious.
Frito pie, which I learned from my Texan husband. And oh my god, it’s the best thing about Christmas. (In deference to the starving student years, if we don’t go to family for Christmas, we have a giant pot of chili and cornbread, and frito pie on Boxing Day 
)
Agreed. I don’t even have a cat. I’m not allowed to have cats in my apartment. I’m allergic to cats. But I’m going to have to get one just so I can name it Pepper Belly.
Nope, never heard of such a thing. Scooping chili up with Fritos or cornchips, yes. But pouring chili into a bag? a bag of Fritos? Bleah! They’d get all soggy and gicky.
At northern california suburban little league games they were called “Chili Boats”. I was rather fond of them as a kid…
Another vote for “Frito Pie.” It even was occasionally served as the main part of lunch in my 5th grade cafeteria in South Texas. They’d dish the chilie and cheese on top of the Fritos and BAKE it!
There was even an article about it about a decade ago in Texas Monthly.
So “Frito Pie” must be a Texas kind of thing.
Frito Pie / Frito Chili Pie in Oklahoma too. You can get them lots & lots of places. Never heard of doing it the bag, though. Around here you get them in bowls with spoons, because we’re civilized like that. 
What’s WRONG is that I’m seeing them lately where you have to ASK for onions. That just ain’t right. If there’s some freak somewhere wants a frito chili pie without onions, let them have to special order it. The Diner (a restaurant I go to fairly often) has 'em on the menu, and then has periodic specials for Supreme versions with lettuce, tomato and sourcream.
[sidenote]A few months back I was in the elevator at work. A couple of ladies got on and one was talking about having seen this bizarre item on a menu recently - strangest thing she’d ever seen. When she described it, it was a Frito Pie.
I gave her my best deep-Okie accent: “You’re not from 'round here, are you?”
Giggles ensued.[/sidenote]
Never heard of such a thing.
That’s what we always called them in Louisiana, too. They were mostly football-game fare–a concession stand that didn’t serve them as soon as the weather got chilly was looked upon with great scorn.
That’s where I first encountered them: Texas football food at its finest.
Never heard of such a thing.
I assume you mean when the mercury dipped below 65 down there.
My Mom used to call this Fritoque. She made it in a Pyrex casserole dish in the oven for about ten minutes. She was pure Texan, through-and-through.
Yep, Pepperbellies; in the Antelope Valley, that is. They had really good ones at the AV Fair, at the VFW Auxilary booth. It was handed to you wrapped in a napkin, and you added your own onions from the dish on the counter. Yummy stuff!
The first time I ever heard that dish referred to as a Pepperbelly was at the Rosamond Community Fair, that was begun and finished probably before your time, Johnny L.A.. They were sold by the Rosamond Volunteer Fire Department, of which my dad was a member.
Now that I live in Colorado, I’ve seen it referred to as Frito Pie, but most places use that vile nacho cheese sauce instead of grated Cheddar or Longhorn. Bleargh!
Hmmm…a look in my cabinet shows that I have bags of Fritos, little cans of chili, and I can get grated cheese and onions from the cafeteria. I know what I’m having for lunch Monday!
When I was a kid my cafeteria served fritos topped with chili and cheese in a bowl and called it, simply, Taco Bowl. The kids went crazy for it.