Escondido, Calif.

“IT’S everything at once,” Abraham Hernandez said as he jabbed a fork into a cardboard serving boat layered with salsa verde-flavored Tostitos corn chips and topped with, among other items, shaved jicama, pickled pig skins and stumpy tamarind candies. “The chips are crisp, the toppings are soft, the flavors are sweet and hot and salty.”

“In Mexico, they’re smart,” said Berta Nava, who assembled the dish, called Tostilocos, that Mr. Hernandez was eating at Nava’s Bakery and Comida Mexicana, her family snack shop here. “They take a food, a bag of chips, anything and say: ‘What else? What else can we do?’ ”

As if to illustrate her answer, she went to work on another order of Tostilocos, which she garnished with all those toppings as well as soy-coated peanuts and chopped cucumbers. She then drenched the whole shebang in lime juice, hot sauce and chamoy, a magenta-colored sauce made with pickled fruits and chiles.

“You can use any base,” she said. “Most people start with Tostitos. I can do Cheetos, the flaming hot kind, and Churritos, too.” (Churritos are stick-shaped extruded masa snacks, flavored with chile and lime.) “I can do anything you want loco.”