Do you remember when Late Night with Conan O’Brien had bands you’d never heard of? Musical acts like Brother Cane, Juicy Doves, At The Drive-In, Spicy Spicy Spice, The Spinanes, December Showers, Jawbox, Buffalo Tom, Flowerbot, and Pizza Redux.

Over the past three years, Taco Bell has been introducing me to hot sauces I’ve never heard of, like Yellowbird, Secret Aardvark, Disha Hot, and now Zab’s. More specifically, Zab’s St. Augustine Style Sauce, which has a sweet heat and gradual burn from Datil peppers. By the way, the Orange Sweet Datil Peppers would be a decent name for a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band from Florida, which is where most Datil peppers are grown.

The Taco Bell Zab’s Chicken Ranch Nacho Fries feature Nacho Fries topped with slow-roasted chicken, warm Nacho Cheese sauce, a three-cheese blend, pico de gallo, and Zab’s Datil Pepper Ranch sauce, which is a combo of Zab’s St. Augustine Style Sauce and Taco Bell’s Spicy Ranch.

With that combination of a hot sauce and a spicy ranch, I expected at least a little kick from the Nacho Fries, but as I ate them, I kept thinking, “Where’s the heat?” The Zab’s sauce is supposed to provide a gradual heat, but instead, I got no heat. However, I’m not going to complain too much about that because I liked most of the flavors here. I say “most” because, and this might sound strange, I actually preferred the bites without any chicken. Look, I’ve enjoyed the slow-roasted chicken in plenty of other menu items, but they were a distraction here. Without it, I thought the flavors of the fries and toppings were more pronounced.

While the Zab’s ranch sauce lacked heat, it had plenty of flavor. Though I’m not sure I’d call it a ranch sauce. It was tangy like a ranch dressing, but also a little sweet. Think of a tangier offshoot of ketchup and mayo with a hint of pepperiness. It was also not overpowering, which allowed the tomatoes in the pico de gallo, the Nacho Fries seasoning, and the nacho cheese sauce to shine alongside each other, creating a tasty tower of toppings and fries that are worth a try. Well, except for the chicken.

Well, Zab’s, I now know who you are. I wonder what hot sauce brand Taco Bell is going to introduce us to next. Perhaps Vermont’s Angry Goat Pepper Company, Slap Ya Mama or Frog Bone from Louisiana, or Horsetooth Hot Sauce from Colorado?

Purchased Price: $5.99*
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 490 calories, 31 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 1170 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

*Because I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

Taco Bell could’ve just named these Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets and called it a day. But the marketing folks there went with some alliteration to make these the Diablo Dusted Crispy Chicken Nuggets, then dusted the Diablo dust off their hands and called it a day.

The limited time offering features all-white-meat chicken nuggets in a crispy, tortilla chip coating with Diablo dust made from the chain’s Diablo sauce packets. I imagine the seasoning is produced in Hell by heating up vats of Diablo sauce over a fiery pit and letting the liquid evaporate so all that remains is a fine powder, which gets stomped into a finer powder by those in Hell who are there because they never used their blinkers when turning or changing lanes. Also, I imagine El Diablo says the powder is being used by Taco Bell, but being El Diablo, he’s lying. Half is being used by Taco Bell and the other half is his nose candy.

An order is available with five or ten pieces, with a sauce of your choice. Because these are Diablo Dusted Chicken Nuggets, I had to go with the Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Dipping Sauce. Although I would like to note that I’d be somewhat okay if my nuggets ended up without any sauce because their peppery and savory flavor is surprisingly good on its own. Also, when I ate them this way, the Diablo coating that ended up on my lips did make them tingle.

The nuggets are definitely spicier than the Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch, and I’d say they’re roughly as spicy as Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Nuggets. Maybe a tad more? It’s not an unpleasant heat that demands a cold beverage, but I was glad one happened to be within arm’s reach. The dipping sauce added a tangy ranch flavor and helped lessen the heat, even though it has a bit of a kick too. That cool ranch tanginess pairs extremely well with the hot, peppery seasoning on the nuggets, and I believe it’s enough to make this worth buying.

While I enjoyed the flavor of the nuggets and the dipping sauce, I wasn’t a fan of how dry the chicken was, and the dry, but on purpose, crunchy coating wasn’t helping. Thankfully, they weren’t as arid as Hell’s Diablo Dust stomping pits, and the creamy ranch did help hide some of that dryness. Of course, your results may vary, but the dryness did lower my overall enjoyment of what was otherwise a tasty order.

Purchased Price: $5.79*Size: 5-pieces
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (5 pieces) 340 calories, 14 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, 1340 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 27 grams of protein.

*Because I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.