Fiesta Taqueria (Campbell, CA): Super Nachos (Chicken instead of Beef)

Yay!  Yet another taqueria has opened in Campbell, and it's just a 15 minute walk from my office!  As I strolled down Union Avenue on a glorious summer day, my mind was full of high hopes for this festive-sounding taqueria.  When I got there,  no fiesta was happening (not even mariachi music playing in the background), but it was clean and bright inside and the woman at the counter was very nice.  How were the nachos?  Interesting.  Instead of melted cheese on the chips, a strange, crumbled cheese (and not very much of it) was sprinkled over the top.  The woman behind the counter, who also brought out the food said that was a Mexican cheese, kind of like parmesan.  My first thought was, 'Oh, so this must be the authentic Mexican way of making nachos.'  But a second later, I remembered my previous post about the origin of nachos and realized that couldn't be true!  Here is the breakdown:
Pro's:
- Cheap ($4.55 for "Super Nachos")
- Shredded chicken
- "Mexican Parmesan" is pretty tasty
- Good guacamole and pico de gallo
- Nice big bottles of tasty salsa (red and green) brought to the table with the food
Con's:
- Chips from Costco (the ones that come in the giant bag - very easy to identify in the world of chips!)
- Chicken = just ok, somewhere in between Taqueria Vallarta in felton and Taqueria Los Gallos in Scott's Valley.)
 - No melted cheese (seriously?)
- Needed a healthy dousing of their excellent green salsa to punch up the flavor

The Verdict?  Not bad, but even though no melted cheese = healthier, no melted cheese also = not really nachos (the folks at Fiesta Taqueria should read my previous post!).

Rating: 3 out of 5 (would have been a 2½, but for how relatively cheap they were)
Rating Notes: As on the Food Network show, "Chopped", you definitely lose points for missing a key ingredient.
Map to Location: http://mapq.st/mcM81p

Fun Fact: The Origin of Nachos!

The other day, I was once again thinking, "Wow, nachos really do rule.  I wonder who invented them?"  After a quick look at Wikipedia and a Google search for references to back it up, I found a pretty interesting story about where this delightful food came from.  Read and enjoy!

(Paraphrased from Wikipedia and an article written by Karen Haram for the San Antonio Express in Texas)

Back in 1943, Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya assembled the first plate of nachos.  At that time, he had no idea that 60 years later, this appetizer would make his nickname a household word.  At the time, señior Anaya was working at the 'Victory Club', a restaurant owned by Rudolfo De Los Santos in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, just across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas.  As Igancio's son, Ignacio Jr. recalls the story, a woman named Mamie Finan and a group of 10 to 12 officers’ wives, whose husbands were stationed at Texas' Fort Duncan Air Base, traveled across the border to eat at the Victory Club. When Señior Anaya couldn’t find the cook, he sprung into action.  Anaya, a maitre d’ at the time said, "Let me go quick and fix something for you." He went into the kitchen, picked up tostados (chips), grated some cheese on them, and put them under the "Salamander" (a broiling unit that quickly browns the top of foods). He pulled them out after a couple minutes, all melted, and added some slices of jalapeño.  The name of the snack, Anaya Jr. says, came from Mamie Finan, who called the plate of cheese- and pepper-topped chips Nacho’s Especiales. The name was later shortened to simply “nachos.”

References for this blog post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachos
http://sabatos.net/index.php/the-history-of-nachos-revealed/

Taco Bravo (Campbell, CA): Super Nachos with Jalapeños

Those of you who know of Taco Bravo knew this was coming.  A Silicon Valley institution (meaning that if you eat here often, you should be institutionalized), Taco Bravo has, at their 4 locations, served cheap,  yummy "Mexican" food that strangely has had a cult following for the past 20+ years.  I may get hate mail for saying this, but really, Taco Bravo is just a small step above Taco Bell, and their menu - recently(?) changed from a generic slatted white,  snap-on-lettered sign to a nifty yellow, red, and black plexiglass one - is much smaller.
The nachos?  Not wanting to get anything but the gnarliest pile of processed goodness I could, I ordered their Super Nachos, composed of pretty much everything they have behind their takeout counter...
- Chips (cheap and crispy)
- Ground Beef (I'll bet it's at least 50% beef - take that Taco Bell!)
- Queso (or "plastic cheese" as I like to call it)
- Grated Cheese (what? queso and real cheese?  wow!)
- Sour Cream
- Diced Tomatoes
- Sliced Jalapeños (against my better judgement, but it just seemed right - this is Taco Bravo for God's sake!)
These are also available as "Mini Super Nachos", but what fun would that be?  Eat 'til it hurts, I say!
These are really tasty in such a different way than the usual taqueria nachos I eat.   No carefully seasoned chicken and freshly made Guacamole or pico de gallo - just a big pile of all the stuff you love but know you shouldn't!  Yes, they're terrible for you and going to stick in your digestive system for the next week, but they're just so good!  Did I eat them all?  No, but I surely ate more than I should have. 
Rating: 3 out of 5
Rating Notes: 3 out of 5?  Yeah - I do have standards so that's as high as I could go, but I'd totally eat these again - plus it's only 5 minutes from my office.
Other Notes:  These are the first nachos I've eaten with a spork (see photo)!
Map to Location: http://mapq.st/mbSlTX

Burrito Factory (San Jose, CA): "Nachos Con Carne" with Chicken

Ahhh - eating nachos outside on a beautiful, 80 degree day in June…  it doesn't get any better than that!  This taqueria is about 5 minutes from my work (yes, as you may have noticed by now, I work in a very "taqueria-heavy" area) and had been on the list of places to try for a while.  How about the nachos?  Usually, when I go to a chain taqueria, even a small chain like the The Burrito Factory, I have low expectations.  This time those low expectations were unwarranted.  These are some excellent nachos!  Nice presentation, not too much cheese, a pretty pattern of sour cream, and a generous heap of guacamole on top.  The shredded chicken was tender and flavorful as well - a very important factor in my ratings.  And even though I'm pretty sure those lively red and green chips have stuff in them that may give me cancer, they sure made for a pretty plate!

The down side(s)?  Relatively speaking, this was not a very generous portion for $7 plus tax, even though it was more than I could eat, and what's with that sneaky layer of beans underneath everything that you kind of have to scoop out and place on the nachos separately?  Weird presentation choice indeed.

Other goodies?  If you get to this taqueria, be sure to try their mango pico de gallo.  It has the usual fresh flavor of pico de gallo with a nicely integrated sweetness from the mangos - an excellent compliment to the nachos!  They also have 3 or 4 other kinds of salsa, all of which were pretty tasty.

Rating: 3½ out of 5

Rating Notes: Would have been a 4 if not for that sneaky, "interestingly" flavored layer of beans underneath.
Map to Location: http://mapq.st/iXrX6S

Mad River "Vacation Nachos" (Thanks M & D!)

Last week I went on a great vacation with some close family friends in Mad River, CA, about 100 miles from anywhere that would serve a plate of nachos, so what did I do?  Improvise!  The first night were there, our friends made an amazing, but cheap and simple tortilla soup.  The "tortillas" for the soup were corn chips that you'd mix in, and the soup would soften them up, then you'd add cheese and sour cream on top.  Sounds pretty close to nachos to me, so I laid down a nice stack of chips, topped it with soup (lots of meat, beans, olives, etc...), added some cheese and sour cream to the top and viola - vacation nachos!
Rating: 3½ out of 5
Rating Notes: (not really a true plate of nachos, but I gave extra points because food improvisation is fun and everything tastes better when you're on vacation!  ;-)
Map to Location: You wish!  It's a secret!

Taqueria Eduardo (Campbell, CA): Chicken Super Nachos

To get to 'Taqueria Eduardo', head north down Winchester in Campbell and go a little ways past Hamilton.  Is that McDonalds that I see on the left?  Is that yet another tiny, funky strip mall behind it?  Is that the world's narrowest parking lot?  Is that yet another Taqueria adjacent to a nail salon?

This funky, tiny (4, tables, a sitting bar, and a total of 24 seats, the most distant of which is about 10 feet from the kitchen/ordering counter), no-frills taqueria is a total dive with nothing special on their very limited menu except for maybe Pork stomach as a meat choice - eeeeewww.  However, they serve a very tasty, very reasonably priced plate of nachos ($5.50 for the full boat super nachos with meat).  This place also gets kudos for asking me if I wanted grilled chicken or shredded chicken (shredded, please!).  Just the right amount of cheese, tasty chicken, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole and some of the hardest, thickest chips I've encountered so far (see below for what my Chinese friend, Ken, who also ordered nachos, thought of them).  The sliced jalapenos on top were a nice touch and added some great flavor.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Rating Notes: (these would have gotten a 3½ but the chips made Ken's mouth tired) 

Map to Location: http://mapq.st/lwElYd

Fun Fact!

A coworker of mine just told me that in Hindi, there is a word 'naacho' (pronounced just like nacho) that means 'dance'.

Naacho + Nachos = PARTY!!

Casa Lupe Restaurant (Campbell, CA): Nachos with Chicken

What do they serve in Lupe's house?  Tasty goodness, that's what!  I almost felt bad getting Nachos (technically an appetizer) at this Campbell sit-down Mexican restaurant, considering that they serve up some really unique stuff like catfish fajitas(!)  However, I didn't feel like I missed out.  This plate contained exactly 10 - count 'em - nachos.  Skimpy?  Perhaps, but each nacho was built with care, with its own layers of beans, shredded chicken, and cheese in just the right proportions.  All it took was a dab of guacamole, sour cream, some of their excellent salsa, and a bit of the shredded lettuce garnish on each one to turn this plate into 10 triangles of bliss.  And you know what?  Despite it being one of the more expensive plates of nachos I've ordered ($8.95), it seemed to be just the right amount of food and didn't leave me feeling like I over-ate (the usual ;-).  Great stuff!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Map to Location: http://mapq.st/jO4HOj

Planet Fresh Burritos (Santa Cruz): Regular Nachos with Chicken

A friend of mine had been recommending this place to me for awhile, so I, my family and she hopped in the car and made our way down to this nice little Santa Cruz taqueria the other day.  Located in a corner space on Center Street near down town Santa Cruz, this nifty little taqueria serves up what they call "Gourmet Burritos".  Basically, this means that they put some ingredients in their burritos that you wouldn't normally expect, like Thai chicken, prawns, and some other stuff not found on your typical taqueria meat selection.  In any case, I didn't care on this particular visit (I'll be back):  I was there for nachos!  From the normal to unusual mix of ingredients available on the menu for their menu selections, I was very curious about what I'd find in my nachos.  The answer?  The usual (chips, refried pintos, guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes, chicken, of course, and a bonus - scallions!) and that's good!  The scallions were a nice touch, btw.  I sometimes use those in my own cooking instead of regular onions.
In any case, these were some very "fresh" tasting nachos, with just the right amount of cheese and chicken.  And they actually gave you enough chips so that you didn't just end up with globs of goo in the bottom of the plate at the end.  And move over, Andale (see past post) - this is probably the best grilled chicken I've had: not dry and chewy - moist and tender.  Nice!
Rating: 3½ out of 5
Rating Notes: (would have been a 4 but for the fact that they brought me my nachos with no chicken at first and then had to add it to the top = lame)
Side Note:  They have a salsa at Planet Fresh called   "Sweet and Hot  " that is totally awesome.  This goey, Asian-esque salsa went great with the usual nacho flavors, but I'll bet it's killer if you combine it with one of their less pedestrian meat selections! 
More interesting side note:  Back in the day (mid-90's), a friend of mine had a band that played in this same space (I forget what it was called), and when I showed up, they had no one to run the mixing board for the show.  Since I'm a musician myself, they chose me.  Cool - I was almost part of the band - chicks dig that, right? 
Map to Location: http://mapq.st/ifPn7H

Taqueria Vallarta (Felton): Al Pastor Regular Nachos

It's mother's day weekend, and my wonderful wife wanted to grab some quick dinner while the boys were at Grandma and Grandpa's house, so we went to our old standby.  Ah, the rewards of trying something new!  Yes, I've been to Taqueria Vallarta in Felton a million times and yes, I've had their nachos a million times, but ALWAYS chicken.  After my great experience at Taqueria Superior with those Chile Verde Nachos, I thought, "Why not try something new again?"  I have to admit, I'm still partial to their chicken nachos, but their al pastor version is nothing to sneeze at.  A truly tasty meal.  Nice!  By the way, I'm not sure I gave enough kudos to 'Vallarta for their chips last time.  They're home made, thick, crispy, pure awesomeness.  I'd rather eat these than almost any other corn chip I've ever tasted.  I think the only ones I like better are the ones you get at Chevy's (review of nachos at Chevy's coming soon!)
Rating: 3½ out of 5

Map to Location: http://mapq.st/oXVFgt