Today is The International Day of the Nacho! (10/21/2011)

October 21st!  The International Day of the Nacho!  This holiday was created in 1995 to celebrate one of the greatest foods ever.  Thought you needed an excuse to eat this delectable, high-calorie food?  Well this is it!  So go out and get yourself some nachos today!  Here are a couple related pages for you to check out:
International Day of the Nacho on Facebook
NachosNY International Day of the Nacho Article

Two Pesos Taqueria (Los Gatos, CA): Chicken Nachos

Happy birthday to me,

Happy birthday to me,

I like to eat nachos...

...and I'll have a plate or three!

Well, maybe not of these ones.  I had to work on my birthday (38th, if you must know), which goes against the policy that I've been trying to hold to.  No one should ever work on their birthday and it should be a paid day off!  In any case, trying to make the best of my working birthday, I headed over to a new taqueria with a friend for a plate of nachos.

I'm going to keep it brief, because it just added to the bummer of having to work on my birthday:

>Chicken - poor

>Guacamole - not enough

>Sour Cream - nifty stripes, but not enough

>Pinto Beans - meh

On the upside:

>Great, home-made fried tortilla chips (competitive with my favorite ones from Taqueria Vallarta)

>Nice talking to my friend, Ann while having lunch
I really wish that these nachos had, per the name of this taqueria, only cost 2 pesos...

Rating: 2½ out of 5

Rating Notes: Chicken texture was ok, but I couldn't decide whether it was grilled or boiled and then grilled.  It basically tasted like plain chicken plus a healthy dose of char from the grill.  If not for those chips, this would have been a 2.

Map to Location: http://mapq.st/n1oNsi

Bonus Post: World's LARGEST Nachos! Awesome!

BILLERICA, Mass., USA -- The Ninety Nine Restaurant in Billerica, north of Boston, celebrated the return of nachos to the menu by creating a 3,999-pound serving nachos - which sets the new world record for the Largest nachos, according to World Records Academy (www.worldrecordsacademy.org).

The previous Guinness world record for the
largest serving of nachos weighed 1,613.12 kg (3,556 lb 4 oz) and was made by a team led by Lolly Ahlgrim at Northstar Church in Frisco, Texas, USA.

Taqueria Los Dos Compadres (Campbell, CA): Super Nachos with Chicken

Situated right next door to TGI Sushi (yum!) in Campbell, this taqueria was apparently started by a couple of friends from Mexico (kinda reminds me of those pizza joints called "2 Guys from Italy").  This is the first place I've gone on my Nacho Quest that calls itself a taqueria but has a waitress serve you.  Maybe they wanted the extra money for tips or something?  In any case, let's get to the nachos.  Great home-made chips (maybe second only to Taqueria Vallarta's?), a small layer of refried beans, and a heap of really good shredded chicken, monterey jack cheese, guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes, and jalapenos made for a very satisfying, flavorful lunch.  The portion was large enough that I didn't finish them all, either.   But, just when I thought everything was going well... Chicken McKnuckle!  For those of you who haven't heard me use this expression before, it refers to the dreaded piece of cartilage or bone in the chicken you're eating that gives you a rude textural awakening and makes you grab a napkin and disgustingly spit it out of your mouth.  This happened to me not once, but twice during this meal, and I'm pretty sure I grossed out the young couple at the next table.  Surprising, considering the quality of the ingredients.  Other than that, I did enjoy my nacho experience here.  See "Bonus Bloggage" below for reasons that I'd return to Los Dos Compadres...

Rating: 3 out of 4
Rating notes:  Watered-down guacamole and the Chicken McKnuckles cost this otherwise tasty batch a point.  Because I also had to tip a waitress and the cost of the soda was a bit steep, this ended up being a much more expensive lunch than I'd bargained for.
Map to Location:  http://mapq.st/oYtaWl

BONUS BLOGGAGE!:
Although the score for the nachos was relatively low, I might come back to this place in the future for 4 reasons:
1. This taqueria has a wide selection of seafood dishes that looked really good (maybe I should attempt to order shrimp nachos next time?)

2. Check out this wacky 3D under-sea (bajo el mar?) mural they had on the wall.  It's like 20 feet long!

3. While I was eating, this big, tall, long-haired Mexican guy came walking in who had the top 4 buttons of his shirt undone with his chest in full view - very tough and menacing looking indeed.  He sat down at the table behind me and started munching chips.  When the waitress walked over to him, I fully expected him to sound like that guy from the movie "Machete" when he ordered his food.  Instead, he had one of the smoothest, most friendly voices I've ever heard - I almost wanted to go say hi!

4. They have a sauce at each table called "Guacamaya".  This sauce is basically a slightly different version of Tapatio, but what a great name!  Sounds like one of those goofy word combinations that I'm always spouting off!

Rico's Tacos (Campbell, CA): Nachos with Chicken

After the whole nacho-less trip to Tennessee a couple weeks ago (see last post), I was really hoping that my next trip to a taqueria for nachos would really be something to talk about.  Well, kind of.  This time, I went to ‘Rico’s Tacos’ in Campbell.

Two Reasons why those of you who have worked with me in the Los Gatos/Campbell area would find it amazing that I’d never gone to this little strip-mall taqueria:

1. It’s been there since before I started working ‘round these parts in 1999.

2. Many of you thought that it was the place I referred to as ‘Ricardo’s’ (now ‘Orale’ – see earlier post), home of my favorite chicken burrito ever, and why the heck wouldn’t I have tried this highly recommended taqueria that you kept mistaking for one of my favorite taquerias before?

Two things about Rico’s that intrigued me:

1. As if they knew I was coming, they had - and I’m not joking - a hand-drawn sign on poster board that said “We Have Nachos” taped to the wall next to their regular menu board

2. Although their nachos had Queso (“plastic cheese”, as I like to call it) instead of melted cheese, their shredded chicken was so darn good, and the seasonings so queso-friendly, that I now believe you CAN make a tasty, gourmet plate of nachos with that infamous yellow goo.

Two Reasons I would go back:

1. The nachos were good and reasonably priced

2. The place IS called “Rico’s Tacos” so I should probably go ahead and try some next time

Nacho Notes (NEW Feature!):

- Great Chicken (kind of reminded me of the chicken from Angel’s Rock House – see earlier post)

- Good Chips

- Guacamole that’s mostly avocado

Rating: 3 ½ Stars

Rating Notes: Although I commend them on making plastic cheese work so well with the shredded chicken, it WAS plastic cheese and that cost them ½ a star.

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

Big Boy's Barbecue (Crossville Tennessee): Baked Potato with Barbecued Pulled Pork

Ok, I know.  I finally do a post for food that I ordered while outside of California and what do I do?  I put a picture of a big, meaty, gnarly, artery clogging, pulled pork and hot sauce-covered  baked potato in front of you and have to sheepishly admit that I was in Tennessee for 4 days and didn't make sufficient effort to get a plate of nachos.  I have an excuse, though.  This food is much more representative of where I was this past weekend than a plate of nachos could ever be!  Admittedly, we stopped at Chili's for dinner on the way from the airport to my Grandparents' house where I surely could have gotten a plate of nachos, but 1) I could have gotten nachos from Chili's in California just 10 minutes from my office, and 2) Chili's nachos aren't that great to begin with.  Let me tell you, though, this was one excellent pile of succulent southern slop.  A big, fat baked potato with tender pulled pork and really good hot sauce was just what this Californian needed to feel at home in Tennessee.  Food like this and an ample supply of cocktail fixings at my Grandparents' house helped make it a fun, relaxing 4 day weekend.  Happy 90th Birthday, Grandpa Hal!
Rating:  Unrated
Rating Notes:  Did you forget that this is a nacho blog?
Map to Location:  http://mapq.st/nWlyCM

La Cueva (Saratoga, CA): Nachos with Carnitas

 

Ah yes, back in the nacho groove after a 2 week hiatus (too busy one week, vacationing in the Sierras the next)!

Legend has it (read: I heard from my friend, Ann) that this restaurant, under a different name, used to be a fish and chips joint with bad service and mediocre food.  Next, it was a taqueria run by the same guy who owned the fish and chips place (kind of a leap, don't you think?).  Thankfully, in it's latest incarnation, this restaurant serves very good food, including this nice serving of Nachos.  I went with carnitas instead of chicken this time because their only choice is grilled chicken, which I'm pretty much done with at this point unless there are no good alternatives.  I'm really glad that my first plate of nachos after a 2 week break was tasty, nice to look at, and not too expensive.  What a disappointment a crappy plate of my favorite food would have been after such a tortuously long wait! 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Rating Notes: Decent chips, refired beans, good carnitas, pico de gallo and  nicely presented sour cream and guacamole with lots of actual avocado in it plus tender pork made these a pleasure to eat!  Great combined with their excellent green salsa, too.

Map to Location: http://mapq.st/nQ7n6b

My First Ever Home Made Shredded Chicken

Obviously, I will, at some point either run out of taquerias to eat at or run out of money to support my nacho "habit".  The latter is the most likely scenario.  So what do I do?  Learn to make my own taqueria-style nachos, of course!  The first and most crucial step?  Learn to cook the meat.

This was my first ever attempt at Mexican-style shredded chicken and it came out pretty darn well:

A bit too salty, but I think that can be remedied pretty easily.  I'm pretty surprised at how long it takes to make, too.  Just under 2 hours, with 1 ½ hours of that being simmering the chicken (1 hour simmering the chicken before shredding it, 30 minutes after).  I happened to have roasted and peeled some Anaheim peppers yesterday because they were about to go bad and I added those to the mix.  Great addition!

Rating (Chicken only): 3½ out of 5

Rating Notes: Too salty.  And I thought I'd never say this, but thank you, Emeril Legassi (you obnoxious egomaniac) for your chicken nachos the recipe that I used as a basis for this.

Taqueria El Ranchito (San Jose, CA): Regular Nachos with Chicken

After the disappointment you may have detected in my last post on Taqueria Vallarta's nachos with chili verde, I really needed something great, so a few coworkers and I cruised over to this brand new taqueria with high hopes.  The reviews on Yelp were decent, so why not take a chance?  (That will be the only question in this post - I promise ;-).  Overall, a good plate.  The chicken could have used a bit more flavor, but the texture was just right and the balance of ingredients was perfect.  The guacamole was tasty too - not nearly as radioactive looking as it appears in the photo.  Very crispy, light chips to scoop it all up with.  The downsides to this place had nothing to do with the nachos.  They were stingy on the chips and they didn't have a salsa bar (gasp!) which was a damn shame because the red salsa they gave us with the chips was excellent.  For this last reason, I won't be going back, but that didn't stop me from giving them a decent rating on their nachos.

Rating: 3½ out of 5

Rating Notes: Nice presentation!  Also, half way through my nachos, I realized that they'd only charged me for a "Small" nachos with no meat.  I felt a little guilty about it, but no salsa bar and one tiny bowl of chips for 4 people?  Come on.

Map to Location: http://mapq.st/o4pfcz

Taqueria Vallarta (Santa Cruz - Pacific Ave, CA): Chili Verde Regular Nachos

Why am I doing another post for Taqueria Vallarta?  Why not?  Why hadn't I ever tried their chili verde on nachos before?  Why switch to chili verde when the chicken is so good?  What was I thinking?  Variety is the spice of life, isn't it?  Then why doesn't the chili verde compare in flavor to the chicken?  What does a pile of my favorite chips plus cheese, pork, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo bring to my life?  You don't know by now?  Then why do you think I'm smiling?
What is the Rating?: 3 out of 5
Why?:  Good overall, but way to much cheese and not enough chips
Where is it?: http://mapq.st/pRqeTW