Nachoes and Beer

It had been a long time since I'd had a good plate of Nachoes. Or is it Nachos? Anyway.....

On a recent night of fighting indigestion I was struck by the fact that it had been a long time since I'd had a good plate of nachos. I'm sure they were a victim of economics, impatience, and ineptitude, but I missed them anyway.

I was fighting indigestion from eating the current incarnation of 'Nachos' at a local bar/grill. The ones that consist of chips with shredded cheese melted on them and then served. This style must be consumed either immediately on removal from the microwave, or after consumption of mass quantities of beer. The cheese resembles a flexible formica. You pull a chip out and get everything else on the plate that happens to be trapped in the congealed cheese. This has got to be the messiest way to eat nachos, for us, the consumers. But what do we matter? We're half the problem. There is an old saying in the restaraunt business: "The biggest assholes in the restaraunt are hungry/thirsty people - i.e. the customers". We want our food/drink right now! So they came up with a faster way to make nachos.

Another problem is the melted cheese itself. That's the major difference.."cheese melted on the chips" rather than "melted cheese poured over the chips". Melting cheese is a tricky procedure and keeping it melted throughout the typical restaraunt day is even worse. And I won't even mention the human factor controlling the over/under-temperature. And cooled, melted cheese is not easy to clean either. Been there, done that.

Back home, there was restaraunt that served the perfect Nacho platter: Warmed chips (like Tostitoes), melted cheese poured over the chips, and jalapeños sprinkled over top, or on the side. What made this platter perfect? If you ran out of either ingredient before the others, they would replenish the platter if you wanted. For free.

This little adventure takes an odd turn. About 2 weeks after the indigestion mentioned above, I met some friends at a local bar/poolhall that I had never visited. They had nachos with jalapeños on the menu. Naturally, after a few drinks I got a little hungry. For some odd reason, I wanted to try their nachos. Maybe it was a subliminal clue from having seen them served to someone else. Maybe it was the delicate aroma of melted cheese my now smoke-free nostrils had picked up. Maybe it was fate. But DAMN! they were good. They weren't the "perfect" platter of nachos, but by God they were made correctly.