Food Notes: 6/24
Nachos, Japanese fusion sandwiches, fast food landmarks, and more
My wife wanted nachos. I accidentally had eaten the last of the tortilla chips, which sort of sank her plans.
Nachos would have been the perfect way to use up all the old food we had which included beans, a perfectly ripe avocado, a half jar of Jalepeńo peppers, two leftover sour creams, a handful of tomatoes and the tortilla chips I had turned into a snack.
We considered giving up on the quest to use up the old food, but then she flipped through Gina Hamadey’s book, Buenos Nachos, a now somewhat difficult to cookbook. My wife had picked it up at a fancy hotel during a work trip many years ago. It’s actually a beautiful book and filled with bright, poppy colors and big photos.
As she looked through the book, she found recipes from some unlikely people. There’s one from Edward Lee, who we had come to admire while watching Culinary Class Wars, that involves Gochujang Chili-cheese nachos. J. Kenji López-Alt offered up pineapple and bacon nachos which sounds like a great sweet and savory dish. And even Alison Roman got in on the action here with Hi-Lo nachos that involve Doritos and watermelon radishes, among other things.
We decided we should make nachos anyway, even if that meant buying a new bag of chips at the store. Despite the various recipes, my wife decided to make up her own combination.
In addition to the old food we had on hand, she bought some chorizo and queso blanco, a flaky Mexican-style white cheese. She also got more tomatoes.
She started by making a cheese sauce. Then she spread out the chips across a large flat baking tray along with the cheese sauce and chorizo and beans. After baking the oven, the nacho were topped them with tomatoes, avocado, hot peppers, and white cheese. When it all came together we had enough nachos for about six people. In the end, instead of using up old food, we ended up with leftover nachos and some extra tomatoes.
This is a significantly different method to the way I make nachos. I spread out some chips on the pan that fits in the toaster oven, and then hand shred kraft singles. After baking the tray for about ten minutes, I will top them with sour cream, or if we don’t have sour cream, just eat the cheesy nachos one at a time. Needless to say, my wife’s version is a lot more filling of a meal.
If you aren’t interested in making your own nachos, here are a few places that I like:
Anchored Inn
These nachos are covered in a delectable queso sauce, plus beans, onions, jalapeños, and guacamole. Despite the punk rock aesthetic and dive bar feel, Anchored Inn has a fairly sophisticated menu, which is why its become a favorite go-to. Plus, when I walk over to the bar and order dinner for take out, I get to drink a beer at the bar while waiting for the food to cook.
The Commodore
The go-to late night fried chicken spot also serves up great nachos. These are an intensively filling meal onto themselves, especially if you opt in to having meat. The queso sauce is a signature item, but some of the best memories chowing down on them involve hot summer days returning from Far Rockaway beaches covered in sand and salt, and chowing down on a big messy plate. You can grab the recipe here.
El Santo
When we order tacos for delivery, we’re likely ordering from El Santo. They opened up on Flushing Avenue a few years before the pandemic, and it also became a favorite summer destination post-Rockaway beach. What I like about these nachos, particularly when they are served in the restaurant, is that they are not piled up and covered in sauce. Each one is carefully arranged and given it’s own individual toppings, so there are no bad nachos.
The Latest
Is Food Better In Europe?
The Cut asks the question. Yes. Yes, it is.
A Japanese Sandwich Shop
We had lunch at Tokidoki, a Japanese-inspired sandwich shop from the people behind Shalom Japan. The sandwich counter opened late last year in the space next door, but Shalom Japan is still going strong too, with items like the Waygu pastrami sandwich.
The City’s Best Pastrami?
Food critic Robert Sietsema is ranking the city’s best pastrami sandwiches, but somehow overlooked Shalom Japan. I’ll hand it to him that Pastrami Queen is pretty good, but it was a heck of a lot better when there was an outpost on Grand Street a few blocks from our apartment.
A Little Plastic In Your Glass?
We’ve been hearing a lot about microplastics lately and how they are basically everywhere. Well, if you’ve been hoping to cut down on your daily dose of petrochemical polymers by drinking glass bottles, turns out it’s not helping. Glass bottles have even more microplastics, a new study shows. It might be the caps.
Fast Food Landmarks
The summer travel season is upon us and Gastro Obscura has compiled a list of fast food restaurants with iconic locations worth visiting. They somehow have overlooked the he second ever Howard Johnson’s is located on Cape Cod, a restaurant that is now the Lost Dog Pub.
Make Way for Food Forests
Boston has been installing urban food forests, filling vacant lots with productive plants community members can access.