I went for the balls, and ended up with a mouthful… of nachos.

This past week I met Shane, John and Steve down in Grandview at a little place called Palle. They are famous for their meatballs. It’s a tiny place and I really expected the place to be balls to wall crazy but the place is pretty mild… the nachos however weren’t. The waitress was more than happy to make innuendos with us concerning balls and other buddy jokes. I wasn’t expecting to see nachos on the menu so when I did I had to order them. It’s a professional thing now I get very little joy from having to order and eat nachos everywhere. <—�—�— That’s a joke.

The nachos arrived in a long trough, and I immediatel set myself to the task of cataloging the experience. The chips were most notable, I thick kettle made chip, crispy and warm. The cheese sauce was generously applied on several layers, so as we devoured the upper layers we were finding pockets of fresh cheese underneath. Over all a great starter for what would end up being a great lunchtime meal with friends.

The four of us had a good share of nachos, and maybe it was just an off day for me but I only managed to devour one of my tasty balls, leaving the other to be wrapped up and taken home for a later revisiting.

If you head down to Palle check out the nachos or even the tater tots (which I didn’t order but looked really good) but bring friends so you have room for the balls.

GenCon Nachos

This one has taken too long to get to but I will try to remember as many details as possible. The place is Granite City that is on the ground level of the Mall. The place is clean and large and we managed to beat the rush of gamers. The service was friendly and the nachos were delivered in a reasonable amount of time. We had a whole private room to ourselves. It was a large gathering and I was just a bit worried I wouldn’t get a fair (majority) share of the nachos. Fortunately the portion was pretty sizeable. The nachos here were really good and I wish I could remember what set them apart…. I think it was BBQ pork. Other diners were Kit and Kit, Shane and Ben, Mike and a few others.

Vacation nachos… and nacho-like things

Hey nacho lovers. It’s been a while since I updated the blog. Vacation really took it out of me. While these are not Columbus nachos I felt that I still needed to eat nachos when I could to expose myself to the various nachos throughout the US.

The first stop was Sickies in Rapid City South Dakota. The name was probably not a great choice but eating there was. The food was good and even though I’m not into cars ll that much I could see the appeal of the decorations. The nachos were perfect for the place. A heaping pile of warm cheese and chili covered nachos that was about right for four of us.

Our next stop featured no nachos. Instead I opted for the chili-cheese fries. Desperados is located close to the Black Hills. We had just finished an 8 hour hike to the top of Black Elk Peak and back down. I had only trail food throughout the day and had missed breakfast. Needless to say I would have eaten a live gopher if it had crawled onto the table. The fries were great. Enough for two or even three to pass the time til the real food arrived.

With the hiking trip wrapped up I headed home only to head out with the family to Las Vegas, California, the Grand Canyon and back to Vegas. The first nacho devouring happened in Orange County, California. After meeting up with our friends Brian and Missy we took a short drive over to Wahoos. We sat outside and enjoyed some tasty nachos.

Several days later after visiting Disneyland and seeing the Grand Canyon we ended up back in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. We lunched at the Avenue Cafe and I ordered some Tot-chos. Instead of nachos they used Tater-Tots. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this abomination… but as usual my stomach was willing to take the chance. They were pretty good. I think I might have been the only one eating them after a couple bites. I’d do it again if I was heading back to Vegas.

On the last night of vacation we left the safety of the hotel and walked two blocks to the Hard Rock Cafe. The food and atmosphere were great and I got to watch one of my favorite 80’s videos. Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher”. The nachos here were perfect and the whole family helped me devour them

And that was my vacation.

Since I’ve been back I’ve been to Teds Montana Grill once. The nachos there are still my favorite. Thanks for stopping by.

Rancho Alegre

This was the first truly random find in the search for nachos. After hiking for 2 hours Shane and I searched for nearby nachos, since we were in Dublin at the time Rancho Alegre was one of several options. We packed up the van and headed to this seeming remote location. I say remote because from the direction we approached it seemed to be a small strip mall area in the middle of nowhere. However after we left we soon found ourselves in familiar territory and pretty close to the Tuttle Mall area.

Rancho Alegre is located here: 5637 Woerner Temple Rd, Dublin, OH 43016

We had no idea what we were walking into but I think we were both pleasantly surprised. The interior was bright and colorful. There was an odd assortment of both TVs and large paintings of mexican culture. I was here for nachos but I have to take a moment to say the paintings and murals were top notch. We weren’t immediately greeted and we waited for a couple minutes before the greeter finally noticed us. Once she did notice us we were greeted with a smile and shown to a table.

Our server was great and within minutes we had some refreshing margaritas. We were given the usual complimentary chips while we waited for the nachos to be made. The nachos here were a bit different. They were still delicious though. The big change here was the use of the white queso dip. There were no yellow cheeses used. We did find that before long we had run out of nachos. There was still plenty of toppings and a lot of delicious warm cheese. We ended up using the complimentary chips to scoop up the rest of the plate. The nachos we ordered had shredded chicken and beef. All of it good. The rest of the food was quite good as well.

Atmosphere: 9
Service: 8
Flavor: 8
Presentation: 8
Fillingness: 7

The scale will be 1-10 (unless we change it)

Chubbys Sports Bar and Grille.

I met my friends Shane and Steve here on a Sunday. They had just finished a 6 mile hike and were quite hungry. I had spent the morning relaxing, I was also quite hungry.

Chubbys is located near the corner of Hard Road and Smoky Row Road. Despite living within blocks of this place for 8 years I had never stopped in to try the food. Chubbys is a slightly dark bar. The glow of several TV screens is about the main source of light. Even on sunny days I could see vampires hanging out here casually with little to no discomfort.

After being ignored for several minutes we too the initiative and grabbed a booth. I can’t be sure but I think a few of the regulars were staring at us, they may not have ever seen three really handsome men coming in to eat nachos. The booth was roomy and each booth had it’s own tv. We were eventually greeted and offered menus. We ordered nachos and additional food.

The nachos arrived quickly and we began the process of devouring them. My first impressions were that there seemed to be enough nachos for three of us. Beans in the chili seemed weird to me on nachos, but I wasn’t here to judge… or wait, yes I was. The sour cream was on the side in a small plastic cup. It’s safe to say that we were all hungry. I think I had higher expectations from bar nachos. While they were fine nachos the quality was a bit lacking. The first gripe I had was that the chili was a bit wet, while fine for the upper nachos the lower half were soggy by the time we got to them. I’m not afraid of using a fork to finish off the stragglers but too much of the pile required using a fork. We ended up finishing the nachos, this should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me. I still had just enough room for my meal.

Atmosphere: 5
Service: 7
Flavor: 6
Presentation: 6
Fillingness: 8

The scale will be 1-10 (unless we change it)

 

Teds Montana Grill

In the first post I hinted that we had already decided on Teds Montana Grill for the nights gorging of nachos. Shane and I had visited Teds just the week before so we were looking forward to more tasty nachos.

Shane can weigh in later, for now here is my review.

Teds off of Sawmill just south of I-161 is kind of hard to see. Surrounded by larger buildings and signs it sits quietly about 100 yards from Sawmill. Teds is known for it’s bison burgers and other delicious foods. The Nachos are no exception. The atmosphere here is very inviting. The place is great for families or single patrons with plenty of table space or for just sitting at the bar. Like our previous trip the week before we sat at the bar. Our server Cayden was attentive and friendly. She offered us Onion Rings which are a fine starter (she had no way of knowing that we were on a mission to eat nachos).

After ordering the nachos arrived promptly, surprisingly quick I half expected the plate to have been a display they kept further down the counter. They were warm and delicious. While talking to (name) we discovered that Teds tries to use locally sourced ingredients. I don’t know exactly where they get their Jalapeno peppers but they were too much for me. Every thing else about the nachos was great.

My one complaint, and this is a relative one for most people was the portion of nachos. The portion for me and Shane was a bit small. These would be fine if you were alone or planning on getting a full meal after the nachos. We ended up getting a second plate. We could have walked away satisfied that we had enough… but they were damn good.

Atmosphere: 9
Service: 10
Flavor: 9
Presentation: 9
Fillingness: 6

The scale will be 1-10 (unless we change it)

Cbus Nachos gets started.

Typical for me and my friend Shane a random comment turns into a great excuse to do something together. This time around it’s turning a love for nachos into a quest to find and enjoy as many unique plates of Nachos as we can find.

Shane and I have many hobbies that we enjoy. Board games, wargames, camping, hiking, and eating. We already do many of these activities together when we can. Having families and jobs makes adding in all these things tricky.

On one fateful day (yesterday to be precise) while driving to get nachos we decided that exploring the world of nachos would be a great addition to our many interests. this was our second week of running out to enjoy a warm plate of nachos before starting our evening work of making boardgames with our friends.

We had already established Teds Montana Grill as our destination. It was on the way that we first decided that our nacho eating should not be limited to just one place. It was then that we knew it would be our mission to find as many different places as possible and devour plate after plate of nachos.

Eating nachos for fun is a rewarding experience all by itself. We wanted to add something to the experience, something to really give it meaning. Really we just wanted a solid excuse to go out and eat nachos every couple weeks, or weekly if our mid-sections can handle it. We decided that we would start this blog and weigh in on our experiences.

Who has the best nachos? What places provide the right atmosphere to really enjoy them? Who serves them up best? These are the questions we will be answering in future posts.