115. Nachos

Really struggling to come up with something to write about tonight, since I went to a happy hour with my girlfriend, I thought I’d write about bar food.

I have this discussion a lot. I think the top bar food is nachos. I know a lot of people have different feelings about this sort of thing, but I gotta say that nachos are the absolute best.

First, they’re easily shareable. There is nothing worse than when you are at the bar with some friends and you try to divide up a bunch of wings. There’s always going to be discussion over if anyone has had too many or someone didn’t get enough. There’s also the debate over how hot or mild or if you want the sweet or spicy. There are two many variables in the wings equation. If you’re ordering for yourself, wings aren’t terrible. I like wings at the bar if I’m planning on chowing them down solo. However, they just create too many problems if you’re planning on sharing them with friends.

Second, sliders are just terrible. Are they a meal? Are they just snack. You never get the right amount of sliders. For some reason, three just feels like the worst number (which is what they usually give you.) Also, I’m still not a fan of the whole craze. It’s just not for me.

Now let’s get to nachos. First, there are no rules in nachos. Wait, there is one, if it sticks together, it counts as one chip. You don’t have to worry about someone taking too many or too few. They’re just there. It’s too hard to divide.

Second, melted cheese is just the best. If you don’t like melted cheese, you’re probably not American. It’s pretty much one of the few foods our divided country can agree on. (Except if you’re lactose intolerant, then sorry.)

Third, you can gussy it up however you want. You don’t have too many options with that when it comes to wings. Chicken? Beans? Three cheese? Olives? Guac? Do what you want baby! This is America, you can have a customizable platter to however your little heart desires.

Fourth, you control how spicy they are. You can have salsa on the side or on top. Who doesn’t want those things to happen?

I’ll admit, there is a certain variable element here. Because good nachos are excellent, but bad nachos are BAD. They can really mess you up for weeks. (Well, maybe not weeks, but you could heavily regret it the next day.)

I’m also not a fan of what some places call nachos. One of the worst food investments you can make is buying nachos at a sporting event. Well, the standard nachos, which are just a single-serve bag of chips and a cup of radioactive cheese. I really don’t like most store bought cheese. (I really am not a fan of Velveeta, but that’s a subject for another post.

However, I had cheese curds tonight with my beer. Cheese curds are an underrated bar food for sure.