OK. All of us get them. During the day. In the middle of the night. At work. In the pool. Watching TV. Especially going grocery shopping. Cravings. The other night I had one. I had made some queso fundido the other day and it was great. It's just what I wanted give or take some half-melted panela. So, while it was a little while after I got home from work, I didn't want to go to Taco Bell (even though they have nachos now for like 89 cents) to get anything that late. I just some of the great, super-fresh tortilla chips from Cardenas. So I was craving something similar to nachos, and I didn't have the time really to make the queso dip in my awesome pans so I thought, well I haven't used one in a LONG time so I'll put together the nachos in the (ugh) microwave. My roommates and and I have one of the dreaded machines. I haven't used one in over three or four years. Seriously. Maybe I have to make popcorn but that's the ONLY thing I've used the microwave for in the past few years.
So I throw the asadero in the fridge so it's easier to shred. I take those awesome chips and make my first layer. Make a real quick salsa fresca. The cheese is ready. I shred it up, throw it down, cover it with chips and Tapatio, I love the dang stuff especially with cheese, then repeat till it's a freaking tower. At first I was going to throw it in the oven, but the plate I used wasn't made to go in the oven. Crap. So, my last resort, the microwave. OK it started off well, the cheese melted, the chips weren't getting soggy or warped or soft. Then I started to put some of the salsa on, and it looks like I did a great job even the the zapping machine. Wrong. The cheese got really hard, the Tapatio got a lot of the water taken out of it from the microwaving and the mixture of the salsa and grossness didn't work. But I was hungry so I ate a good deal of the stuff. It wasn't even mediocre. This just reminds me about why I don't use the microwave to warm anything up.
I've got a toaster over. I've got a regular oven. I've got four gas ranges. I'll even resort to throwing the stuff outside on the concrete before I put something in the microwave again. I hate the stupid thing. I really do. Nothing ever good, except maybe kettle corn has even come out of the thing and I'll refrain from using it ever again.
So that being said, I had a craving for nachos. I also had a craving for some of those fries from In and Out, you know those animal fries I think. My sports editor had some and they looked great.
So where can I get some really great nachos or even some really great carne asada fries? I've seen them on menus around the Valley, but I've never really ventured too far from the carne asada plates. Where do I go to get great plates of both?
James Arens/Foodie/Sports Writer