The Nacho Project

"When you saw one set of footprints, that's when I left to get nachos."

[nachoproject]

Welcome To Nacho ‘16!

Who We Had Nachos With: Actor and writer Monica Bhatngar and  Tito Perez, who is a trained professional.

Where We Met: Antonio’s - 7470 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles

What We Ordered: The Nachos con Guacamole.

What We Talked About: Antonio’s used to be our neighborhood spot and even though we no longer live near it we regularly make the trip across town to visit. Over nachos and lots of other delicious food we talked about the pictures on the walls at Antonio’s like these:

This somehow led to talk of school, parental disciplinary methods and eventually the staying power of ska music.

My great grandmother told me that you should spend the beginning of the year with people you’d like to spend the year with. Following this thinking we made sure to see Monica and Tito as soon as possible. We like them a whole lot and you should too. 

How Were The Nachos? Antonio’s does a special thing with their nachos that allows every chip to get equal topping distribution. There are only 6-8 chips on the plate but each one is a mini mountain of goodness. This makes the nachos more of an appetizer than many other places but it also frees up room for the rest on the menu. We highly recommend visiting Antonio’s on a Saturday and trying the Mole Negro Oaxequeno, it’s amazing.

[tiffanyb]

Lighting the Advent wreath and having nachos for dinner, according to the ancient traditions of our faith.

[nachoproject]

Holidays getting started right!

[schindermania]

There are very few problems in life that cannot be solved by nachos. #nachos #joy (at Loteria Grill Farmers Market)

[nachoproject]

IT IS NOT NACHOS, JUST A COSTUME

[nachoproject]

Nachos With Alyssa

Who We Had Nachos With: PR genius, animal lover, comedy nerd and all around amazing person Alyssa Galella.

We have been following Alyssa online for years and we are big fans of her and her work. She recently moved to LA and once again, nachos bring people together.

Where We Met: Lares Restaurant 2909 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica. Lares is a gem of a place out in Santa Monica, especially the upstairs bar area where we met.

Check out the fancy font on the menu. Nothing says classy Mexican food like old English lettering.

What We Ordered: Nachos with carne asada. Big on toppings, light on chips which are down there someplace.

What We Talked About:

That feeling when you realize that you’re going to make a big change in your life and the freedom that comes with going someplace new

How NY thinks there’s a rivalry with LA and how LA doesn’t care

Places that remind us of the cities we used to live in

Having room to adopt a pet and the cat Alyssa just took home

Male comics: who is and who isn’t a creep

Why all comedy shows need women in the lineup

The overrated fear of LA traffic

We covered a lot of ground and honestly could have kept going for a while but we all had pets to get back home to. Now that we’re in the same town we can pick this up later.

How Were The Nachos? You know what, they were okay but a little bland. Everything else about Lares is great. We’ve been there a dozen times before and we’ve never been disappointed.

[nachoproject]

Happy Nacho Day!

[panburger-partner]

my husband is mean.

Ryan mentioned that tomorrow is national nacho day and so I said “let’s go out for nachos tonight!” but he’s mean and making me eat dinner at home just because I’ve already cooked it and it’s, like, ready to eat right now. MEAN. MEAN. MEAN.

[schindermania]

tomorrow, nothing but natchos!!

@nachoproject, you are aware, yes?

[nachoproject]

Oh we’re on it. Also @panburger-partner we think your husband needs to get his head on straight and get some nachos.

[nachoproject]

Long Time Coming Nachos

Who We Had Nachos With: Writer, book expert and delight Anne Edkins.

Where We Met: El Metate Cafe  12 N. Metnor Ave. Pasadena, CA.

What We Ordered: The El Metate Nachos which looked so nice we had to show you twice.

What We Talked About: How long it took to get to these nachos. Of all of the nachos to be had in this project these might have been the longest overdue.

Anne and I have followed each other on various internet things for longer than @slackmistress and I have known each other and we have always lived less than an hour away from each other. So why are we only getting nachos now?

Partly because it’s somehow hard to get from one side of LA to another but mostly because life just gets in the way of the life sometimes. As a result the nachos go cold and I have to wait years to learn that my internet pal is as great in person as they have been online.

Life happens at the speed that it happens but I’m glad that it occasionally slows down long enough for me to meet up with people I should have seen ages ago. Thank goodness for nachos.

How Were The Nachos? The nachos were amazing, really great. Head over to Pasadena and go to El Metate right away.

[betheboy]

I was just thinking about the time I discovered that there was an escaped prisoner living in a tent behind my elementary school and I didn’t tell anyone because..you know, nobody likes a snitch.

The police found him eventually.

[betheboy]

Going through my archives and remembering to good times.

[tiffanyb]

Sometimes I think I need to plan a trip to LA specifically to participate in the @nachoproject.

[betheboy]

If you make it here, there will be nachos.

[meganshow]

and, speaking from experience, no murderers in tents behind the nacho place

[nachoproject]

We cannot guarantee this. But we do try to find the least murdery places to nacho.

[nachoproject]

World-Domination Nachos with Lenora Claire

Who We Had Nachos With:  Lenora Claire, Writer, Curator, Casting Producer, Web Series Host, Muse

Where We Met: Casita Del Campo 1920 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

What We Ordered: Nachos with chicken

What We Talked About:  Our long and storied past. Oh, and world domination.

Alas, Will could not join us for this Nacho Project as he was at work. Which was probably good, as Lenora and I, while keeping up on Twitter and Facebook, hadn’t actually sat down in years. We caught up on medical issues and family tragedy, as well as secret relationships and near-misses.

I met Lenora while I was dating my ex-boyfriend. He set us up to fail as friends (not intentionally, I don’t think.) Thankfully he was not successful. She also taught my younger brother how to put on eyeliner for a play that required him to dress in drag. 

Lenora is one of those people who has a million great ideas in her head and the ability to execute most of them. She’s a supportive girlfriend who will listen and kick you in the ass and give you a fresh perspective on a project or a problem that you hadn’t previously considered.

Basically Lenora is of those people who everyone knows, everyone loves, and everyone knows will run the world someday -- and we’ll all be better for it. 

How Were The Nachos? Delicious. No weird gristly bits! Also A+ sour cream flower. Casita Del Campo also has DELICIOUS margaritas but alas, I was driving.

Anything else? It would be a crime if I didn’t add these:

(Courtesy Lenora’s Twitter.)

[schindermania]

10 Best Carne Asada Fries in Los Angeles

Carne asada fries don't travel well, practically and ideologically speaking. They're increasingly hard to locate as you drive north from San Diego County, and surprisingly rare in Los Angeles, a city teeming with Mexican food, college students and medical marijuana cards. Piles of freshly fried spuds, laced with spoonfuls of...

nachoproject, it has come to my attention that there are nacho fries. are you aware???

[sexfriesandvideotape]

NACHO FRIES ARE EVERYTHING THAT MATTER TO ME. 

[nachoproject]

We will have to give this a try.

[dennys]

“a recent study shows that men think about nachos every 7 seconds” -nacho scientists

[dadbod-to-daddy-deactivated2021]

Dear nachoproject, how do I become a nacho scientist?

[nachoproject]

Practice, lots of it.

Nacho Project has never thought to have dennys nachos, we didn’t even know they had nachos. You learn something new about nachos every day. 

I wonder if they are any good?

[nachoproject]

Nachos With Ellen

Who We Had Nachos With: Artist and writer Ellen Schinderman.

Where We Met: Viva Fresh Mexican Grill 6515 S. Sepulveda Blvd Los Angeles, CA

What We Ordered: The Nachos Supreme with no meat because…look at these, they are perfect they way they are.

What We Talked About: How in the world did we end up here? You see, Ellen knew us in the past. Somehow we got separated by time and distance and our jobs but a random series of internet links and mutual friends have brought us back together.

We caught up on what we’d been doing for the last several years but never asked why it took so long. We have all been where we needed to be and now we are in right place again. As luck would have it we also saw Ellen later that day because there are infinite combinations of right times and right places. 

Also, we talked about dogs and music and dogs again because why not?

How Were The Nachos? The nachos were as near to my ideal version of nachos imaginable. You know what it is? It’s the slightly burned chips covered in melted cheese. It’s the perfection in the imperfections. Viva Fresh does not skimp on the toppings either. We had to go back for more chips (and tacos) just to finish it all.

We’ve eaten a lot of nachos recently and we will eat a lot of nachos in the future but I’ll stack the Viva Fresh nachos up against any nachos, any place.

[nachoproject]

Back On The Nacho Train

Hello nacho lovers. How have you been? Can’t believe it’s been nearly two weeks since we’ve had a proper nacho update.  Things have been very busy here at Nacho Project HQ.

A series of work deadline and business travel temporarily kept us away from telling you about the food we love most but we are back with new nacho adventures starting…NOW!

Who We Had Nachos With: The amazing artist and trendsetter Aurora and her husband, the musical and gentlemanly Ben.  

Where We Met: Gracias Madre 8905 Melrose Ave. West Hollywood, CA

What We Ordered: Totopos con Chile

What We Talked About:

Projects both secret and publicized. Aurora and Ben are both working on great things like musical theater and dismantling the patriarchy.

The oppressive heat of the summer of 2015 in Southern California and ways to escape it. It was so hot that we declined the opportunity to have our nachos on one of the nicer patios in town.

How to score free hotel rooms in fancy Las Vegas resorts. (Hint: it involves gambling but not as much as you think.)

How Were The Nachos? Gracias Madre is a vegan restaurant in West Hollywood. slackmistress and I had been there once before with obvi and liked it a lot. We are not vegan but we are certainly not against vegan food.

We were happy to go back to try the meat free, dairy free nachos. Nachos are awesome but even we need a break from meat and cheese once in a while. Homemade chips, fresh salsa, guacamole and cashew creama. It was simple and delicious.

So was everything else we had after we finished the nachos including the specialty sodas that those of us who were driving had.

[schindermania]

luckiest girl in the world had breakfast with nachoproject!! and they were almost as good as the company! thank for the lovely time slackmistress and betheboy!!

[nachoproject]

A sneak peek at our process. Work stuff has kept us from updating but not from eating. More to come this week.

[dennys]

CENSORCHIP !

[dadbod-to-daddy-deactivated2021]

nachoproject

[nachoproject]

Mozzarella sticks are garbage compared to nachos.

[nachoproject]

Restaurant’s Nacho Challenge Requires Participants To Watch Man Consume 3 Pounds Of Nachos

CHICAGO—Noting that only a small handful of patrons have ever had the fortitude to successfully complete the contest, sources confirmed Monday that local restaurant Carson’s Pub offers a Nacho Challenge that requires participants to watch a man eat an entire three-pound plate of nachos.