Nacho, Nacho Crawl...

 ...I gotta do a Nacho Crawl. 

I truly hope you sang that in your head while reading it, or maybe even out loud to yourself - I know I did while typing it. 

Now before we get into the deliciousness that is a Nacho Crawl, I just want to share a quick disclaimer: The following post contains graphic depictions and images of delicious food and ooey-gooey melted cheese and has been marked Not Safe For The Hungry (NSFTH). You have been warned. 

 

Eating is one of my favorite things to do and with the way I go about it, I can safely consider it a hobby. I don't need high-end food to be happy and I don't necessarily have a good palate. I just like to try new dishes and go to new restaurants, mainly because I like to experience something unique and different. Craig would tell you that the way to my heart is to feed me anything delicious. Craig on the other hand, has always had a real soft spot for Nachos specifically. Don't get me wrong, Craig is also an extremely adventurous eater and will basically try anything you put in front of him - but when we go out with our friends, Nachos are always the shared appetizer he suggests. So what better food to establish a crawl around then the humble plate of Nachos?

Don't let Nachos fool you. They seem simple. Some may even say they are basic. But individuals who feel that way have never been on a Nacho Crawl. Nachos are sneaky. They can surprise you with some cold cheese or a fried egg. Sometimes they are made from tater-tots or fried dough instead of chips. Heck, they can even be dessert. Don't underestimate the Nacho - you are missing out on some amazing food if you do.

 

Now you might ask, how did the Nacho Crawl come to be? Well many of you probably know my friend Jon Drake as the genius behind @DrakeGatsby (and if you don't, you're missing out - he's hysterical). What you may not know about Mr. Drake however, is that he is the inventor and organizer of our annual Nacho Crawl.  

 

Over 7 years ago, Jon put together the first Nacho Crawl as a gift to Craig for being the best man at his wedding. The two of them went around Manhattan ordering Nachos and beers at various restaurants throughout the day. Since it was just the two of them sharing, they didn't hit as many locations as we do these days - but it was enough to make Jon decide this had to be an annual event. After the first year, Jon expanded the group and extended the invitations to his closest friends (including yours truly!) and we've been traveling the country eating Nachos ever since.

We started the Nacho Crawls off locally - hitting Brooklyn the second year, then Astoria & Long Island City the next. After that we expanded to Boston - a drive-able location for all of us. And then took it a step further going to Denver and Charleston for the next two. Some of the Nachos we've ordered have had regular melted cheese, others have had queso and a few times we got the aforementioned cold cheese on top. We've had all types of styles of Nachos, including Mexican, BBQ, Irish, Italian, and Latin. We've had traditional toppings like pork, brisket, plain tasteless ground beef (inside joke!) and chicken, plus more unique choices like eggs, ricotta cheese and radishes. More often than not they are platters of Nachos, but we've had some delicious ones served single-chip style as well. 

Overall we tend to agree on which are the best and worst of the bunch - except for our friend Matt, who always loves the ones the rest of us hate (Radish Nachos!). We all agree he has terrible taste in Nachos.

The only rule of the Nacho Crawl is that under no circumstances can anyone order food that is not in Nacho form. If you run into brunch and there are no Nachos on the menu, don't even think about ordering the chilaquiles. Chilaquiles are not Nachos - there are no substitutions. If this happens to you, you sit there and order drinks and then more drinks until the lunch/dinner menu is open and Nachos become available (Obviously, this happened to us.)

As strict as that sounds, it's really all in good fun and we have a blast every time we get together. By the end of the day, we usually end up trying 10-12 different styles of Nachos - although I have tapped out early on more than one occasion. Our next Nacho Crawl will be in Buffalo next month and I can't wait to see what Jon has in store for us. He does a lot of research and his suggestions never disappoint. Name a city and he has Nachos choices already lined up - from Grand Rapids, to Key West and even Alaska!

Now I know that not everyone loves Nachos as much as we do, so the idea behind this post is to inspire you to pick a food (or drink) that you enjoy and create something similar for the people in your life. Maybe you want to create a Burger Crawl or a Milkshake Crawl? Or perhaps sushi or pizza is more up your ally? Whatever it is, just commit to it and go - you won't regret it.