The Famous Buffalo...Nachos?
Are you ready for some (more) Nachos??
Ok good, here goes...
By now you have hopefully read my previous post about our annual Nacho Crawls. Last month, we made the trip up to Buffalo for this year's festivities. I know what you are thinking. Why Buffalo? They are mainly known for their football (Go Bills!) and, of course, for their Buffalo Wings. But that doesn't mean that's all you have to eat while you are there. And I am about to prove why.
Our friend Jon, the nacho aficionado, lived in Buffalo for many years, as did his wife Jamie. They always talked about wanting to take a trip back there, so we decided we would make it our next Nacho destination. This was Jamie's first Nacho Crawl and it will definitely not be her last. We all agreed that having her there definitely kept us in line, streamlined the process and helped us break our record - hitting a total of 12 places before heading home.
Jamie realized that what was holding us back during a lot of previous crawls was the time we spent lingering at each location. To help us move along, she established a Nacho Crawl protocol that we decided to call Run DNC - Drinks, Nachos, Check. Basically the idea was to set the expectation with the host and waitstaff at each location as soon as we arrived. We'd ask for a table for the group and let them know we would only be ordering a plate of nachos and a round of drinks. We also asked them to bring us the check immediately so that we would be free to get up as soon as we finished our food and drinks.
We found that the servers appreciated knowing that they weren't going to have to dedicate a lot of time to our table. And we were happy to not have to worry about tracking them down when we wanted to leave. It was a win-win. Many of the servers were extremely excited to hear about the nacho crawl idea and were rooting us on. The only thing we found surprising was how hard it was to get glasses of water at most of the locations. In comparison, it's basically standard to get served water as soon as you sit down in New York City and Long Island.
Overall we agreed that the Nachos we ate in Buffalo were some of the best we've had during any crawl. There was only one place we found to be lacking and would suggest avoiding completely.
Below you will find my personal rankings, which I based off a combination of taste, ratio of toppings to chips, chip selection, and cheese sauce vs. melted cheese. If you are in Buffalo and want something other than wings, you should check these out (except for #12).
Key West is next on the Nacho Crawl list, so stay tuned for those rankings sometime next year.
#1 - Pizza Plant Italian Pub Canalside
Garden Curry Nachos: A blend of tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, onions, jack and cheddar, curry spices & toasted sesame seeds, over chips.
I am very picky with the vegetables I like to eat and these Nachos just happened to have all the ones I absolutely love. Not only that, they were also the only location we hit that served their Nachos with melted cheese as opposed to queso. I was nervous about the curry spices, but they were subtle and the Nachos did not eat spicy at all.
These topped my list easily and I found myself scrapping every last bit of toppings and cheese off the plate at the end. If we didn't have more stops to hit, I would have stayed and ordered a second platter just for myself. Honestly, the only thing that could have made them better was if they had made their own chips out of pizza dough. It would have just made them that much more unique and incredible.
Bonus: I got to try Blackberry flavored Truly for the first time, which was delightful. Craig got a really good Sour Cherry and Mango beer.
#2 - Colter Bay
Firehole Falls Nachos: Cheese, Pico de Gallo, pickled red onion, cilanto, pickled jalapeño, and salsa blanco. Topped with Avocado and Beer Braised Short Rib.
Colter Bay offered everything you could possibly want in a Nacho. Delicious chips. Tons of toppings. A presentation that included the perfect ratio of chips to toppings. This was another place that I found myself trying to eat every last bit of before heading out the door.
The short rib was a unique choice that was really tasty and the option to add pieces of Avocado on top was smart and satisfying. I could eat these Nachos again and again.
Bonus: The drink selection at Colter Bay was incredible and just added to the overall experience. They had tons of ciders and beers to choose from, including multiple that I had never heard of or tasted before. Craig and I shared the Cherry and Jostaberry flavored ciders and they were amazing.
#3 - Fat Bob's Smokehouse
Smokehouse Nachos: Warm queso, jalapeño, tomato, onion + corn with side of sour cream and salsa. Topped with Brisket.
We find that BBQ places always have a slightly different take on Nachos and are perfect stop during any Nacho Crawl. At Fat Bob's, their Nachos were all about the flavor and the brisket. They were so tasty and the corn made for a great (and unique) addition.
The ratio of toppings was off slightly, which knocked them down a bit in the rankings. They were also a bit cheap on the amount of Brisket they added to the Nachos, otherwise they might have taken first place. If we went back, we said we would order the Nachos without the Brisket and then separately order Brisket and add it to the Nachos ourselves. This way we would get a better ratio on the chips and everyone would have enough to be satisfied.
Nachos Grande: Tortilla chips smothered in Lighthouse queso and seasoned ground beef, topped with salsa and fresh jalapeños and finished with a sour cream drizzle.
I am a total sucker for seasoned ground beef on my Nachos. I know it's probably the cheapest topping option and most people would choose just about anything else - but for me, I would happily choose ground beef time and time again.
These were probably the most straight-forward and traditional Nachos we had on the Crawl. I'd argue though, that sometimes it just works to keep things simple. They spread out the chips and the toppings nice and evenly and they were extremely satisfying to eat. Since there wasn't exactly anything special about them, they are almost forgettable - but that doesn't mean I enjoyed them any less. The only thing that would have helped is if they heated them up a little bit longer.
Bonus: Unique drink choices, including a Loganberry Seltzer and a Dragonfruit sour.
#11 - Deep South Taco
Award Winning Nacho Libre Platter: Signature chips, three cheese queso, charro beans green onion, tomato, jalapeño, cilantro and cotija cheese. Topped with pibil.
For most of the group, these were their overall favorite Nachos of the day and they could easily understand why they were "award winning". However, for me they were just way too spicy to eat. I am very spice-adverse and I could not have more than one. I did appreciate and understand why everyone else enjoyed them - but they dropped to the bottom of the list for me because my mouth was immediately on fire after one bite.
Bonus: They had extremely delicious Mandarin Starfruit and Citrus Lime Hard Seltzers, which were made by Corona. We have never had their brand of Hard Seltzers before and were pleasantly surprised how tasty they were.
#12 - Buffalo Tap House
Mexican Nachos: Black Beans, Cheese, Pico, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Cilantro, Beer Cheese, Jalapeño
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Sadly, these Nachos not only looked un-appetizing, but they also tasted pretty terrible. None of us actually wanted to try them, but we had to in order to rank them. The cheese was chunky and the ground beef was clumped together in a way that suggested they re-heated it multiple times. Matt joked that they must have taken someone's leftover Nachos from the night before and served them to us straight from the fridge. We ended up leaving almost the entire plate on the table - although Craig was drunk enough that he would have eaten them if I didn't force Matt to move the tray away (for his own good!)
Bonus: They had a huge selection of beers and ciders on tap. It was one of the only places I found that offered Down East, which is my favorite cider. Craig got a delicious Cherry Pie Sour beer.
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