Dying for some nachos now

[GinBoy2]

that was from carl's jr it's not my fault if it's not up to your impossible standards.

Now that to me just looks like a box of crinkle cut fried potato with jalapeño, and some yellow stuff I can only assume may be cheese. Now there's nothing wrong with that, potatoes deep fried are always delicious with a multitude of good stuff. However Nacho's it most certainly is not.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

People can eat whatever suits their taste. But in my experience, nachos have always been prepared with frijoles (refried beans), opposed to whole beans or what was referred to above as ranch style beans. Had and enjoyed ranch style beans solo and burritos and elsewhere many times. Just don't remember ever having them prepared by a restaurant of any kind on nachos.

Meanwhile, FWIW, this month in BKK, Carls Jr. is having and advertising a 99b special that they call nachos. It's not, exactly, but it didn't taste bad either. [Ahh...I see, while I was writing, someone already posted some photos above].

Their dish is a bowl of their cross cut french fries, topped with what looked like a bit of chili con carne, some grated cheese and some jalapeno slices. Don't recall any beans at all or any sour cream. So it's really more a version of so-called chili fries, or a poor man's version of La Monita's carne asada fries that they sell for a couple hundred baht per order.

FWIW, the Carl's "nachos" order I had last weekend at their Nana branch was a bit more artfully and appetizingly prepared than the version shown in the photo above. If anything, it needed a bit more meat/sauce, as there wasn't enough to do justice to the fries. So the whole thing still came off a bit too dry for what it should have been.

Edited January 4, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[ultimate weapon]

is the nana branch next to a burger king? I bought that from there and that should be the nana branch.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yes, the Carl's and Burger King in the Nana Square mall are nextdoor neighbors on the ground floor, just down from Starbucks.

[smokie36]

Talkn about standards.....I just had lunch at La Monita.

Yes Jingthing....it was faaaaantastic!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Even La Monita nachos get the thumbs down from me...

Why???

As an aside, in the early days, I was a big fan of La Monita's carne asada fries, based on their delicious taste and good preparation. Never had the mind to try their regular nachos.

But over time, the menu has changed and the prices seem to have gone skyward. Something about paying 345b+ for a small order and 445b+ for a large order of topped french fries tips my scale just a bit too much.

Although, I see their Nachos Supreme (the version that adds choice of meat) is now priced at the same two levels. $10.50 for small and $13.50 for large for plates of nachos???

It is, after all, just a plate of tortilla chips or french fries with some toppings spread on top.

Give me a bag of Doritos and, at those prices, I'll fix them myself at home.

Edited January 5, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[wayned]

After seeing this thread over and over again and seeing pictures of what people thought were nachos I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went to "MY Kitchen" and ordered a plate of nachos! Corn tortilla chips - the closest I can get is Danitas taco shells so I broke up some into large pieces. Topped them with skinned and de-boned pieces of chicken leg sauteed with fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, Mexican spices, and pickled homegrown jalapenos and habaneros. Topped that with grated cheddar cheese (wish I had some Monterey Jack also), some chopped spring onions and more sliced jalapenos and habaneros. In the oven for about 15 minutes and washed down with a cold Leo(Dos Xquis and a shot of Huradura Gold would have been better). I would have taken a picture but didn't think about it until the plate was empty.

No beans, as all that I had was canned baked beans and kidney beans. I guess that I could have added a little homemade barbeque sauce to the baked beans and called them "Ranch Style Beans" or dumped on some kidney beans but they certainly don't belong on nachos. I forgot how hot the habaneros are, wow!

Nachos, by definition, are Tex-Mex, but just because you are from Texas you could be from Texarkana which is about 1300 kilometers, as the crow flies, from the nearest Mexican border. It would be like saying that people in southern Thailand knew how to cook Issan food!

Edited January 5, 2014 by wayned

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Care to elaborate on the "homegrown jalapenos and habaneros" mention?

I've been a regular buyer of Don's Foods habanero and other chili sauces here. But for the past month or two, they've disappeared entirely from my local Foodland in BKK, and when I asked, the store staff said they weren't just out, but that the products were no longer (or at least not then) available. Likewise, a call to my Don's Foods contact in BKK went un-returned.

I'm jones-ing for a Habanero sauce fix...

[wayned]

Care to elaborate on the "homegrown jalapenos and habaneros" mention?

I've been a regular buyer of Don's Foods habanero and other chili sauces here. But for the past month or two, they've disappeared entirely from my local Foodland in BKK, and when I asked, the store staff said they weren't just out, but that the products were no longer (or at least not then) available. Likewise, a call to my Don's Foods contact in BKK went un-returned.

I'm jones-ing for a Habanero sauce fix...

Ordered the seeds fro seedrack.com, grew them in my back yard and pickled them myself. They are easy to start in pots but are hard to grow once replanted. They seem to die off due to the soil here but I got a few bushes to grow and had more than enough for me, will try some more this year.

[GinBoy2]

Well its not Nacho's but I thought I'd share with you my dinner tonight. A little tex-mex Chicken Fajitas. As you can see, it was all for me, wife can't stand them need the lao alternative fare!

[kikoman]

Well back to the old argument of what is authentic Mexican food, I have to differ with some posters of the origin of Nacho's as being Tex-Mex. I ate nachos in the 1940's - 50's in restaurants in Nogales Sonora Mexico and Tucson Az.

While I would agree with Wayned that I never had Nachos with whole canned beans, or any type other then pinto's refritos and frijolitos Negros, (Mexican black beans) never whole always refried.

It is extremely hard to replicate a plate of nacho's here in LOS as you must start with some great tortilla chips, which are not available here,again I have never tried the local taco shells and frying up local tortillas is not a great chip. The packaged Doritos, I personally do not care for.

Realizing that Mexican food has a wide appeal, and different stokes, for different folks, nacho's have evolved greatly since the 1940's and has spread far beyond, Mexico and the Southwestern border states. and We all have a different memories of what nacho's in fact are, as everyone has a right to the type of food they will eat or memories of what mom used to make.

So in that context, put whatever you like on your nacho's, but please do not say kidney beans, baked beans, pork n beans are Mexican beans, they are not, and as long as they do not insist their version is the authentic version of Mexican Nacho's,. which I have enjoyed for over seven decades!

Wayned give me a shot of tequila "Herradura" I will drink to that!

Cheers

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I was shopping in my local Big C Extra the other day, and came across a couple of 200g bags of El Charro salted corn/tortilla chips that were priced ridiculously low for here, like 29b a bag, because they were heading toward their expiration date. So I brought a couple bags home, and since I wasn't really keen to eat them solo, I decided to give a try at making my first homemade batch of Thailand-cooked nachos.

And, I must say, they turned out both looking and tasting pretty good, better than I would have expected. I started out with having half of a small oven tray of them for dinner tonight, and then ended up woofing down the other half for seconds. Everybody has their own tastes, of course, but these really hit the spot for me.

Ingredients roster:

--about 100g (half of bag) of El Charro salted corn tortilla-type chips (not Fritos type stuff)

--homemade black bean frijoles flavored with ground cumin powder

--roasted pork loin diced into small pieces

--about 50g of sharp cheddar cheese, hand-grated at home, using a som tam type scraper.

--a sliced and de-seeded banana chili from Big C, since I don't have a local source for fresh or pickled jalapenos

--and a few dollops of El Sapo salsa spread across the top.

Pop into the countertop oven on the broiler setting at highest heat, and let everything melt and warm for a few minutes.

This is a recipe I'm going to do again. No longer need to rely on the local restaurants for their versions of nachos.

And although the banana chili isn't hot at all, it did add that "tang" flavor that the jalapenos otherwise would have provided.
Next time I'm probably dice up two chilis for the dish.

Edited February 15, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[715]

If you're feeling too lazy to cook, but not too lazy to drive or ride, Chocolateville, outonthatone Road, has an alright one page Mexican menu. Quesadillas and a few other things, their Nachos are good and a lil spicy. Way overpriced though.

[soldoutbmx]

Just go to sunrise tacos

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just go to sunrise tacos

Not everyone in Thailand has a Sunrise Tacos in their neighborhood.

I do. But I still enjoy the pleasure of fixing and eating my own nachos!

[smokie36]

Just go to sunrise tacos

Not everyone in Thailand has a Sunrise Tacos in their neighborhood.

I do. But I still enjoy the pleasure of fixing and eating my own nachos!

I think you should research the place John and give us a review....I am too scared....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If you mean Sunrise, I can't recall if I've ever had their nachos before... Might have shared an order with my
wife one time, but if so, it didn't stand out as being particularly good or bad.

You obviously don't like Sunrise. I've had mixed results with them. I've had better food at their Suk Soi 10 main
branch, and worse food at some of their mall outlets. I've had some quite good dishes from Soi 10, and I've
had some bad ones.

The other day, I stopped by Soi 10 for an item they used to have on their breakfast menu, but no longer do,
although they'll still serve it. Called Super Breakfast Bowl for 240 baht. A good sized bowl filled with chunks of
potato, scrambled egg, choice of meat, cheese, sauce, sour cream, and of course, a lot of jalapeno sauce
from their salsa bar that I added. Two Sunrise-made soft flour tortillas on the side. All in all, quite a good and
pleasant, satisfying meal and breakfast.

Some of their Mexican entree salads are pretty good, as is their Tuesday and Friday afternoon taco and
pie/deserts buffet for 270 baht++ or so, especially if you order carefully. But the best thing about Sunrise, at
least at Soi 10, is their Salsa Bar, where they have probably 10 different salsas, sauces and related things --
all of which you can add to your dishes to suit your taste. The sauces are freshly made, and several of them
are very good.

Edited March 1, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[smokie36]

If you mean Sunrise, I can't recall if I've ever had their nachos before... Might have shared an order with my

wife one time, but if so, it didn't stand out as being particularly good or bad.

You obviously don't like Sunrise. I've had mixed results with them. I've had better food at their Suk Soi 10 main

branch, and worse food at some of their mall outlets. I've had some quite good dishes from Soi 10, and I've

had some bad ones.

The other day, I stopped by Soi 10 for an item they used to have on their breakfast menu, but no longer do,

although they'll still serve it. Called Super Breakfast Bowl for 240 baht. A good sized bowl filled with chunks of

potato, scrambled egg, choice of meat, cheese, sauce, sour cream, and of course, a lot of jalapeno sauce

from their salsa bar that I added. Two Sunrise-made soft flour tortillas on the side. All in all, quite a good and

pleasant, satisfying meal and breakfast.

Some of their Mexican entree salads are pretty good, as is their Tuesday and Friday afternoon taco and

pie/deserts buffet for 270 baht++ or so, especially if you order carefully. But the best thing about Sunrise, at

least at Soi 10, is their Salsa Bar, where they have probably 10 different salsas, sauces and related things --

all of which you can add to your dishes to suit your taste. The sauces are freshly made, and several of them

are very good.

OK you talked me into it....I will give it a go soon and let you know how I got on.

[715]

Sunrise is alright, I wouldn't say remarkable, but if I am in the neighborhood I'd stop in... Chocolateville is a bit more airy and open, although generally crowded, we hit it about once a month and I always enjoy their Nachos.

[ultimate weapon]

I'm back at the same place again this time i ordered the mexican dish again it looks different from the picture on my 1st post so i'm not sure if it is the same dish those are tortilla chips though. Got the mussels in cheese sauce and vietnamese spring rolls with some wine and we're ready to rock and roll.

At wine i love you.

[chubby]

where is the best affordable place to buy plain tortillas, and tortillas chips in BKK ? and what approximate cost ? maybe in bulk

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

In terms of flour tortillas, I believe Danitas and El Charro are the two primary local brands. I had been using Danitas for a long time for lack of another choice, but really wasn't happy with their ingredient list showing palm oil, which isn't very good from a health standpoint. And I don't care for the taste or texture of the El Charro brand at all.

So lately at my local Foodland store, I found in the freezer section (unlike Danitas that are always in the deli/refrig section) a brand called Alfredo Neo Wrap bread, which is pretty much a comparable tortilla in terms of taste and texture, but appears to not be using palm oil. Both brands run about 85-88 baht for a package of 10.

(I didn't have a photo of the regular flour Danitas, so I'm using their whole wheat variety instead just for illustration purposes.)

For corn tortilla chips, there are lots of different choices, at different prices, and for different purposes.

For flavored chips (Nacho, Guacamole, Red Hot, etc.) for eating solo, my favorite is an imported brand, Garden of Eatin' from the U.S. that's often sold at Central Food Halls and some Tops markets, though they're pricey at regular prices of 129b per 200g bag, though they're often on sale for 99b.

There are several versions of Doritos as well, including ones from the U.S. and imported versions made in Taiwan.

But for just plain unflavored tortilla chips, such as the base for making homemade nachos, I'd buy a bag of Danitas plain tortilla chips for about 69 baht for a 200g bag. El Charro also has several versions of its plain tortilla chips, which are pretty similar.

Edited April 19, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Eliot Rosewater]

If you think that what "Taco Bell" serves is real Mexican food, the you must think that Sizzler is a gourmet steak restaurant. The "roach coaches" that roam the streets of southern California and provide "parking lot" lunches for many businesses serve more authentic Mexican food and most of the cooks no habla English!

You mean a "mexi-melt" is not authentic Mexican food? No wonder they looked at me in dismay when I ordered one on my Acapulco vacation

[chaiyaphumlove]

Just go to sunrise tacos

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

This place makes Taco Bell look great, 3 times the price and 1/3 as good.

No thanks.

[chubby]

ya the hard shell tacos were small and really overpriced, of course it's thailand, so not sure what one can expect ....

[healthbkkbkk]

I have never seen Nachos other than at Carl's Jr. and those aren't really nachos.

Are they an American thing like Tex-Mex cuisine or are they really Mexican?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I think you'll find versions of nachos on the menu at most or all of the various Mexican food eateries around Bangkok.

Yes, what Carl's Jr. offers isn't anything close to a traditional nachos, even though they give their dish that same name.

As for the origins, I don't know, but I'd say pretty safely that nachos aren't part of traditional Mexican (as opposed to U.S.) cuisine.

[Duxnuts]

Charley Brown's on soi 11/1 does great Mexican (with excellent lunch deals). Also tried Tacos & Salsa all the way down soi 18 for Cinco de Mayo this year. They had some amazing bbq and the chips were top class!

[ultimate weapon]

Charley Brown's on soi 11/1 does great Mexican (with excellent lunch deals). Also tried Tacos & Salsa all the way down soi 18 for Cinco de Mayo this year. They had some amazing bbq and the chips were top class!

They celebrate cinco de mayo in thailand?

At least mexicans blend in with the thais.