It's Official: These Are NYC's Favorite Loaded Nachos
No chip left behind - that's the unofficial motto at El Vez, a Mexican restaurant too big to be true in Manhattan's Financial District. The sprawling joint is known for its nacho platters (the Nacho Mama and Macho Nacho), which are just as impressively sized. They're served on pizza pans, and that's where the motto comes in to play.
"There's nothing worse than getting a chip with nothing on it," says chef Darren Carbone. So to remedy that, chefs at El Vez spread an even layer of white corn chips on a round pizza tray, then top them - heavy-handedly, we should add - with every single ingredient you could ever want: beans, salsa, three types of cheese (white cheddar, Chihuahua and Monterey jack), pickled onions, jalapeño, tomatoes, cilantro, cream, and chorizo, if you're really in the mood to pig out.
Chefs at El Vez, which has an outpost in Philly, too, started out making nachos like everyone else. That is to say they were piled high, super messy, and devoid of absolutely any toppings towards the bottom. Carbone calls their switch "a genius move in the nacho world," and it's clearly paid off. "More than half of our tables order a platter of nachos in some way, shape, or form," Carbone says.
Sure, Carbone's aware that they're an Internet sensation: The nachos have landed on more best-of lists than we can count, and they're an Instagram darling. He's always thinking of ways to make them look even more appealing. "Just watching as we were shooting, I was like, man I would love to do a breakfast one where we crack eggs over the top and add salsa verde." But that's not what truly fuels his ideas. "I hate to say it, but I look at it like, I'm a fat boy inside, and I just like the idea of eating food that satisfies me."
Works for us.
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