Review: EVO

April 25, 2015 Derek Sotak

Tri color tortilla chips, cilantro black bean and corn salsa, bacon, chicken, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese, guacamole

For the sake of an opening paragraph I’ll pretend that I’ve been playing the new videogame Evolution, made by the fine folks who previously made the Left 4 Dead series. That Goliath, huh? And what about that Wraith, how cheap. And the Kraken, I mean, Cthulhu much, am I right? I was so caught up in the game that I just had to move my love for evolving into an edible form and check out EVO, “where healthy living and the finest ingredients evolve into dishes that enhance the pure enjoyments of dining. Experience the difference, the Evolution of Dining, at EVO.” Seriously, how can I pass up an evolution in dining? That’s got to be some serious molecular gastronomy stuff right?

Essay: The Rise of Seattle's Totchos

April 15, 2015 Derek Sotak

First there were nachos with potato chips, then nachos with french fries, then nachos with fritos, nachos with latkes, nachos with potato skins, and nachos with any stiff starch food that allows you to transfer toppings from its central mass to your mouth without incident. Now a new nacho is rising in The Emerald City, Seattle, and unlike the leader of the other famous Emerald City, Oz, this seems to be the real deal, a food here to stay. Forget the Pleistocene, forget the Holocene, it appears that we may be entering the Totchocene.

Review: The Bootlegger

April 5, 2015 Derek Sotak

Homemade Chips, Chili, Lettuce, Cheese, Tomatoes, Onions, Olives, Salsa, Sour Cream

When I think of a bootlegger, I think of a bunch of moonshiners driving the backroads of some southern state at high speeds, peddling their bathtub brews and staying one step ahead of the law. Maybe they get in a fight with some mobsters and Tom Hardy punches one of them so hard in the throat goiter that it explodes out of their mouth in what I would consider one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in all of film. What a bootlegger isn’t is a nice Italian restaurant, which is why I wouldn’t call my nice Italian restaurant The Bootlegger. The Upstanding Gentleman, The Italian American Social Club, The Definitely Not a Front Restaurant, all fine names if you want to get across that your establishment may not be on the up and up but still has fine food, but Bootlegger, no. All that being said, The Bootlegger sounds exactly like the kind of place you would go to get some great nachos, but did this turn out to be the case in this case?

Nachos & You

March 25, 2015 Nachonomics

So as it's been almost a year since you first became aware of the existence of a book by the name of The Field Guide to Nachos, and like a junkie craving a fix that one just isn't cutting it anymore. Fortunately for you we're pleased to announce Nachos & You: Living Your Life the Nacho Way. Part self help, part nacho improvement, part Nacho 101 text book, all nacho and some book. Realistically more book than nacho, but who is counting. Guaranteed to be the greatest book on nachos featuring a nacho chip wearing a top hat and monocle on the cover to ever be written.

More deets, and, you know, a Kickstarter page soon, but hopefully for now this religious tract looking temp MS Paint cover of what the book will probably look like will tide you over.

Review: The Dogfather

March 15, 2015 Derek Sotak

A bowl with crumbled Fritos corn chips on the bottom, covered with The Dogfather’s homemade chili, topped with shredded cheddar cheese.

In honor of National Cheetos Day earlier this month I figured I should find the cousin of nachos, the Cheeto Pie, and try some of those to pay my respects. Then I realized a Cheeto Pie wasn’t a thing and that I was actually thinking of a Frito Pie, so I endeavored to find one of those instead. A short car ride later I did just that at a little food truck known as The Dogfather, a mafia themed extreme hot dog experience. I’m sure by now you have a lot of questions, the answers to which you will find below.