"Irish Nachos" - McGrady's Irish Pub

I recently had the Irish Nachos at McGrady's Irish Pub in Charlottesville, Virginia. Irish, because they use potato chips instead of tortilla chips as the base. Other than that they were pretty much a standard plate of nachos, featuring cheddar cheese, a meat and bean chili-type concoction, and a side of sour cream and hot wing-type sauce. No shredded lettuce, onion, or tomato, which for this veggie-lover is a strike against any plate of nachos.

The nachos were polished off quickly, but I have to say that I think that is due more to the fact that we got up at 5:30am, did a four hour hike, drove an hour, showered, and sat down at about 1:00pm tired and starving, than to the quality and tastiness of the nachos themselves.

Rating* for "Irish Nachos" at McGrady's Irish Pub, Charlottesville, VA:

1. Layering

The cheese and chili-type stuff was just about all layered right on top, and cheese was not dispersed throughout. However, these nachos were saved from a rating of just one nacho chip for layering due to the fact that there was enough cheese and chili to put some on the bare chips once you'd eaten all the nicely covered ones.

2. Crispiness of chips

The chips remained crispy for a bit, but there was so much of the thick heavy chili stuff that they got pretty soggy pretty fast. Which is not awesome.

3. Variety of toppings

Really the only topping besides the cheese on these Irish nachos was the chili stuff, as well as the sour cream and hot wing sauce to dip. Adding chicken was also an option. If that's your style then you may be a fan of these, but I was missing the shredded lettuce, tomato or onion, and guacamole option.

4. Quality of toppings

The quality of these nacho ingredients was ok. They did make the potato chips in-house, and they were thick and crispy (until the chili got to them that is), and they used real cheese rather than "ball park" cheese, which is always a plus in our book. However, I'm not sure how I feel about the use of the hot wing sauce instead of salsa. I mean, these were Irish nachos, so I understand that they already are not traditional nachos, but unless there's something innately Irish about hot wing sauce that I'm missing, I would prefer to have some nice salsa.

5. OVERALL nacho experience

I would love to hear if anyone else has had nachos from McGrady's in Charlottesville, VA! How about, since these weren't our favorite, a suggestion for some other nachos to try next time we're in the Charlottesville area? If you have anything to add please share!

* For a reminder about our rating criteria, see this post.

"Tyler's Nachos" - Tyler's Restaurant and Taproom

With a varied and reasonably priced menu and extensive beer list, Tyler's Restaurant and Taproom located in Durham, North Carolina, is a great place to go for casual dinner and with a sophisticated-sports-bar atmosphere.

Tyler's offers up two varieties of nachos - "Tyler's Nachos" and "Tyler's Carolina Nachos." The Tyler's Nachos are a plate of tri-colored tortilla chips topped with cheddar and jack cheeses, black beans, lettuce, salsa, and sour cream. You can also add grilled chicken, meat chili, or veggie chili.

The Carolina Nachos, which are one of only three out of 17 items on the appetizer menu to receive a denotation of "Tyler's Specialty," are the same tri-colored chips, but topped with pulled pork, spicy queso dip, green onions, and hot sauce. Perhaps not your typical nachos, but with chips and cheese I think they meet the basic criteria.

I have yet to try the Carolina Nachos, so in this post I'll rate the Tyler's Nachos and get back to you with my thoughts on the specialty Carolina Nachos.

Rating for "Tyler's Nachos" at Tyler's Restaurant and Taproom, Durham, NC:*

1. Layering

While not every chip was cheesy, there was a nice dispersion of cheese throughout the plate. The beans and other toppings, though, were only on the top layer.

2. Crispiness of chips

Almost all the chips remained crispy until the end.

3. Variety of toppings

The basic nachos had fairly good variety (two kinds of cheese, black beans, lettuce, salsa, sour cream) and the fact that you could add chicken, meat chili, or veggie chili gives you a lot of options. The only thing I was missing was the option of guacamole and some green or white onions.

4. Quality of toppings

Pretty good quality, consistent with the price point, atmosphere, and menu of the place.

5. OVERALL nacho experience

Has anyone out there tried Tyler's nachos? Let us know if you agree or disagree with the rating! Also - any of you BBQ lovers ever had pulled pork-topped nachos Like Tyler's Carolina Nachos?? Let us know what you think of the idea!

* For a reminder about our rating criteria, see this post.

This is Important

So, this is a blog about nachos. About how important nachos are, and about how some people love nachos more than they love their husband. Hey, it's understandable, nachos are really good.

But what is it that makes nachos so good? And what makes some nachos better than others? We here at Nachos in the City are on a mission to find the BEST nachos out there, and to share our journey with you.

But we need to be scientific about this, people. Because if you are going to trust us to be your source for the best Nachos in the City (whatever city that may be) there are going to need to be some criteria. To that end, we here at Nachos in the City have come with with three basic criteria to give you a quick and simple rating system, so the next time you're in a new city and have a hankering for the best nachos you'll know right where to look.

So, after some informal surveying and deep thinking, we have established the most important criteria to a good plate of nachos. Feel free to disagree, add, or discuss in the comments.

1. Layering.

The last thing I want in a big plate of nachos is to eat four or five deliciously flavorful chips off the top of the pile only to a stack of plain, cheese-less chips below. This is especially important with the CHEESE, as cheese on a chip is the essence of a nacho.

2. Crispiness of chips

The chips should start of crispy, of course, but one sign of a truly good nacho is when all chips remain crispy until the very end.

3. Variety of toppings

While the essence of a nacho is a crispy chip with melty cheese, more toppings certainly add to the experience. Onions, diced tomato, shredded lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and if you're lucky, maybe a little guacamole. Throw on some beef, chicken, or some chili, and you've really got something. Variety is the spice of life, people.

4. Quality of toppings

Ok, so we're not looking for kobe beef on our nachos, but we don't want to be served ball park liquid cheese in a restaurant, either.

5. OVERALL nacho experience

We'll rate nachos using these 5 criteria, on a scale from 1-5 nacho chips.

1 nacho chip = a complete and utter failure in layering, crispiness, variety, or quality.

5 nacho chips = nacho perfection. It's really pretty simple.

We realize, though, that we're only four girls (who really love nachos, but still, only four) and so we'd love to have some help. Leave a comment on any of our posts about a nacho experience and how you would rate it, and we'll post about it here!