THE PREAMBLE

Another review and another destination to a different city. Clearly nachos are a worldwide dish with fans and consumers wherever empty stomachs reside. At this point, planes and nachos are becoming a strongly associated set of words. Like Pavlov’s dog, I am now liable to start drooling when they call my zone for boarding as visions of melted cheese, full fat sour cream and slow-roasted meats start dancing in my head. This, of course, until the culinary daydreams come to a grinding halt when presented with the depressing in-flight option of cookies or pretzels, doled out like prison food to dreary travellers captive on a metal tube hurtling through Earth’s atmosphere.

THE PLACE

This trip takes us to Vancouver, Canada, one of the top-rated cities for livability and quality of life. Home of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Hollywood North, Stanley Park, liberal marijuana laws, and lululemon with their figure-flattering yoga pants. To continue the list of great things, it also happens to be my home!

Born and raised on the tough streets of Vancouver, where the sidewalks are flooded at 7am by the army of people marching around wielding a Starbucks drink in one hand, a yoga mat slung like a rifle over a shoulder and a grim readiness to launch into a conversation about how their new vegan juice diet is TOTALLY giving them more energy by cleansing their chakras.

TO THE ‘CHOS

These are the ORIGINAL nachos. The ones I grew up with, cut my teeth on, and developed the love for the dish. They aren’t traditional. They aren’t modern and deconstructed. They aren’t served on a wooden board that you have to light on fire to release the essence of the dish. These are solid, homemade nachos by my very dear mother. As elaborate as other dishes get, these hold a very dear place in my heart. The toppings are laid with a heavy hand, comprising of seasoned ground beef or turkey, a boatload of melted cheese, tangy black olives, fresh green onions, salsa from a jar that I probably had to help open, and full-fat sour cream because my mother knows it is full fat or bust.

God help me, I would eat this dish every meal of every day. I ate this plate at 4:00pm before going out for dinner at 6:30pm. Mothers make the best food. If your mother doesn’t cook, let me know and I can see about an invite some time.

RATING:

• Overall: 20/20
• Taste: 5/5
• Presentation: 5/5
• Mouthfeel: 5/5
• Toppings: 5/5

CONTACT
My Mother.
I’m mot giving you her phone number
Or her address
Other than she lives in Vancouver
She doesn’t have a website either
Or an Instagram