Nachos loaded with the flavors of L.A.
One of my favorite Super Bowl parties (XLVII, the Blackout Bowl) was held in the basement of a house in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. The host, an avid hunter, had constructed a platter of elk nachos not much smaller than one of the framed Vikings posters on the wall. While I appreciated the snow belt terroir of the dish, I remember missing the way local produce can inform that classic party recipe. Of course, it had been about 25 below at the time, and the vat of pozole I’d brought to the party had been paired not with corn tortillas but the Scandinavian potato flatbread lefse, so my nostalgia was a little misplaced.
This year, the Super Bowl may be in Minnesota, but we are not, and I want nachos that showcase the produce — Edenic even in winter — that we have in Southern California. I want a small mountain of thoughtful components that together create casual party food that’s also a paean to the dish itself. At B.S. Taqueria, chef Ray Garcia’s casual downtown L.A. taco joint (his high-end restaurant Broken Spanish is nearby), the plate of nachos that have been on the menu since the place opened seem at first like ad hoc snack food. But pull the crisp tortillas out of the pile one by one, Jenga-like, and you’ll find intricacies — of flavor, of technique — loaded inside. Habanero-jolted pinto beans. Picadillo and escabeche and pico de gallo. A silky cheese sauce thickened with rice flour and spiked with serranos. A tomatillo-avocado salsa that’s less like the taquería salsa you might expect than a complex sauce verte. Sure, it takes a bit of time to make all this stuff, but that’s what all those pre-game shows are for.