April 1, 2022 – If I were to go to the lab and design the DNA for a Found Treasure, I’d start with this:
• A property that makes “hole in the wall” sound spacious.
• Cheesy but satisfying branding and food, in literal and figurative dimensions, with the result being more than eaters bargained for.
• A nuclear team of friends behind it, chasing a flavor fever dream, making everything by hand.
• Lots of specials that stir the makers’ imagination and their audience’s too.
• Late night offerings at high value prices.
• A limited menu, with creativity that’s anything but.
• Courage to create something like, say, Maui pizza nachos with mozzarella, bacon and pineapple basil pico de gallo.
So it went with the original Nacho Bizness, and its piquito amount of hours and grande flavors, next to Bulldog British Pub on Lighthouse in New Monterey.
The cute-as-a-kitten shoebox spot first met late night appetites in 2016, way back when the Cubs won their first World Series and North Korea was the scariest international threat.
Right then two close pals and area natives Brittani Reid-Bristol and Esteban Montez blended her culinary school training and his family-recipe instincts to create boats of ‘chos like the Korean pork belly with kimchi salsa.
Unofficial census numbers report they saved 1,713 people from making poor decisions later in the dark by being the rare late-night option to temper alcohol levels with cheese and carbs.
Now Nacho Bizness merits a treasure chest bump for how it has stomached COVID while making brave steps upward, onward and cheese-forward.
Its ambitious expansion could’ve knocked it out. But Nacho B, now occupying the former Boardwalk Subs on Alvarado Street, keeps wheeling through cheese and dealing increasingly absurd nacho creations while adding staff and new menu items.
A peek at its current offerings provides a reminder of the mania they launched with.
The house special, which could be called a challenge, brings all of the proteins and cheeses and toppings the Biz has to bear—jalapeño cheddar, chipotle jack, vegan cheese sauce, al pastor, carne asada, pollo asado, pickled jalapeños, habanero relish, queso fresco, pinto beans, lime Crema, pico de Gallo and more.
A peek at the walls speaks to the community connectivity they come to organically: The art on every side evokes a reason to visit on its own, detailed and expansive and thought-provoking before you begin to order food.
A peek upstairs reveals part of my bias for the place: That’s where co-creator Montez has assembled a recording studio where he hosts KRML Radio segments, and with whom Edible Monterey Bay partners on Friday Found Treasures each week around noon on…Fridays.
A peek ahead points to something poetically symmetrical. Starting later this month, Nacho Biz will host Monday pop-ups for start-ups who can benefit from a platform like Nacho B’s. Miss Lippe’s Dumplings appears soon and so does Oli’s Cheesesteaks; updates come via the Nacho Bizness Instagram.
A peek into their IG demonstrates a gift for goofiness and substance. One moment the feed is has Mr. Bean (?!) eyeing fluid queso; the next a dog in a chef hat is making health-code calls; the following post it’s full reveal on the vegan cheese recipe of potatoes, carrots, Serrano peppers, onion, garlic, tapioca starch, vegan “chx” broth and a proprietary spice blend. (Best part there is that they spend the time and money to find the local inputs that, while more expensive, are well worth it.)
When asked how the team has navigated all the challenges in front of them, Montez talks about how each collaborator has stepped up, while believing in specials as atypical as the recent shrimp-’n’grits nachos.
Before that night he’d never made a grits cream sauce, and feared it might be weird and grainy, that it would be a long shot on likeability.
“People came in and were skeptical, and once they had a sample, they were like, ‘I can’t believe it works,’” he recalls. “I said, ‘Me neither.’”
So it goes with the ‘Chos: Sometimes I can’t believe Nacho Bizness works so well. Which makes it that much tastier that it does.
More at nachobiz.biz.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, EMB's managing editor and "Found Treasures" columnist, welcomes responsible and irresponsible feedback. Correspond via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
