Nachos

Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya was a maître d’ at a restaurant called the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico. One day in 1943, a group of ten military wives crossed the border from Fort Duncan Army base. Unable to track down the chef and faced with ten hungry women, Anaya decided to improvise—he covered a plate of tostadas with grated cheese, passed it through a salamander (a broiling unit that heats food from above), and topped the whole thing off with jalapeños. One of the women dubbed the dish “Nacho’s especiale” (“Nacho’s special”), which was later shortened to just “nachos” when Anaya took the dish to El Moderno restaurant and finally opened his own place—Nacho’s Restaurant.