Tag Archives: Allston

Jalapenos: Our House South of the Border

21 Mar

Do you remember a scant 29 months ago when we questioned the strange allure of Our House West (in case you don’t, you can get nostalgic here and here)? That “den of vice, iniquity, and many a lost Tuesday night” kept us coming back week after week despite its many, often very apparent, flaws. Sure, the nachos weren’t that good, but they had board games and curly fries. It was like college, but sexier.

Reader, in recent months you may have noticed a painful cry rushing away from the dingy streets of Allston. Have you paused to listen to that sad moan hanging in the wind? Have you heard it whisper, “Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuddddde…..I looooooovvvvveeee yooooooooouuuuu” and then vomit? Well, that’s just the ghosts of the recently deceased Our House West fleeing that immortalized basement to make room for the bright and beautifully whitewashed Jalepenos. Ditching our mourning shrouds and bolstering our spirits with thoughts of Mexican food, we headed back down that well trod road to Our House–I mean Jalapenos.

  • Appearance: (6) Segregation was ruled unconstitutional years ago, but Jalapenos missed that.  One half entirely cheese and veggies, the other split between pico and a torrent of jalapeno peppers?  It didn’t make a lot of sense to us. Also, the cheese sauce had a very suspiciously too-orange color…
  • Quality of Ingredients: (7) The homemade chips here are good, and while the salsa is more like pico de gallo, it was fresh and bright tasting.  The veggies were large, well-seasoned chunks of roasted zucchini, summer squash and eggplant.  The cheese sauce was…cheese sauce.  We had been hoping for something along the lines of Border’s queso dip, but this unfortunately had more in common with Velveeta.
  • Distribution of Toppings: (6) Does anyone really need that many jalapenos? Really?  We scraped them off and they filled a whole appetizer plate.  The cheese sauce got so cold that it formed a skin and didn’t properly coat the chips.
  • Price: (7) We’re pretty sure these were in the $10 range–so average, it’s not worth discussing.
  • Overall: (26/40) Jalepenos may have upgraded the decor, but sadly not the nachos. Tying with the Our House West re-review, we’re unsure why the cheese sauce on the nachos was different from the queso dip on the menu and why they found it necessary to douse the whole plate in jalepenos. Was it an edible homage to their name???? Genius!

Saying goodbye to Our House West was hard, but it’s nice to see the space growing up with us. And no matter what, we still have our memories–or rather, hazy drunken recollections of questionable decisions gone by.

Moving Day

22 Jul

As our loyal fans know, Nacho Patrol World Headquarters is on the move. After two years slumming it in Brookline, we’re packing up the corn chips, sweeping away the old cheese, cleaning out the chili crock pot, and making our way across the river to the scenic Somerville/Cambridge border. What our new home lacks in yard space, it makes up for in pure colonial charm, and we cannot wait to see how it fairs during the first of many Nachopalooza events (block party?), tentatively planned for September 2010.

Though we are in no way shutting the door on our current neighborhood, we’re hoping over the next few weeks to visit a few of those restaurants we’ve unforgivably neglected, and we need your help to make sure we’re not missing anyone. As mentioned on our Master Nacho List, here are the places we’re already planning to hit up:

  • Game On! (Fenway) – coming very soon
  • Harry’s Bar and Grill (Allston/Brighton) – Re-Review
  • Porter Belly’s (Brighton)
  • Corrib Pub (Brighton) – coming very very soon
  • 973 Commonwealth (BU)
  • Center St. Cafe (JP)

And that’s where you come in…While we may consider ourselves experts of Boston geography, we have a few blind spots when it comes to the southern neighborhoods. If you’ve got any noteworthy nacho noshing spots you want us to review before we make our way north, please get in touch with us via Twitter, Facebook, a comment below, or at our email (nachopatrol@gmail.com).

We welcome all suggestions, especially outlandish ones.

Classics Revisited: Our House West

16 May

Not far from Nacho Patrol World Headquarters lies a place shrouded in mystery. Surrounded by a fog of Brubakers (too soon?) and Old Spice Body Wash, there are thing one would do in Our House West that might otherwise be considered below the standards of decency.  And we have done most of those things, yet somehow, they still let us back in.

  • Appearance: (7) Colorful enough, but rather flat. We liked the inclusion of fresh veggies but were taken aback by the rogue chili bowl off to the side.
  • Quality of Ingredients: (7) We remember generally liking everything but not much else stood out…
  • Distribution of Toppings: (4) Last time we came here, we forgot to order chili on our nachos and sorely regretted it.  This time, we rectified the error and received…regular nachos with a bowl of chili on the side??  Our House, you have reached a new low in nacho-distribution laziness.  Sure, there was ample melted cheese, salsa and guacamole to provide excellent coverage, but we aren’t going to let you rest on that.  We have principles to uphold, and we do not approve of cutting corners when it comes to nachos!
  • Price: (8) At $8 with chili, these are still pretty cheap.  Small, but if you only have a few people, worth it.
  • Overall: 26/40 When we originally visited Our House West for the nachos, it was one of our very first reviews, and we have often wondered if we were perhaps too lenient.  It turns out that we were– like everything that comes out of this place, these nachos are passably decent yet utterly forgettable.

As a side note, if you’re planning on abstaining from booze for the evening, you’re in for quite a surprise since they charge for refills on soda. If you can name one bar IN THE WORLD that does this, we will buy you…a soda from Our House West. We’re not bitter or anything. And no, we didn’t pay for it.

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