Tag Archives: hipsters

Bukowski’s: Nachtotum

1 Feb

If Charles Bukowski was “the laureate of the American lowlife,” then his eponymous bar in Iman Square could be described as “the drinking establishment of the Bostonian fauxlife.”  Lack of a website, a menu full of obscure beers, a beer club that culminates in a mug etched with the name of your favorite dead author, and tight pants, tattoos and flannel as far as the eye can see all contribute to a certain unmistakable hipster aesthetic. Were the nachos also too cool for school?

  • Appearance: (8) How colorful! The artfully drizzled sour cream was also lovely.  Still, naked chips loomed underneath…
  • Quality of Ingredients: (8) The pulled pork was delicious and sauce-heavy, but it clashed somewhat with the salsa and other ingredients (we’ve had this problem before with BBQ on nachos). Black beans were a nice addition, and we remain undecided as to whether the chips were homemade.  We did appreciate the lime-tinged sour cream, a step up from the usual.
  • Distribution of Toppings: (6) These were top-heavy with a lot going on, but an exploratory examination showed profound naked chips under the initial layer of toppings.  We did find an unexpected second layer of cheese in the middle, but by the time we reached it it had already congealed. These nachos ascribed to the “trickle-down” theory of distribution, and in the end the naked chips weren’t so naked as the top ingredients eventually made it down to the lower chips as we ate.
  • Price: (3) $12 for basic nachos, $14 if you want pulled pork, chicken or vegan chili, and a whopping $3 if you want to add guacamole adds up to…a $17 nacho? Egads!  For that price, we’re expecting a behemoth that would put Sunset and Game On to shame, or at least some fancy ingredients
  • Overall: 25/40.  A good effort, but not up there with the big guns.  However, we highly recommend the $7.50 hotdog and PBR combo…

Charlie’s Beer Garden: When it Rains Bad Nachos, it Pours

18 Jul

Final Jeopardy: Where in Boston can you both drink Harpoon Rasberry UFO on tap in the outdoors AND wait in the world’s longest line for the world’s dirtiest bathroom?  Why, at Charlie’s Beer Garden in Harvard Square, of course!  Run by the fine folks behind Charlie’s Kitchen right next door, the beer garden is a godsend during the summer, when alfresco drinking opportunities are few and far between.  We love the burgers here, and were very excited when nachos made a debut on their summer menu.  Do they earn their place in the permanent rotation?  Let’s find out!

  • Appearance: (6) Flat, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Decidedly cheesy to the naked eye, which is decidedly a good thing.
  • Quality of Ingredients: (5) Decent chips, though definitely not homemade.  The guacamole was gluey enough to be decidedly from a bag, but still appreciated.  The cheese was quite melty and delicious.  And then….we come to the chili.  At first bite it seemed innocently tasty.  Kidney beans and meatball-sized chunks of ground beef were pleasant surprised. But then, we realized that something with the chili was terribly, terribly wrong.  It didn’t seem at all more watery than usual, but for some bizarre reason any chip that touched it became immediately soaked.  And not soaked in a good way, with a thick, flavorful gravy– more like sodden.
  • Distribution of Toppings:  (4) While there were significant amounts of cheese and chili,  because of the aforementioned chili situation, this in the end rendered the topping-covered chips nearly inedible.   We picked at the edge and used forks to whittle away at the toppings, but in the end, we were left with this sizeable inedible remainder:

Now that’s just depressing.

  • Price: (2) We can’t remember how much they cost and they aren’t listed on the online menu.  Whatever it was, they weren’t worth it.
  • Overall:17/40.  Looks like the Otherside Cafe has some competition for the worst nachos served to you in the company of fixed-gear bike riding hipsters.

It was fitting, nay, even poetic that after these soggy nachos, God saw fit to open up the skies for a surprise downpour and soak them even more.

Trident Booksellers & Cafe: Shallow End of the Pool

13 Sep

Newbury Street often reminds us of a high school cafeteria: while inhabited by a number of widely disparate groups, they stick to their own clearly defined turf. Hipsters rule the west end, starting at the Otherside, mingling with the tourists at Urban Outfitters and extending up to around the area of Espresso Royale.  The opposite end belongs to the rich– they shop at Chanel, Burberry and Louis Boston, brunch at Stephanie’s, then get a $75 blowout at Enzo’s. Somewhere in the middle of all this, Trident Booksellers & Cafe stands as a just-hip-enough neutral zone, where these two groups (and everyone else in between) can mix and mingle over breakfast, beers, and hard-to-find ‘zines.   On a recent weekday afternoon, we enjoyed the late summer sun on the patio and played a round of our favorite Newbury Street people-watching game, “Gay or European?” while noshing on the Trident fries and a plate of nachos:

trident1

  • Appearance: ( 8 )Deliciously melty, mottled cheese with a sprinkling of spicy  chopped green…something.  A few tomatoes peek through.  Salsa and sour cream (not pictured) arrived on the side.  Sadly, a bit of char brought them down a few points.
  • Quality of Ingredients: (5) Good cheese, decent chips, but not much else stood out.  There were some very spicy peppers hidden in the midst which caused a minor crisis, as the waiter had neglected to bring our beverages.  Overall, these just weren’t that good or memorable.
  • Distribution of Toppings: (5) The idea of layering clearly never crossed the chef’s mind. One solid layer of cheese on top of several layers of chips does not a good nacho make. Adding insult to injury, most of the chips on the bottom were broken into pieces too tiny to be at all helpful in scooping up stray toppings. After exhausting all of the tasty bits, we were left with a depressingly full, boring plate.

trident2

  • Price:(7)  $7, which wasn’t too bad. We didn’t finish them, only because we really didn’t want to. We don’t, however, appreciate that adding chicken would have brought them up to $12. That had better be some damn fine chicken….
  • Overall: 25.  The Trident is a great indie treasure on Newbury Street, and much of their menu looks delicious and inventive. It’s a shame that they went the boring, generic route with these nachos. They should do everyone a favor (and heed the Border Cafe, for once) and just take them off the menu.
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