Tag Archives: North End

Vito’s Tavern: Leave the Gun, Take the Nachos

13 Oct

We normally avoid the North End like overpriced, overtouristed area should be avoided, but also because even if we did manage to find Italian nachos, they would probably be terrible. After a mediocre experience at Anchovies and a downright disastrous attempt at making our own pizza-inspired ‘chos, we had little hope.  But hunger goes hand in hand with poor judgement, so we found ourselves at the semi-new Vito’s Tavern in the North End, to try their ‘Bruzzese Sausage nachos, with “the usual.”

  • Appearance: (8) Ooze is the name of the game here, as we immediately spot the double-team of cheese AND cheese sauce.  Red-white-green toppings were very appropriate, considering the neighborhood.
  • Quality of Ingredients: (7) Even without our most cheese-sauce-friendly correspondent in tow, we had good things to say about the cheese sauce. It was right on the border of homemade-or-not, enough so that we still aren’t sure if it was from a can or the kitchen.  The chips were also debatably made in-house.  Guacamole was fresh, heavy on the red onion, and the salsa was more of a pico of fresh veggies.  We enjoyed the Italian sausage, though larger pieces might have made a bigger impact on the palate.
  • Distribution of Toppings: (8) Vito’s employed a distribution tactic we had never seen before– a layer of black beans on the bottom of the plate, but nowhere else.  We found this a little odd until we considered that the beans elevated the chips enough to keep them from getting totally sodden in cheese sauce. Was this intentional?  Unknown, but it did work. As could be expected, the combination of cheese and queso sauce left practically no chip untouched.
  • Price:  (8) At $11, these provided an ample amount of heart-stopping goodness for two people.
  • Overall: 31/40.  These were more Italian-inspired than a direct translation, earning them a place in the Best of Boston rather than the Specialty Nacho category.  But who cares? They were pretty darn tasty.  We are curious to come back and try the vegetarian nachos, with roasted and sauteed veggies.

The Living Room: In Which Our House West Grows Up And Gets A Job In Finance

3 May
Here are few very unsurprising facts about The Living Room (Waterfront-ish): first, they have couches, which are extremely difficult to wrangle if you show up during happy hour. Second, we’re pretty sure they serve modernized “comfort food,” because that’s what you want when you’re in a living room. Third, because it’s located somewhere in between the inaccessible North End and the awfully distant Aquarium T Stop, we will probably never go back. I tell you unsurprising facts because we actually have nothing all that exciting to say about our nacho experience. Sure, we dominated trivia (“Shirley Temple of Doom” FTW!) and the actual food is probably excellent, but if the nachos are subpar and it’s more than two trains away, it’s not worth our time. Shall we review?
  • Appearance: (7) A colorful splash of tomato on top, but fashion police need to ask: what is it wearing?  With a topper of sour crem so ludicrously large and ornate, these nachos would fit right in at a royal wedding.
  • Quality of Ingredients: (6) unless you like sour cream (please see “Distribution), the flavors on this plate were somewhere between less-than- and rather-average. The tomatoes were peppery and yummy, and complimented the jalepenos nicely (yes, we said something nice about jalapenos for a change). What little pork we had was moist and flavorful…the chicken? Not so much.
  • Distribution of Toppings: (3) naked chips were a problem, but tonight we need to focus on the racquetball of sour cream on top of these nachos. We had trouble actually coming up with a proper comparison for it. Golf ball was certainly too small, baseball slightly too big. Slightly…because it was a friggin’ cantaloupe of sour cream. Needless to say, we scooped it off. Our other main complaint: not enough meat. Some of us didn’t even have a piece of pork, and the chicken that we did have wasn’t very good. Our suggestion would be to eliminate the white meat (chicken) and double the other white meat (pork). Rumor has it they have hot cherry peppers, chopped avocado, and black beans. We found none of these things.
  • Price: (7) $11 for chips and sour cream? Not so much.
  • Overall: 23/40
Oh, how we wanted to love these nachos! Since the tragic passing of Our House West, we’ve longed to find another bar with couches, preferably one with a slightly more grown-up sensibility and decent nachos.  Alas, the search continues….
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