Clyde's "St. Patrick's Day Nachos" (Chinatown, DC)

Last Thursday happened to be one of my favorite holidays of the year, behind my birthday that is. It was St. Patrick's Day, I had just purchased some ridiculous 2 foot green and orange Dr. Seuss style hat off the street and been spray painted green by a homeless man so I decided it was time for dinner. My friend Maria gets to have the pleasure of celebrating this fine holiday along side her own birthday. She's one lucky girl. We had planned on going to an Irish pub for dinner, seeing as it only seemed right to have corn beef and green beer to celebrate March 17th, but of course there was a four hour wait and we were starved. We made our way over to Clyde's in Chinatown-it's a great restaurant, lots of options, nothing spectacular, but good ol' American food. There was a large group of us out that night and we decided appetizers would be too difficult/expensive to share amongst everyone. Well they decided. I had made up my mind-it was my second favorite holiday of the year and ninth down on the list of Starters was Chili Nachos and I was getting them. When it was my turn to order I think I turned some heads, as no one was expecting to have any appetizers that evening. But, when they arrived no one seemed hysterical that I had ordered them, after all how many pieces of bread can you have to trick yourself into thinking you're not starving. Mhmmm and they were great! Nice big pile of fresh, crunchy chips layered with a sweet, meaty chili, cheese, salsa, sliced jalapeños and sour cream. Now, the one thing I truly loved about these nachos was their size and the flavor of the chili. The nachos were big enough to allow everyone at our table of 10 quite a healthy sampling. The chili was wonderful, sweet and spicy at the same time. It's listed as ground beef on the menu, but it was definitely an authentic chili with beans. It's always a problem at the end when there are too many chips and not enough toppings, I never seem to mind it when the scenario is the opposite. This plate offered an overload of toppings, but they don't give you forks for nothing. So scoop it all up and enjoy. Definitely a great night out and that was only the appetizer. I give them a 8.3/10.

Lucky Horseshoe Steakhouse (Worthings, Barbados)

So, I just got back from my last spring break trip to Barbados last night. Man am I bummed to have to be back at school today. First of all I recommend Barbados to everyone-it is an amazing island with amazing people, awesome nightlife, beautiful beaches, delicious restaurants and NACHOS. I of course had been doing a little research before I left for Barbados to look for some restaurants that served nachos. Unfortunately, the only Mexican restaurant on the island was closed down because of a fire it had last fall. It was supposed to open last week, but the opening was postponed till today, so I missed it-now forcing me to book a return trip to the island.

But, luckily on our drive home from the beach one day in a van/bus I was hanging out the window and happened to catch a glance at a restaurant menu while at a red light. I swore I thought I saw nacho platter, but wasn't quite sure. So, later that night I decided to go on a nacho hunt. Couldn't quite remember where the restaurant was, but I was willing to do whatever it took to find some nachos. It was day four on my trip and I was desperate for the savory snack. Luckily the restaurant I had driven by earlier in the day wasn't too far from our hotel-only a 20 minute walk on a sketchy, unlit street (gotta do what ya gotta do). But, there it was The Lucky Horseshoe Steakhouse (it was exactly like it sounds) tacky. I immediately ran up to the menu out in front of the restaurant and nearly teared up when I realized I had been right. There it was under starters-Americano Nacho Platter. I was ready. Realizing by the decor of the restaurant these wouldn't be the best nachos I had ever tasted, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The nachos came out quite quickly considering we were dining in the Caribbean (very laid back, service is pretty slow). They were a colorful batch- red, black and yellow chips covered in cheddar cheese (Barbados cheddar is sharper, but it was good), chicken, jalapeños, sour cream and a delicious homemade salsa. The nachos weren't great, they were good. I would say their presentation and the fact they were probably the only ones I could find on the island made them seem a whole lot better. I enjoyed every bite. My favorite thing about them would definitely have to be the homemade salsa, it was delicious. The sour cream had a weird consistency I tried to steer clear of that and the chicken was distributed quite sparsely. But, I wasn't expecting much so I was satisfied. I was so happy that I had found them. So if you're ever desperately craving nachos while on a trip to Barbados I would recommend the Lucky Horseshoe-it served its purpose. I would give them a 6.4/10. I would give Barbados a 47/10.