The Firehouse

Rating: 4

Cost: ~ $12.00

Location: San Diego (Pacific Beach)

Customized: Yes (Its a secret menu item)

Website

The buffalo Chicken adds a unique red glow about the nachos!

One of the more expensive restaurants in the pacific beach area, The Firehouse provides a swanky-ish atmosphere with a rooftop dining experience. The menu is interesting, but the prices are high. The quality of the food is good, and the house brewed beer is worth trying. What I find most interesting about this place, and this was what sold me on trying it is the secret “hangover” menu. Similar to In-N-Out burger, the secret menu rewards fans and regulars with the best the restaurant has to offer. The Firehouse has a secret nacho made with buffalo chicken that is similar to the other nachos, but infinitely better. I can say that this is one of the more unique nachos that I have ever had.

The Firehouse offers two variations of their nachos openly, and one secretly. The standard nachos are either a shrimp or chicken affair with all the regular fixings. However, the secret nacho is what I was after. The secret nacho is chips covered in cheddar and jack cheese, covered in tomatoes, beans, buffalo chicken, grilled jalapenos, guacamole, and sour cream.

This nacho looks amazing because it looks so different. The Red in the buffalo chicken really offsets the other elements of the nacho in an appealing way. It is also a very large nacho, I couldn’t finish it in one sitting. It would be a good meal for two to share with beers. Like Taco surf, the guacamole and sour cream portions are much better than those back in Albuquerque. The guacamole and sour cream are both delicious, not quite as good as taco surf, but great none-the-less. The chicken is absolutely amazing. It is definitely the best chicken I have ever had on a Nacho yet! I can’t describe how awesome the vinegar mixed with the guacamole, sour cream, and other fixings. This is a definite must for more restaurants to mimic. The Jalapenos are a rather interesting situation with this nachos. As my readers know, I prefer pickled jalapenos to raw jalapenos on my nachos. However, this nacho has neither. It actually has grilled jalapenos that offer the texture of pickled, but the flavors of raw (but milder). This was another awesome first for me, and I give it serious Kudos! The mix of flavors definitely makes this nacho unique, and worth trying. This nacho was not perfect however. It has two glaring flaws. 1, there isn’t much cheese on this nacho. It feels a little more like eating buffalo chicken with chips than it does nachos. Many of the lower chips are plain, and the getting cheese on them is impossible. Being that cheese is my favorite part, this is problematic. 2, The nacho is pretty damn expensive. I have had larger nachos for far less money, so the question is does the quality match? This is hard to answer, but after much deliberation I would say no. The price is fine for the first time you have this nacho, but I can honestly say the main reason I wouldn’t eat this nacho weekly is that it costs over double what most other nachos do.  Were it not for the price, this nacho would have secured a perfect 5.