Burgers battles are bygone, except for the current one in Roberts. So now we go nachos. The Hudson Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau currently is sponsoring a best nachos contest, with about a dozen entrants. The winning diner, and I thought I’d dine too and you’ll see that backstory in a minute, gets $50 in Chamber Bucks. Just go online to enter, making it a point to crunch and consider, than complete it by casting one vote only, that for your fave set of chips. Sample all you want first, but hurry, as the contest ends May 5.
So, good for me. I had avocados on the shelf in my fridge, and no Mexican-based food ideas for using them. They were sitting there reminding me of my last guacamole, eaten among other entrees at Easter brunch with tomatoes even mixed in, as these all are soon bound to go up in price.
My answer. I saw the sign. Advertising the contest. Hey, I could get some nachos, enter the contest, or better yet write about it, and chop up the avocados and mix in. And I thought for an example, I’d go to the deli/cafe nearest to me that is an entrant, Hudco To Go, then do a review.
The owner met me right away and said that when he heard about the contest, he thought about doing something different — offer some of their six-pepper-cheddar nachos at their regular rate of only $6, not the double digits you’d expect to see.
It turned out the nachos in their contender in the battala were good even before the avocado.
First, topping it off are liberal helpings of the six-pepper cheddar cheese from the DePere-based small business, FacePunch/That Girl Brie and Harmony Cheese, and theirs and other cheeses are also available for purchase onsite at the Locust Street deli, outside the scope of the contest, and on a counter are bottles of, again, six of Facepunch’s hot sauces if you wish, plus one more in-volume bottle too, as OK we heat it up just a bit, so hey I’m gonna punch your face, like Ted Nugent sings in Stranglehold. Thereby Hudco To Go goes to the other end of the state to get you an original product. There are dozens of other top-offs offered for sale on the next-down counter.
— May the Fourth be with you, two different signs say, and the double-digit-difference in high temperatures waxed and waned on that night and before, thus bringing volumes of people more and less, and party buses the same, to downtown Hudson. Even on that in-the-30s coldest night, a bus was pulled up alongside a spot on the sidewalk where I’d never seen one before. People gathered each other in a group, and a lone woman smoked a cig opposite them, perched on a park bench alongside the wall.
But on Friday night was a sight for sore eyes, a woman in the tiniest triangle bikini top I’d ever seen, not on the beach but in the middle of the downtown. I for a moment wondered that if she entered an older-person-attracting antique shop, and might turn off its main customer base, would she be frowned upon. At Dick’s was someone in a top not much bigger and a leather miniskirt much like that worn by the first two women, and I just had to tell her that I liked her throwback look, although in the 80s, unlike me already in my mid-20s, she had probably not yet been born. She smiled. “In the wink of a young girl’s eye, glory days.” It was one of several by chance, off the cuff brief conversations I had there that evening, all a breath of fresh air. —
Back at Hudco To Go, their nachos start with a burrito-based concept, the owners say, and use chips that are cheesy and slightly spicy, homemade ground-beef taco meat with a similar spice consistency, a salsa of chopped tomatoes of various sizes and chilis and onions of what looks to be more than one type, the shop’s own blend of spices, among other add-ins. The chips are toasted, which adds a bit of crisp to the edges.
The dish as a whole has a moderate heat level, which varies by the bite. Condiment packets of red hot tabasco sauce are available. There is also offered, to top off your nachos or other dish, a condiment bar with two groups of two hot peppers each, more tomato, lettuce, a different kind of onion (Bermuda), and a flavored relish with three kinds of vegetables.
The owners indicated that, as far as others in the contest, Dipsy Ice Cream stands out by mixing into their nachos, ice cream, of course.
And the main man at Hudco To Go, Ben Jung, is no stranger to such contests, or unusual orchestrations of them. He on a hunch entered one at Cracker Barrel Winery for BBQ and other such things, by dropping in his dish with bombay curry — and he took second place.
Then mid-day on May 18 there is a meaty pork butt contest for BBQ, arranged by Dick’s Bar and Grill, where Jung plans to produce sauerbraten, complete with ginger snacks and raisins and cooked overnight. The proceeds go to Gregory’s Gift of Hope Animal Shelter.
But for the nachos batalla, the other competitors are:
Bennett’s Chop & Railhouse – Hudson
San Pedro is officially the nachos contest restaurant sponsor.
— May Day. Bunnies, kittens and puppies. Exotic kinds of at least the first two can be found hawked in downtown Hudson on a storefront window or two, and if you aim for the third, it’s likely coming to a local venue soon. Hop(scotch)-eared bunnies are/were offered on the wall, even before Easter, and Himalayan kittens too. Ask the people at Mickelsen Drug and they may now dredge up the paper flyers from under the counter, for contact info. With May Day here, and with talk being heard about cougars soon being able to breed in parts not far from Hudson, cute kittens may also be born but then again may be a third strike if you actually want to own them. Especially as a Mother’s Day gift. It’s not legal mom. (But do you see that doggie in the window. All these cute critters have waggly tails, some bigger than others. Doggie gone.)