The Greenpoint Nacho Throwdown 2018

With the Super Bowl right around the corner, now’s the perfect time to seek out Greenpoint’s finest platters of cheesy, crisp, fully-loaded chips. Whether you’re looking for a dine-in Super Bowl experience complete with big screens or nachos that can be easily transported to your house party of choice, we’ve found five neighborhood plates that you won’t want to miss.

Cadillac Nachos at The Drift | 579 Meeker Ave
At their cozy, quasi-nautical drinking hole on Meeker Avenue, the team at The Drift offers up a dish that made their sister bars (The Commodore and El Cortez) famous: the decadent, lowbrow-in-the-best-way Cadillac Nachos ($12). The yellow corn tortilla chips provide the base for a deluge of jalapeno-spiked queso that would do a Texan proud, earthy pinto beans, three salsas with varying levels of heat, a drizzle of sour cream, plus cilantro sprigs and thinly-sliced radish for crunch. If you’re in a more-is-more mood, you can also opt for an addition of chopped chicken or ribs ($4 extra). This enormous stack of nacho goodness pairs perfectly with The Drift’s tiki-inspired cocktails.

Homestyle Nachos at Keg & Lantern | 97 Nassau Ave
A long-time local favorite, brewery and pub Keg & Lantern is an idyll for sports fans. They’ve got house-brewed beers, plenty of flat-screen TVs, and flavorful classic tavern eats designed to soak up the booze with aplomb. In the latter category, you’ll find their Homestyle Nachos ($11), a mammoth dish with tortilla chips, Cheddar jack cheese, black beans, pico de gallo, sour cream, and jalapeno wheels. For an extra $3, Keg & Lantern will add house chili, chicken, or (our personal favorite) pulled pork. If you’d rather watch the game in the refuge of your own home, Keg & Lantern will deliver the goods right to you.

Nachos at Barley | 1025 Manhattan Ave
A relative newcomer to the Greenpoint drinking scene, Manhattan Ave’s Barley features upscale takes on pub grub and a solid late-night happy hour available on a daily basis. With a cozy ambiance and bar TVs, it’s a great spot to meet up and watch the game, and nacho fans will be amply rewarded by Barley’s rendition ($13). Barley tops their chips with hearty beef chili, grated Cheddar, pico de gallo, guacamole, and sliced jalapenos.

Nachos Supreme at Friducha | 946 Manhattan Ave
Speaking of new Manhattan Avenue arrivals, we already have a lot of love for Friducha, a Frida Kahlo-inspired cantina and bar. Definitely a restaurant rather than a tavern or a pub, Friducha isn’t the place for watching the game in-house. But if you’re hosting a viewing party at home, you can order Friducha’s excellent Nachos Supreme ($11) via GrubHub or Seamless. This mammoth share plate includes corn tortilla chips, a combination of mozzarella and Cheddar cheese, a choice of meat or vegetable (with options like grilled chicken, carnitas Michoacanas, and grilled nopales), refried beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream.

Carne Fries at Calexico | 645 Manhattan Ave
While the always-packed Calexico does offer classic tortilla-chip nachos on its menu, real fans of its craveable Cal-Mex cuisine will want to mix it up with a Southern California regional specialty: Carne Fries ($12). With this dish, you’ll get smoky strips of carne asada, caramelized onions, guacamole, a smooth cheese sauce, pico de gallo, and sour cream, all layered atop a nest of chile-cilantro fries. Calexico will deliver this mess of deliciousness via ChowNow, just in time for kickoff.