What do you call a bus that isn’t yours? … Nacho bus!

Some say that good nachos are hard to find in New York City, but we (and our friends at Nachos NY) know that they’re out there — as long as you know where to look. That’s why, on one recent Saturday, we took the 40 winners of our NYC Nacho Bus Contest for a nacho tasting tour in Manhattan. Thematic dress was encouraged, which New Yorkers embraced, donning Google Places wayfarers, sombreros and, in some cases, mustaches:

Lookin' good!

Our first stop was El Maguey y La Tuna, a casual, family-run restaurant on Houston Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where festive tables awaited us:

 

Nacho enthusiasts were particularly impressed by El Maguey’s margaritas (the inventive flavors included cantaloupe and jalapeño). The nachos, of course, were also stellar.

Nachos at El Maguey y La Tuna

Next stop on the nacho bus was slated to be El Paso up in Harlem, but — alas — we had only moved a few blocks when brake trouble got the best of our bus, derailing our initial plans.

The nacho bus was fun ... while it lasted!

Thanks to some quick thinking, though, we transformed the NYC Nacho Bus into a nacho crawl, and everyone still had a blast! We hopped off the bus and hoofed it to Professor Thom’s, a Red Sox bar near Stuyvesant Square that just so happens to have some killer nachos (sorry, Yankees fans)!

 

Above left, an epic plate of nachos at Professor Thom’s; Above right, Nachos NY editor Rachel Anderson enjoys fried-oyster nachos; Below, nacho enthusiasts share a laugh

Our final stop on our nacho tour was The Blind Pig, where spirits were high and the nacho portions were plentiful.

Nachos at The Blind Pig

While not pictured, the “Irish” nachos — made with waffle fries — were a real hit!

Then, finally, it was time for the nacho crawl to end. We hugged our new friends and apologized profusely to our painfully full bellies (though, amazingly, we’re already hungry for our next food crawl!).

Bummed you missed out on the nacho crawl? We would be, too. Don’t miss another awesome community activity: sign-up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date.

Posted by Esther Brown, Manhattan community manager