DOTD For Thursday, November 6, 2025

A Drink To Warm You On These Cooler Nights...

Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Classic Margarita On The Rocks inspired by National Nacho Day! If you’re not a fan of nachos, today is nacho lucky day here at The Politics Bar. [Yes, we know - that’s a horrible Dad joke. It’s Shawn & Jared behind the bar today - forgive them for that.[

Yes, today is National Nacho Day, a day dedicated to those delicious fried tortilla chips that we all love, whether they’re topped with cheese, chili, salsa, guacamole, & sour cream, or simply Colby cheese & jalapeños, like the original version.

The nacho origin story is a perfect mix of Mexican ingenuity & American tastes, as reported by many, including the NYTimes.

Nachos were born in the early 1940s when, as the story goes, a group of women whose husbands were stationed at the nearby U.S. Army base Fort Duncan walked into the Victory Club restaurant in Piedras Negras, the twin sister city to Eagle Pass, Texas on the U.S./Mexico border. It was late in the day, and most of the restaurants in the area had closed - and Ignacio Anaya, the maître d’ had no cooks left in his kitchen.

Aiming to please, Señor Anaya ran to the kitchen and made a quick appetizer with fried corn tortilla chips, topping them with Colby cheese, and slices of pickled jalapeños, then throwing them in the oven. The gathered women liked the dish so much, they reportedly asked for asked for seconds, and began to call them “Nacho’s Special.”

For those who might not know, Mr. Anaya was known as Nacho, a traditional nickname for anyone named Ignacio in Spanish-speaking countries. Other famous (albeit less tasty) Nachos include the Argentinian polo player Nacho Figueras and Nacho Libre, a fictitious character played by Jack Black in the film from 2006.

That wasn’t the end of the nacho origin story, though.

Nachos became a regional favorite in the South Texas area. But Frank Liberto, a businessman from Texas, would soon take nachos to the masses.With the invention of cheese sauce that didn’t need refrigeration and stayed semi-liquid at room temperature, and the invention of a pump for the cheese,

Liberto would bring the American version of the classic snack to the masses with “ballpark nachos,” first served at a Texas Rangers baseball game in 1976, then again in 1977 at a Dallas Cowboys football game.

According to multiple sources, during the September 4, 1978 Monday Night Football game between the Baltimore Colts and Dallas Cowboys, sportscaster Howard Cosell first discovered these nachos, and made a point of mentioning the dish in his broadcasts multiple times over the following weeks. That kind of promotion spurred a massive increase in popularity, and began the wide adoption of nachos as one of America’s favorite snacks.

There are many kinds of nachos, from simple versions to multi-layered masterpieces - but they all taste much better with a refreshing Margarita On The Rocks, today’s Drink Of The Day.

Of course, if you missed it earlier this year when Ted Genoways, author of the definitive history of tequila, “Tequila Wars: José Cuervo And The Bloody Struggle For The Spirit Of Mexico,” came to the bar, check out our interview with him too.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink: