It was a dark and stormy night, and the usually bustling Professor Thom’s was empty. It was a promising start to a delightful nachos experience.

Background
Visit Date and Time: Sunday, May 13, 9:30pm
Nacho Style: Bar Nachos
Price: $17 for a single (serves 1-2) with chicken

Professor Thom’s came recommended by a number of Best Nachos lists. We’d heard about them in the past while searching for a good Game of Thrones screening, but had never before made the trip.

Beers
Daisy: Harpoon Camp Wannamango
Emma: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale

The Bar
Professor Thom’s is a Boston sports bar often filled to the brim with Red Sox, Patriots, or Celtics fans. It has a spacious downstairs bar area and a private screening room upstairs. On this rainy Sunday night, we had the bar to ourselves.

Ambience
On the night in question, the ambience was excellent! There was absolutely no one there. It’s apparently usually much busier, especially when the Red Sox are playing. The bartender gave us a free round when he heard we were rating their nachos, perhaps as a bribe (??).

Daisy’s Rating: 5/5 – I love a bar with no one else in it. While I acknowledge the validity of Emma’s game night point, I’m optimistically giving it a 5 (bribes clearly work on me). That said, I recently found Professor Thom’s on a list called “The 13 Douchiest Bars in NYC Right Now,” so who knows.
Emma’s Rating: 4/5 – An empty bar is a great bar in my book. It missed out on a 5 because it’s apparently much more crowded on game nights, so I don’t think our experience was representative.

Beer
A broader selection than your friendly neighborhood sports bar, with a Boston and Michigan focus. Featured breweries included Harpoon, Sam Adams, Founders, and Bell’s.

Daisy’s Rating: 3.5 – It pains me to say it, but South’s never had much of a beer selection. This rating is only as low as it is because it forced me to acknowledge that publicly.
Emma’s Rating: 3.5 – Much as I hate to speak ill of the dead, I agree with Daisy that this was definitely a step up from South’s on the beer front. A wide variety of beers to try and reasonable prices.

Other Food
A range of reasonably priced options, from standard bar snacks (mozzarella sticks, wings) to more substantial fare. They also have elote!

Daisy’s Rating: 4 – I was very impressed by the presence of both lobster bisque and elote, but can’t vouch for the quality of either. It’s a very eclectic menu, which could be good, bad, or neutral.
Emma’s Rating: 3.5 – it’s hard to rate the other food when you haven’t had any, but the menu had a solid set of options for those nights when nachos aren’t quite enough. I have never had elote before, but I hear it’s worth a try.

Seating
Booths, two-tops, and bar seating–as well as an unseen “room upstairs” that hosts screenings of popular shows.

Daisy’s Rating: 4.5 – If I’m sitting, I’m happy. Each booth had its own TV, which is convenient if you’re into lesser-known sports.
Emma’s Rating: 4 – We got a booth! On the other hand, no one was competing with us for it.

Overall Bar
A good start! Totally empty, abundant seating, friendly bartender, and a free round of beer. Would need to see what it’s like on a game night before making a final verdict.

Daisy’s Rating: 4.5 – I could see myself being very happy here. However, I could also see myself being absolutely miserable here. Only time will tell.
Emma’s Rating: 4 – Very promising, but we’ll definitely need to return on a night when it’s a bit more crowded before committing to becoming regulars.

The Nachos
Professor Thom’s offers three sizes of nachos (the smallest size, “single,” is pictured here). They’re bar style nachos with real cheese and healthy portions of all the standard toppings.

Cheese
Real shredded cheese, not canned, well melted and evenly distributed.

Daisy’s Rating: 5 – Very good cheese–each chip had at least a little, and many had a lot. It tasted a bit like pepper jack, which was a plus.
Emma’s Rating: 5 – This was the most South’s-like cheese I’ve seen on a plate of nachos. Real cheese with a bit of a kick, well-distributed with almost no empty chips, gooey but not too difficult to eat. Delicious.

Toppings
Cheese, tomatoes, salsa, guac, sour cream, jalapeños and chicken (chicken added by us for either $3 or $4; notes illegible). Many other add-on’s available, including roasted corn.

Daisy’s Rating: 4 – I was impressed with the number of toppings, but it had a bit of a Chipotle problem (each topping in its own corner, not well distributed). We stirred them around a bit with a chip. Spiced roasted corn is available as an optional add-on, and we regretted not getting it.
Emma’s Rating: 4 – A toppings purist would definitely be pleased with this selection. The substantial portion of guac was great. I shared Daisy’s concern about the distribution – it was possible to work around this, but I often ended up with bites that focused on one particular topping.

Portion Size
Professor Thom’s offers three sizes of nachos – single (serves 1-2), double (serves 2-4), and triple (serves 5+ on an 18″ pizza tray). We got a single, because we are weak, and also because the bartender told us a double would be too big. It was a sizable portion.

Daisy’s Rating: 4.5 – This was plenty–would be very curious to see what the triple looks like, although I’m not sure if I have 5+ friends who are as into nachos as I am.
Emma’s Rating: 4.5 – Especially with the chicken add-on, half of this plate was definitely enough for dinner. The extra sizes are a nice touch for larger groups.

Flavor
The spicy cheese was a nice touch! Otherwise classic bar nachos – the equivalent of a warm hug on a cold night.

Daisy’s Rating: 5 – Spicier than South’s! Very hearty. Big fan.
Emma’s Rating: 4.5 – I was a fan of the slightly spicy kick. Classic nachos flavor.

Overall Nachos
Great nachos! If you’re looking for an option that closely replicates the South’s recipe, this isn’t a bad bet.

Daisy’s Rating: 4.7 – I was very impressed, but not ready to settle down yet. I agree with Emma’s comment below that the chip style was not ideal, but it wasn’t a huge issue for me. I liked how customizable they were, both in size and in content.
Emma’s Rating: 4.5 – Not South’s, and we’ve got more exploring to do, but these are a strong contender for me once we end our touring and decide to commit. The chip style (a bit more deep-fried than your average tortilla chip) wasn’t my favorite, but I didn’t see any other major drawbacks.

Summary
We decided to start this nacho tour (and corresponding blog) after South’s, our favorite nacho spot and all-around hangout place, shut down this April. Professor Thom’s is definitely a strong contender as a replacement, but it wouldn’t be much of a tour if we settled down after the first place we tried. We’re planning to return in the future though, perhaps for Tuesday Trivia, or with enough friends to try the triple!

Bar: 4.25
Nachos: 4.6
Overall: 4.42

See you next time, at Coppelia!

Emma and Daisy