Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Angel's Rock House (Finley, CA): Nachos with Chicken

Ahhh - 4th of July weekend out of town with my wonderful family in the beautiful Clear Lake, CA area!  What better time to enjoy some tasty nachos?  After hanging out at our friends' house and trying to beat the 100 degree heat by downing sodas, cocktails, and numerous slices of watermelon, we decided to go to Angel's Rock House in Finley, which is just off of Highway 29 beteen Lakeport and Kelseyville (no, I don't expect most of you to know where those towns are ;-).  Aside from houses and farms, this tiny, sparsely populated agricultural town doesn't have much more than a grocery store and this great little Mexican restaurant - not even a single traffic light.   But this is a true diamond in the rough when it comes to great nachos!  I can safely say that out of the 20 or so different plates nachos that I've reviewed for this blog, Angels' Chicken Nachos had the best chicken I've had anywhere!  Savory, tender and full of flavor, the chicken practically forced me to keep eating these nachos, even though it was more food than I really should have stuffed into my stomach.  The chips were also very light and crispy - I definitely ate too many of them out of the free basket they gave us while we were waiting for our dinner to arrive.  If you're ever in the area around lunch or dinner time, be sure to stop off in Finley for some nachos!

Historical Note:  "Back in the day" as they say, Angel's Rock House was more of a bar and grill where a lot of locals and migrant workers used to hang out.  Rumor has it that it was also a brothel!  This, combined with there apparently being a lot of nasty fights and other questionable behavior, didn't exactly make it the best place to take your kids for dinner.  However, it's now a nice, clean establishment with good food (my kids loved the burritos), and a very warm, friendly staff that I'm pretty sure are all family from the area.

Rating: 4¼ out of 5
Rating Notes: Could have been a 4½ but for the lack of pico de gallo or tomatoes on top.  This would have given the extra color and fresh flavor that make a well-rounded plate of nachos.
Map to Location: http://www.google.com/maps?q=1967+BIG+VALLEY+ROAD++FINLEY+CA+95435&hl=en&ll=39.002244,-122.875814&spn=0.027214,0.033345&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=56.06887,68.291016&z=15

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