Which waitress is credited with introducing nachos to Los Angeles?

Carmen Rocha is the waitress credited with introducing nachos to Los Angeles.

Rocha began working at El Cholo Spanish Cafe in Los Angeles in 1959. According to the restaurant’s history, she brought with her the nacho preparation associated with her native San Antonio: tortilla chips covered with melted cheese and topped with jalapeño slices.

Her version helped make the dish a local specialty at El Cholo and connected nachos with the restaurant’s long history of Mexican American dining in Southern California. The restaurant opened in 1923 under the name Sonora Cafe before becoming El Cholo, making Rocha’s contribution part of a much older culinary institution.

Rocha is credited with introducing nachos to Los Angeles, not with inventing them. The earlier creation is generally attributed to Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico, in 1943. That distinction explains why both names appear in accounts of nacho history.