Born during WWII at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico, when a quick-thinking maître d’, Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, had to assemble a first platter for a table of officers’ wives after the restaurant’s chef went AWOL, nachos went on to become a mainstay at roadhouses and ballparks across North America. Now, in a deliciously unorthodox move, chef Claudio Aprile has deconstructed them with his plantain chips for the bar menu at Senses in the SoHo Metropolitan hotel. Slices of the starchy banana are deep-fried to a crisp in grapeseed oil; these represent the corn chips. Other components include a moat of guacamole—Hass avocado mixed with lime juice and mascarpone—surrounding a fondue of smoked gouda and “salsa” of oven-dried grape tomatoes, tomato compote, black olives, candied garlic and smoked chilies.

How to match that? By kicking it old school with the basic nacho platter from Sneaky Dee’s, where crunchy corn tortilla chips come slathered with salsa roja and a generous showering of monterey jack. Thanks to well-distributed chips, jack and sauce, the large round platter arrives with blistered edges, bubbling cheese and nary a naked chip. No wonder these are also Claudio Aprile’s favourite nachos.