From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
A crisp, tortilla chip topped with melted cheese and salsa or chopped chiles, usually served either as a snack or as an appetizer; the 1943 creation of Ignacio Anaya, the headwaiter at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico. One night, a group of American officers' wives from the nearby Fort Duncan Air Base traveled across the border for dinner. When the cook was nowhere to be found, Ignacio jumped into the kitchen, picked up some tostadas, grated some Wisconsin cheese over top, put them under the broiler and topped them with jalapeño slices. Soon after, club owner Rudolfo De Los Santos put them on the menu, calling them Nacho's Especiales, "Nacho" being short for Ignacio. In 1977, Frank Liberto from Arlington, Texas, started selling his own version of the nachos we enjoy today. He used soft cheese and tortilla chips. See also Tex-Mex.
