A new eatery that specializes in gourmet style nachos will make its debut during this month’s First Fridays art walk, opening up just one house away from Jobot Coffee Shop.
This new restaurant is the brainchild of the Jobot’s owner John Sagasta and is rightly titled Nachobot, or “not-Jobot.”
Nachobot is located along Fifth Street between Garfield and Roosevelt streets, and instead of sporting a conventional sign, there is a bright yellow and green neon sign in the shape of an arrow pointing to the door that reads “MUNCHIES.”
This eatery will be serving three different types of nacho dishes but plans on expanding and changing its menu as they continue with business, Sagasta said. The price range is between $6 and $7.
The three nacho dishes include a vegetarian option, a buffalo-wing style and a Mexican adobado style, Sagasta said.
“They’re going to dress nachos up and make it cool,” said Jobot Chef Aaron Johnson. “They’re going to make nachos like really good gourmet junk food for college kids. Even the presentation is going to be great.”
The idea of Nachobot started out as a joke at first, Johnson and Sagasta said.
“You know how you get a lot of friends together and you goof around, well that’s how it started,” Johnson said, adding that Sagasta joked about the concept for six months, but when the location became available two weeks ago, he nabbed it.
The location was formerly the home to Of the Earth, a cafe and gallery, but is now housing Nachobot and the other half of the building houses a gallery.
The cooking and prepping of the food for Nachobot will be done in Jobot’s kitchen, which has undergone some minor physical changes, Jobot chef Benjamin Hootan said. All the food will be prepped from scratch, minus the tortilla chips.
Despite the slow economic climate, Jobot has had a steady clientele and business, which is aided by the First and Third Fridays art walks, Sagasta said. Regarding the amount of business in the downtown area, Sagasta said that “everyone has been apprehensive for so long and their dipping their toes in the water to see if it’s safe to swim now.”
A pre-opening of Nachobot took place Thursday and was meant to be a practice run, according to Sagasta.
“You hope it’s busy as hell, but at the same time I’m afraid because we don’t have any practice,” Sagasta said of his expectations for opening day. “But we’ll do this ’till we can’t.”
The shop will be open Monday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Sagasta was approached about six months ago with the idea of Jobot accepting M&G, he said.
“For a while I was really hot for that idea. I filled out the paperwork and everything, but no one ever got back to me,” Sagasta said, added that neither of his restaurants accept the ASU meal program.
Courtney Kaminski, a journalism sophomore, said she has never seen a place that specializes in nachos, but as a fan of Jobot, the new Nachobot has drawn her interest.
“I like trying new things downtown,” she said.
Contact the reporter at carolina.m.lopez@asu.edu
