In our perfect town the person who introduced us to nachos would get a parade, so perhaps we should move to Los Angeles where that person gets their obituary on the home page of the Los Angeles Times. Carmen Rocha who began working for the famous El Cholo Mexican Restaurant chain in Los Angeles in 1959 died on October 9 of this year of complications due to cancer according to El Cholo family member Rand Salisbury. She was 77.

Rocha, who worked at the original El Cholo on Western Avenue for close to 40 years, learned to make nachos in her native San Antonio, Texas and made them for her customers in L.A. as a special treat before they were on the menu. Her hospitable style extended past the workplace, too, as she was known for having customers over to her home for her family’s Sunday open house, a tradition she continued long after she retired.

“Carmen was wonderful, to me and to everybody,” actor Jack Nicholson, a longtime regular at El Cholo, said this week. “It’s a community loss,” he said of her death.

Rocha retired in the 1990’s when her health wouldn’t allow her to waitress any more. In addition to continuing her open houses, though, she also took computer training classes for senior citizens and volunteered at Pasadena City Hall. She is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and a legacy of pure, Mexican gold on a chip.

Carmen Rocha dies at 77; waitress credited with introducing L.A. to nachos [LA Times]