Carmen Rocha

Carmen Rocha was a waitress at El Cholo Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles for many years. She is credited with the creation of nachos, the appetizer of tortilla chips, cheese and jalapeno peppers.

She started working at the restaurant in 1959 and won a following with her warm, outgoing personality. According to her obituary in the Los Angeles Times "For a special treat Rocha sometimes went into the kitchen and made her customers an order of nachos, an item not included on the menu. She followed a recipe she learned in San Antonio, where she grew up, layering tortilla wedges, shredded cheddar cheese and slices of jalapeno pepper, warming the dish in the oven. Before long she had requests from all over the dining room and her nachos were added to the menu.

"Carmen Rocha introduced an iconic dish and helped popularize it," said Merrill Shindler, who wrote El Cholo Cookbook: Recipes and Lore From California's Best Loved Mexican Kitchen in 1998. "Now, everybody eats nachos. If they were called 'Carmens,' not nachos, her name would be remembered forever."