Cooking Channel to feature Loaded Elevated Nachos in St. Charles

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – A St. Charles restaurant specializing in nachos will be featured on the Cooking Channel Wednesday, Feb. 16.

Loaded Elevated Nachos will be seen on “Food Paradise” in an episode called “Smothered Comfort” at 9 p.m. A producer of the show called the restaurant one day, asking if it could be featured on an episode, according to co-owner Brad Merten.

“They came across us and liked what we were doing, and thought it would be a good fit for the episode they were shooting,” Merten said.

Soon after the phone call, filming of the episode took place at the nacho joint where it was all accomplished in one 12-hour day. Merten said the day consisted of cooking demos, interviews and had some friends and family stop by for their reactions and interviews.

“It was a pretty fun process,” Merten said.

His favorite part was seeing the process of production.

“I’ve watched a lot of these types of TV shows before and it’s just kind of interesting to see the reverse side of it,” Merten said. “It gives me a little bit of new appreciation for everything that they do.”

From the same team that launched Narwhal’s Crafted, Loaded Elevated Nachos is a quick-service, nacho restaurant that opened last year.

It is located at 1450 Beale Street #130 in St. Charles.

“Obviously our premise and m.o. is all things nachos, but take a unique, thoughtful approach to that,” Merten said. “We try to take dishes and cuisine that are familiar but then try to do them in an unfamiliar format, you know, being the nacho.”

Loaded Elevated Nachos is pushing the limit of what nachos can be with its menu items, including crab rangoon, loaded baked potato, toasted ravioli, smash burger, among others.

To find out what nacho items are in the episode, watch “Food Paradise” Wednesday, Feb. at 9 p.m. on the Cooking Channel.