can I get SQL Server to choose between a table and a view?
Not suggesting a better way to run your queries, but hopefully answering the question. You're asking if SQL SErver can ignore the view when you're running queries, but presumably, you're writing the query against the view. In which case, no, SQL Server can't ignore the view.

However, there is a process within the optimizer called simplification. Given enough time (more on that in a moment), SQL Server can recognize which parts of a view you're using or not using and then eliminate tables from the execution plan that are not needed to satisfy the query. But, it has to have enough time to do that. Since you're working with nested views, a major coding issue, you're not generally going to have enough time for the optimizer to get a good execution plan, let alone perform simplification and eliminate unnecessary queries.

Short answer, no. There's not short cut open to you. You need to rearchitect the queries to eliminate nested views. Any other tuning you do will be, at best, perephiral to the problems you're experiencing.