Here’s my guide to 10 can’t miss Mexican inspired dishes in Tucson, Arizona. For the Food Network.
Tucson, Arizona, is famous for its Sonoran-style Mexican food. A college town located just 60 miles north of the Mexican border, and situated between Santa Fe and Southern California in both geography and style, Tucson boasts a truly unique regional cuisine.
In fact, Tucson has been designated the first U.S. City of Gastronomy by UNESCO, celebrating its unique regional cuisine, which is influenced heavily by the city’s proximity to Mexico and its location in the Sonoran Desert, where prickly pear, mesquite and chiltepin grow wild. Native American and Hispanic cultures mix with those of generations of settlers who moved to the Southwest looking for a new life.
Visit FoodNetwork.com to see my 35 can’t-miss Tucson dishes with a distinctly Sonoran-Mexican influence.
I’ve written and photographed a guide on what to eat in Arizona for the Food Network. “Grub in the Grand Canyon State: The Best Things to Eat in Arizona,” features 29 of the the most iconic dishes across the state.
Though Arizona is geographically and culturally diverse, there are many dishes that signify the state not only to its residents, but also to outsiders looking in. I photographed all of the food in Tucson with links to best places to find each dish in Phoenix, Scottsdale and the rest of northern and southern Arizona as well. Pictured above are bowls of white and red menudo. Below is the the combo plato from Cafe Poca Cosa. 
Good Morning America is featuring my photo of a giant Chimichanga at the El Charro Cafe, (graciously modeled by my husband Jason), on their website. They say, “that they’ve scoured the country looking for the largest and fattiest foods. From deep-fried delicacies to larger-than-life sundaes, here are the foods that you should probably share.”
My favorite fair food has all the qualities of a carnival freak show. It has elements of the unexpected; it’s bigger and weirder than the food I see everyday; and it evokes awe and borderline disgust. The more absurd the better. This is my second year documenting the food at my county fair, and even though some of the food wasn’t as over the top as I would have liked, I still found it all pretty intriguing. Here are a few photos:
Janos Wilder supplied a recipe for Somen Noodles from his new restaurant Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, to a beautiful new online green living magazine. I supplied the photo. You can get the recipe and check out the rest of the magazine at Sustainable Online Magazine.
Somen Noodles from Janos Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails
sweet + sour marinated shiitakes, tossed with olive + sesame oils, basil, broccoli rabe, scallions, Tohono O’odham roasted squash, chile-braised tofu:
I’ve been on a hot dog eating binge ever since I went to the Pima County Fair (see below), and had one of the best hot dogs of my life from a tiny stand in one of the buildings there. Since then, I’ve been buying every hot dog I see, trying to re-create the experience, which is impossible. So, I decided to conduct a taste test. I’ve bought every hot dog I can find that I haven’t tried before. So far Trader Joe’s all beef uncured franks have won, but I heard there was a sausage place on the other side of town that I have to try. All of this culminated in me having to eat a Sonoran style hot dog today at El Guero Canelo which are rumored to be the best in town. Sonoran style hot dogs have become all the rage here in Tucson for the past couple of years and have gotten international attention due in part to this article in The New York Times.
Here are a few photos from my adventure today.
Note: My husband is a vegetarian so he had a whole bean and cheese burro which was excellent.
Our Hero! The Sonoran Hot Dog at El Guero Canelo
Grilled onions, cucumbers & salsa from the condiment bar
Someone Else's Order at the Counter
Burro filled with white cheese and whole beans
