What is the single most important component of a Sonoran hot dog? The instinctive guess would be the bacon-wrapped dog, but frankly, you can still use the cheapest wiener and the cheapest bacon and it would still taste right.
But something will feel wrong if a Sonoran hot dog vendor serves you their creation in a grocery store American hot dog bun. The Sonoran hot dog bun is a touch sweeter and softer, especially if it was baked that morning.
Since you can’t find these treasured buns at a grocery store, where do you go? Straight to the source. Peek into the kitchen to see a box or bag and you might be lucky to find the label for El Triunfo Bakery & Tortilleria, located at 6348 S. Nogales Hwy.
Estanislao “Tanis” Lona grew up in Guanajuato, Mexico on a family ranch with 15 siblings. In his twenties, he moved to the United States in search of a better life.
Tanis honed his baking skills with several bakeries, including over a decade baking for the University of Arizona.
In July 1989, Tanis opened El Triunfo, which translates to “the triumph.” He began with his Mexican breads and pastry, then his wife Maria Jesus “Chuy” Lona joined with her family’s flour tortilla recipe. Once business gained enough momentum, they expanded by producing tortilla chips and their now signature hot dog buns.
Today, their goods make their way throughout Tucson, with Sonoran hot dog making it to stands like La Carreta del Rorro and tortillas to restaurants like Charro Steak & Del Rey.
Tanis died in 2023 — his son Joaquin Lona now carries on the family legacy.
El Triunfo opens at 6 a.m. daily. When I was a chef in a shared commissary kitchen three years ago, I saw the El Triunfo van pull up daily with their bread and tortilla deliveries.
Monday morning, I drove to their bakery deep in the south side. I took photos of the mural outside as an older man in a cowboy hat, maybe around his 70s, sat next to packages of tortillas in front of the building and peeked at me out of curiosity. Someone else stepped out of the front, carrying what looked like two dozen rolls of bread.
Stepping inside, I saw the display cases filled with colorful pan dulce. Bags of bread and buns lined a shelf to the side. A refrigerator displayed bags of nixtamal — corn treated with lime (calcium hydroxide, not the citrus) to make it ready for processing into masa for fresh corn tortillas or tamales.
I asked someone behind the counter if she spoke English — she didn’t. In my broken Spanish, I asked her for permission to photograph and look at the baking operations.
She went back to the kitchen and brought out a baker. He happily accommodated and showed me the trays of bread cooling.
Next, he asked if I wanted to see them pull fresh bread out of the oven. I gazed at the giant industrial rotating rack oven as another baker rapidly pulled out trays of buns as the crust hit their ideal shade of golden brown.
As I finished and stepped out of the kitchen Joaquin happened to have stepped into the bakery. We met, introduced ourselves, and I ran off to another photoshoot, craving Sonoran hot dogs at 9 in the morning.
I ended up ordering three of them at 9:30 p.m. that night.
El Triunfo Bakery and Tortilleria is located at 6348 S. Nogales Hwy. For more information, call (520) 573-1884.
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