El Charro Cafe gets L.A. Times love for chimichanga creation

Tucson has received no shortage of national press of late. Today is no exception.

The Los Angeles Times piece “Where did the chimichanga, the glorious deep-fried burrito, come from anyway?” heaped enormous praise for the beloved chimichanga, created accidentally by Monica Flin, El Charro Cafe’s original owner, sometime in “the late 1940s or early ’50s” while whipping up a midnight snack.

“It flew up in the air and ended up in the vat of hot oil,” says Flores, the current owner of El Charro. To protect the ears of her young, pajama-clad charges, the story goes, Tía Monica censored her own frustration and instead of barking out a well-known expletive in Spanish, she “twisted it around so the word came out ‘chimichanga.’ ”

The article is a short, succinct, yet detailed account from current El Charro owner and chef Carlotta Flores. Read all about it here.