Phoenix Magazine's Top 12 Dishes in Tucson (2025)

Vegan Platter at Aspasia

The colorful array of hot-and-cold vegan appetizers that emerges from Aspasia’s scratch kitchen may look familiar to devotees of Middle Eastern cuisine, but the Syrian family recipes are deliciously distinctive. Standouts among the dishes include a smoky babaganoush studded with tiny tomato bits, and doughnut-shaped falafel that’s both crispy and moist. The starters are flanked by sliced pickles, cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes. Use the fresh-baked pita to scoop up the dips or to create a sandwich bursting with flavor.

Cinnamon Roll Pancake

The snickerdoodle pancake at this Tucson breakfast and brunch haunt snags headlines and awards, but for our money, the cinnamon roll pancake is the ultimate indulgence. Owner Kim Scanlan agrees. “[It] is my favorite, too!” she says of the plate-covering flapjack created by chef Gerard Meurer. “The cinnamon-sugar butter [in the batter] offers depth and richness to the pancake, and then texture as the sugar caramelizes as it cooks, offering that light crunch on the edges.” A swirl of cream cheese glaze completes it. “Everyone’s eyes get really big,” Scanlan says. “They can’t believe the size and that it really looks like a cinnamon roll.”

Heritage Bread

Look for the logo. The stencil of a saguaro poised against the outline of Arizona lets you know that Don Guerra’s signature Heritage loaf is crafted from heirloom wheat grown and milled in the Sonoran Desert. Its only other ingredients are slow-fermented sourdough culture, Sonoran sea salt and water. A favorite among Barrio devotees, the deep-brown loaf is chewy on the outside, airy on the inside, with a slightly tangy, earthy taste. If you want to know what compelled judges to give Guerra a James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker, just take a bite.

Carne Asada Steak

When chef Gary Hickey partnered with the venerable Flores family (of El Charro Café fame) to open a Mexican steak-and-seafood house, offering a down-and-dirty cowboy steak was a no brainer. Finding the right cut of grass-fed beef for the signature carne asada was considerably harder. Hickey, a skilled butcher, finally hit on the “outside” skirt cut. “Imagine ribeye and filet had a baby,” he says. “It’s tender, with beautiful marbling, perfect for mesquite grilling.” Rubbed with salt, pepper and garlic, this charro steak is campfire simplicity raised to an art form.

Sonoran Hot Dogs

A Tucson institution, El Güero Canelo is credited with introducing Sonoran hot dogs to Arizona. Recognized by the James Beard Foundation as a bona fide “American Classic,” the bacon-wrapped hot dogs don’t disappoint.

Quesabirria Tacos

Arguably the first chef to introduce quesabirria tacos to Tucson, Juan Almanza has perfected his recipe over three decades. Detect a hint of sweetness in the beef birria? Cloves, allspice and cinnamon are among the 30-odd seasonings in the broth used to steep the slow-cooked meat. The corn tortillas get a quick flip on the grill to crisp the mozzarella cheese on the outside and melt it on the inside. The finisher? A dipping bowl of zesty birria consomé.

Vegetable Gyoza

The crescent-shaped Japanese dumplings known as gyoza are typically filled with ground pork and wrapped in a beige, wheat-based dough before being deep-fried or steamed, subsequently leaving plant-based diners disappointed. That’s not the case at this homey sushi spot in central Tucson, where the vegetable gyoza are enveloped in crispy, pan-fried, spinach-infused dough, lending a sage hue and slightly earthy flavor to its finely chopped napa cabbage, carrots, shiitake mushrooms and garlic filling. It’s one of Arizona’s finest meat-free delicacies.

Elote

Drive down 22nd Street in sprawling Southeast Tucson on any given evening and you’re likely to glimpse a large, well-behaved mob of Mexican food lovers milling about on the stoop of a converted short-order diner, patiently waiting for a table. How did this Modern-Mexican newcomer (it only opened last December) manage to enthrall such a devoted clientele, so quickly? It could be the massive, Baja-style seafood coctel goblets, could be the Instagram-worthy mole enchiladas. For us, it was this ingenious elote starter, quartered and served with a ridiculously good, tangy tomatillo salsa. You eat them like chicken wings, and happiness ensues.

Ricotta Pastizzi

“Malta Joe” Gauci is serious about his pastizzi – savory pastries from the eponymous Mediterranean island where his family has roots. After discovering his mother’s recipe for the handcrafted phyllo dough and traditional fillings, he returned to Malta to perfect his baking techniques. The popular ricotta variety is a classic, but Gauci has branched out with other fillings, including sweet ones. Order from his pastizzi factory – the only one in the U.S. – or find them fresh at the Heirloom Farmers Market on Sundays.

Chiles Rellenos

Chiles rellenos – chiles stuffed with cheese or meat, battered and fried until lightly crisp – originated in the Mexican city of Puebla in the 1800s. At Penca, Tucson’s nouveau Mexican restaurant, the classic dish gets two distinct but equally delicious upgrades. The regular chile relleno is stuffed with tangy, earthy achiote pork and melty queso Oaxaca, smothered in a richly spiced tomato sauce and crowned with tangy pickled onions. The vegan version nixes the meat for a filling of sweet plantains, shallots and carrots, lavished with a creamy coconut-carrot purée. Which is better? We can’t decide. Get los dos.

Fish Tacos

Taqueria Pico de Gallo doesn’t have a website or social media, but it’s still known worldwide – something owner Diana Bojorquez discovered during a trip to Europe, when she met a Dutch couple who found out she was from Tucson. “They said, ‘There’s this little yellow building in south Tucson, and we forget the name of it, but they have the best fish tacos in the world.’ And I said, ‘Hi, nice to meet you. I’m the owner,’” she says. Her Baja-style fish tacos feature generous hunks of pollock (fried or grilled), cabbage, crema and the eatery’s titular salsa on thick corn tortillas crafted with scratch-made masa. “They’re the No. 1 sellers.”

Sonoran Burger

Start with a grilled patty of ground Piedmontese beef – “the Wagyu of Italy,” says Uptown chef Justin Fitzsimons, “leaner, but [just] as flavorful” – then top with a savory mix of mellow Oaxacan cheese, fresh roasted poblanos, crunchy grilled sweet corn and house-made aioli. Add lettuce and avocado, then enfold in a brioche bun – or try to. The generous topping overflows its bready confines, making it impossible to pick up the burger until you’ve forked up a good bit. That’s not a hardship – it makes the Sonoran arguably the finest burger-eating experience in Southern Arizona.