Now that Tucson is a designated World City of Gastronomy, a legion of journalists are coming from all over to try out our yummies. My job is to take these people around and feed them Sonoran hot dogs, delicately explaining that the Mission burrito they know is not in fact food, but a feeble reproduction of the real stuff.
I take them to BK, I take them to El Güero Canelo. But some of the visitors want to dig deeper. They want to really understand what makes the food of the Sonoran desert different than, say, hipster tacos they can get in Brooklyn.
For this article, I'm not touting Tucson's old-school margarita joints like Rosa's and Mi Nidito. (Although they are awesome, undeniably.) When I want to really show someone what Sonoran cuisine looks like, I go to a little taqueria on the south side with a simple salsa bar, flour tortillas and a carne asada grill. Here are some of my favorites:
