There is more to life than carne asada.
Don’t get me wrong: I love a good carne asada taco, but there are countless Mexican delicacies that also deserve some time in the spotlight.
Rich, spicy mole poured on top of chicken, juicy cabeza in a homemade corn tortilla, tender carnitas that melt in your mouth and fresh shrimp cooked in lime juice and chiltepin peppers are just some of the mouthwatering dishes that you can find all over Mexico.
Thankfully, you won’t need a plane ticket to try these meals — you can find them here in Tucson! Authentic dishes from Michoacán, Sinaloa, Jalisco and Puebla are all here in town, waiting for you to try them.
The next time you're craving Mexican food, take a step out of the box and substitute the carne asada for something different. Below is a list of restaurants and food trucks that make traditional dishes from all over Mexico that will leave you saying, “where has this been all my life?!”
People are also reading…
At Ensenada Street Food, find flavors and fan favorites from Baja California, such as their shrimp tacos.
Ensenada Street Food
Magdalena Alvarez is showing off her taco-making expertise, incorporating the many flavors of Baja California, Mexico to create tacos that’ll make your mouth water.
Alvarez was born and raised in Ensenada and moved to Tucson at 20 years old. She was encouraged by coworkers to start a food truck where she uses authentic ingredients to ensure her tacos taste the same the ones from her hometown.
While the birria and al pastor tacos are hits, the shrimp tacos at Ensenada Street Food would make Baja proud. Big pieces of fried shrimp sit in two corn tortillas, ensuring that the taco doesn’t break when all the toppings are put on. Then it's smothered in a crème sauce, mayonnaise, a pico de gallo-type salsa and cabbage.
At Carnitas Los Reyes, carnitas tacos come with shredded pork which is mixed with pork skin and pork belly and wrapped in a homemade corn tortilla.
Carnitas Los Reyes
Since 2022, Carnitas Los Reyes has been serving up the juiciest carnitas tacos, authentic to the ones seen in Michoacán, Mexico, which is famous for their mouthwatering take on the shredded pork dish.
Both of the owners, Karin Reyes and Eleno Sanchez, grew up in Michoacán. In fact, Sanchez’s family grew up around pigs and he eventually mastered his mother’s carnitas recipe. During the 4½ hour process, Sanchez cooks the pork, buche (pork belly) and pig skin in an array of spices such as garlic, orange juice, Coca-Cola, sugar and a stick of cinnamon. At the end, you are left with a soft and juicy pork taco complete with a homemade corn tortilla.
Aguachile at La Palma costs $20 and is enough to split with a friend or loved one (especially if you tack on a taco).
Cocteleria La Palma
Esther Romero and her family own Cocteleria La Palma, a seafood truck that sells cocktails, tacos and tostadas with a Sinaloan flair.
Both Romero and her husband, Mario, were cooks who learned their craft while growing up in La Palma, Sinaloa. When they moved to Tucson in 2013, they decided to make their dream come true and start a food truck.
Since then, La Palma has been a staple for anyone craving shrimp tacos or ceviche. One of the standouts on their menu is their aguachile tostada, which is a regular corn tostada topped with the shrimp, red onion, cucumber, avocado and, of course, the lime juice its cooked in. You get the spiciness and tanginess of the sauce paired with the crunch of the red onion and the subtle sweetness of the cucumber slices.
Leidy Bautista and her family run OaxaRico, a food truck that serves up Oaxacan dishes like molotes (pictured).
OaxaRico
Instead of taking a six-hour flight to Oaxaca to taste their molotes, you can find Tucson's OaxaRico, where Leidy Bautista and her family serve up Oaxacan delicacies in a cherry-red trailer.
When Bautista and her family moved from Oaxaca to Tucson, they found their cooking was a big hit at family gatherings. With that, they decided to share their food with all of us and started food truck OaxaRico where you can order their molotes, an empanada-like dish where chorizo and potatoes are stuffed into a dough made from corn. The spiciness of the chorizo and the softness of the corn outside blend together so perfectly, it’s the perfect Mexican comfort food.
During the colder months they make the dish that Oaxaca is most known for: mole. To make the mole sauce, they use more than 50 ingredients, making it a four-to-five-day process.
A cemita is a popular Mexican sandwich from Puebla. It’s known for having a sesame bun with different fillings like queso Oaxaca, ham and fried milanesa.
El Antojo Poblano
One bite of their mole poblano and you’ll instantly be transported to Puebla. El Antojo Poblano started out as a food truck, but their mole and cemitas captured the community’s heart, allowing them to upgrade to a brick-and-mortar.
According to their menu, their mole poblano sauce is their signature, using a recipe that’s been passed down for four generations and brought directly from Puebla. Its rich flavor is used in dishes like their enmoladas de pollo, adding a unique and flavorful kick to whatever it’s on. They are also known for their cemitas, a sandwich with milanesa, ham, Oaxacan cheese, caramelized onions, chipotle chile, olive oil and avocado.
Taqueria Porfis
Hailing from Nogales, Sonora, Taqueria Porfis originally started as a simple cart but has been serving tacos al vapor from its brick-and-mortar in Tucson for more than a decade.
Porfis has a small menu most known for their steamed tacos filled with shredded beef and potatoes. Chimichangas are also on the menu, also filled with beef and potatoes. The tacos are delicious, flavorful and well worth a try.
A cup of traditional chicken tortilla soup at El Sur Restaurant, 5602 E. 22nd St. The restaurant, which makes about three gallons of soup a day, uses family recipes passed down by owner Isela Mejia’s mother and aunt.
El Sur Restaurant
Nobody can resist a good torito: gooey cheese stuffed inside a bacon-wrapped chile, it’s truly what dreams are made of. Not only does El Sur serve mouthwatering toritos, but the rest of their Sonoran dishes make you feel at home as soon as you take a bite.
Since 2002, the Mejia family has been serving up homestyle Mexican food using recipes that have been passed through their family or from their chef who has been at El Sur for the last 15 years. Pozole, menudo, enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas and flautas are just some of the homey Sonoran foods you can find here.
Tacos y Mariscos Jaliscos
When you see the word "mariscos" on a building, it's probably safe to assume the food is going to be great.
Tacos y Mariscos Jaliscos truly has it all: tacos, sopes, huaraches, seafood cocktails, ceviche and so much more. Here, you can find torta ahogadas, a classic dish from Jalisco that is a sandwich made with birote salado bread, chicken or fried pork, beans and topped with a chile sauce. You can also get some of their items, like their quesabirria and tacos dorados, Jalisco-style.
Empanadas and other treats are available at the new location of La Estrella Bakery at 901 N. Grande Ave.
La Estrella Bakery
There is no better way to start your day than with a cup of coffee and pan dulce. But your morning can quickly go south if you pick a concha that’s dry and hard. It’s crucial to find a panaderia you can trust. Luckily, La Estrella gets it right every time.
For over 30 years, the family behind La Estrella has been baking bread fresh every day, using only the freshest ingredients and never pre-making anything. Hebillas, cuernitos, pan de huevo and cochitos fill their glass cases every day, so you can pick and choose which treats to start your morning with. Their cuernitos are my absolute favorite of all time. They also make traditional treats like Pan de Muerto and Rosca de Reyes.
Blanca Inzunza prepares churros for customers during the Summer Night Market at the MSA Annex.
Churros Inzunza
These churros put the ones from Disneyland to shame.
Churros Inzunza makes their fluffy, cinnamon-y treats using a family recipe from Obregón, Sonora. Aside from their traditional churros, they also make classic Mexican treats like coconut horchata, champurrado and choco-flan. The best part: all of their baked goods are vegan and gluten-free!
Taqueria Juanito’s
It’s hard to miss this bright purple building as you drive down Grant. While the building gets you to stop, it’s the food that makes you stay.
The owners bought their first food truck in the San Fernando Valley in 1987, making food that incorporates flavors from Michoacán and blending it with the Los Angeles street style, their website says.
Years later, the family continues to make their beloved food from scratch. Of course they have carnitas, but I’ve seen people rave about their cabeza tacos — many say it's the best place for cabeza in town.
Under all that delicious sauce, Buendia’s poblano pepper is stuffed with a fresh green corn tamale.
Buendia Breakfast & Lunch Café
There’s a reason there’s always a line out the door at Buendia. The food is like a giant hug, each ingredient blended together so perfectly.
Jael and Julio Garcia previously told #ThisIsTucson that in Nogales, Sonora, you see people walking, laughing and talking to people on the street, so they were inspired to bring that atmosphere to Tucson.
Their brunch menu includes chilaquiles, breakfast poblanos, huevos rancheros, mole chicken enchiladas and more. They also offer café de olla, Mexican-style coffee served with Marias cookies. Plus, they make sure to sprinkle alegria (joy) onto every meal.
David Matias, left, Teresa Matias, Alfonso Matias and Isaac Matias, right, stand in the front of Teresa’s Mosaic Cafe. The family is preparing to reopen the longtime west-side eatery.
Teresa’s Mosaic Cafe
This west-side favorite has been serving up a combination of Oaxacan and Sonoran flavors for over 40 years. Teresa and Alfonso Matias are from Oaxaca, opening their iconic restaurant here in Tucson in 1984.
Not only are they known for their handmade tortillas, but dishes like their huevos rancheros and menudo have been raved about for years. Their chorizo is house-made and on Sundays they serve Oaxacan hot chocolate.
La Parrilla Suiza
La Parrilla calls itself an old-school restaurant serving traditional Mexico City cuisine. The tortillas are made fresh and many of the dishes have been on the restaurant's menu since 1969, their website says.
You'll find chilaquiles and sizzling plates of fajitas along with vegetarian dishes here.
Empanadas made with banana masa and deep-fried with various filings can be found at Selena’s Salvadorian Restaurant, 2513 N. Campbell Ave.
Latin American spots around town
- Batey Puerto Rican Gastronomy (Puerto Rico): 4230 N. Oracle Road
- DC Jumbie (Puerto Rico, Cuba, U.S. Virgin Islands): check their Instagram for their schedule
- Empanadas El Dominicano (Dominican Republic): check their Instagram for their schedule
- Mojo Cuban Kitchen & Rum Bar (Cuba): 1929 E. Grant Road
- Inca’s Peruvian Cuisine (Peru): 6878 E. Sunrise Dr.
- Che Café Empanadas Argentinas (Argentina): 1998 E. Irvington Road
- Chela’s Latin Cuisine (Honduras): 256 E. Congress St.
- Selena’s Salvadorian Restaurant (El Salvador): 2513 N. Campbell Ave.
Jamie Donnelly is the food writer for #ThisIsTucson. Contact her via e-mail at jdonnelly@tucson.com
