Anonymous wrote:I’m from Tucson and am constantly amazed by why we have food from all over the world and yet don’t have good Sonoran food.

I find the refried beans and the fresh tortillas and salsa at uncle Julio’s to be pretty tolerable but the tortillas aren’t Sonoran style. The rest is skippable but when we get takeout I just order extra beans and tortillas.

Cielo rojo in takoma park has good Mexican and some of it overlaps with Sonoran style but it’s not primarily Sonoran style. For instance you can get tamales there at Christmas. I’ve never seen anyplace out here that serves good carne seca or machaca or anything like a standard green chile or red chile burro like is the standard Sonoran fare. Some of the grocery stores do sell the Tucson Tamale brand tamales in the frozen section though.

This thread comes up every few years and the few Arizonans come out of the wood work to bemoan the lack of options. I try to stock up when I go home. FYI tamales apparently can’t be xrayed by tsa so every time I come through they search my bag and comment on my backpack full of tortillas, tamales and chorizo, and I tell them you just can’t get this stuff back east.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ve said quite a bit about what you don’t want, but it might be easier to make suggestions if you’re more specific about what it is that you’re actually looking for. What is “actual southwestern food” — in your view? One suggestion— whenever it reopens— is to try the restaurant at the National Museum of the American Indian. The restaurant has stations that feature indigenous foods associated with several geographic areas. While they may not have exactly what you’re looking for, they may be able to make some good suggestions for options in the area.

Sonoran would be great.

The museum doesnt really have Sonoran. They do have dry bread tacos that are okay but not nearly as good as what you’d get in any reservation in Arizona. Man, the ones at San Xavier in the courtyard are so damn good. I always said that was my “death row last meal” choice. I used to make my own fry bread tacos when I was a teen but haven’t made them in so long.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ve said quite a bit about what you don’t want, but it might be easier to make suggestions if you’re more specific about what it is that you’re actually looking for. What is “actual southwestern food” — in your view? One suggestion— whenever it reopens— is to try the restaurant at the National Museum of the American Indian. The restaurant has stations that feature indigenous foods associated with several geographic areas. While they may not have exactly what you’re looking for, they may be able to make some good suggestions for options in the area.

Sonoran would be great.

Anonymous wrote:You’ve said quite a bit about what you don’t want, but it might be easier to make suggestions if you’re more specific about what it is that you’re actually looking for. What is “actual southwestern food” — in your view? One suggestion— whenever it reopens— is to try the restaurant at the National Museum of the American Indian. The restaurant has stations that feature indigenous foods associated with several geographic areas. While they may not have exactly what you’re looking for, they may be able to make some good suggestions for options in the area.