Things I Miss About Tucson: Food

I ran into a post the other day that was praising a local Mexican food chain up here in Seattle, Taco Time, and I felt a pang at the realization that of all the things I miss about Tucson (apart from the people I grew close to during my time there, who I miss even more dearly), the culinary treats the city offered are pretty high on the list. I was gonna just post a snippet in reply, but I decided I needed a more thorough response, so here we are. After some reflection, these are the things I miss about the Tucson Food Scene, even though, given the nature of the business and the fact that I haven't been back in almost a decade, many of these places are now closed. Let's start with the less obvious.

Sandwiches - Tucson is an extraordinary city for sandwiches. First there are the local chains: Eegee’s (Flavor of the Month Eegee with a grinder and chipotle ranch crinkle cut fries in the crisp AC was an elite summer afternoon) and Beyond Bread (out of whose dumpsters I would regularly eat when I was on hard times, 10/10 source of dumpster food). Then there are all the indie sandwich joints. The Reuben at Bison Witches (get it? Buy-Sandwiches?) is the reason I fell in love with the sandwich. The Anasazi at Baggins (carved chicken, provolone, seasoned parm, and green chili). Daggwood (RIP) where they would stack a sandwich so tall it looked like the OG cartoon, four meats, three cheeses, unlimited sauces and veggies, it was a dream. Luke’s Italian beef. Bumstead’s Bat Out of Hell (jalepeño cream cheese meatloaf). Apparently they have kareoke now? And that’s just scratching the surface.

Ethiopian - It mat seem odd, but Tucson has a strong immigrant community, and there are a number of cusines I was surprised to discover I deeply loved. Zemam's did things right, and I’ve had a hole in my life since I left that immaculate little spot. I think about the jumbo platter with five meat dishes and four veggie dishes on the enormous sheet of injera at least once a week.

Late night bar food - I’ve been to dives all over the country, and there are excellent late night dive bars all over the place. There was something Iconic about Grill (RIP). I mean, just look at this exquisite rant they included on the menu:

I could go on at length about the legendary experiences we had at Grill, but then this would be an adventure blog and not a food blog. Suffice to say, the Haystack (massive plate/bowl of fries topped with sausage gravy, a burger patty and two fried eggs) was peak two am after the bars closed food.

Early morning greasy spoons - There are a ton of these little diners around the Old Pueblo, and I made a point of visiting as many of them as possible. There are so many that do really excellent work, but I have to shout out my personal favorite: Bobo’s. I’ve been to a lotta divey diners, all across the country, and not a one of them beats Bobo’s for value, with the $2 early bird special of eggs, home fries, and toast and the endless coffee refills. If you're interested in spending more than a fiver, the other food is also great. I remember when I splurged for the biscuits and gravy and coasted on bliss for the rest of the morning.

Now, let's get to the heart of the matter: the Mexican food.

To start with there is nothing quite like a Thursday night where you spend a half hour browsing the stacks at Bookman's before making a couple selections and using store credit to check out, then grabbing two tamales for $5 from the lady out front before going home for a magnificent evening.

Cheap Mexican food - I’ve driven back and forth across this country at least a dozen times, what with living on the opposite coast from the rest of my family for a decade and working for 15 years as a traveling youth soccer coach. I’ve tried Mexican food everywhere. The 24 hour Mexican food culture in Tucson is elite, unique, and diverse. Each taco truck is a distinct offering, different combinations of meat and tortillas, sometimes including cheese, some have churros, some have hot dogs, some have the Mexican Cokes, some have horchata. There are the drive-through joints: Los Betos, Filibertos, Rilibertos, Rigobertos, Alibertos, Nicos. The menus are almost uniformly the same, and you can pull up to any of them at 2:30 in the morning and get a consistently excellent bacon, potato, egg, and cheese burrito the size of your forearm. With the red sauce and the green sauce? Absolutely divine late night meal.

High end Mexican food - While I've had Mexican food in most states in the Union, I’ve had culinarily prestigious Mexican food in fewer places, as a youth soccer coach doesn’t usually make luxury food money. I’ve had top end Mexican food in LA, DC, Chicago, Houston, Scottsdale, and Tucson. Cafe Poca Cosa (RIP, closed with the pandemic) was the absolute pinnacle of all of them, and it wasn’t particularly close. Since you can’t go for yourself and experience the glory, lemme tell you a bit about the place. First of all, it was matriarchal, in a big way. Like, refused to let men in the kitchen kinda way. The woman who started it began at a food cart downtown, then got a little hole in the wall before finally upgrading to a posh spot in the heart of downtown. The menu changed daily based on what she could get at the market, and was written on chalkboards in Spanish, and would even update over the course of the day. The best option they served was called the Plato de Poca, and it consisted of three dishes—usually one vegetarian, one beef, one chicken/fish—each of the chef’s choosing, and each likely to be up for consideration as the best you've ever had in your life of whatever type of food it ended up being.

Finally, specifically, Sonoran Hot Dogs - I like the Seattle dog, big fan even, but nothing beats a good Sonoran hot dog (hot dog, wrapped in bacon and grilled, bolilo-style bun, topped with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, and some kind of sauce, like mayo/mustard or jalapeño salsa). Complete with the grilled chile. And no, before you suggest it, I cannot make one for myself, as a combination of proper ingredients and cooking equipment are not available to me at the moment.