Mexican Food in Tucson

A

akivory

Joined
Feb 5, 2001
Messages
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Every year in February I make my annual pilgrimage to The Gem Show in Tucson. I always have to make a pig of my self eating Mexican food. It has to be the best in the US. It seems to get better as you get closer to the border and I live a long way from the border.
Do any of you locals have restaurants you can reccomend ?
 
My favorite is the original Casa Molina on Speeday near Wilmot. Big bull in front (you can see this bull if you watch the end of "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"). El Charro is pretty good too (there's 2 of them, one in downtown near TCC). La Placita (Swan/ Ft Lowell) was good, but not great, and rather pricy. Los Betos and Nico's are good fast food (far better than Del Taco or Taco Bell). These are open 24 hours, which is fantastic when you've got a craving at 3am. Stay away from Viva Burrito. Horrible place.

If you feel like pizza, stop by my store (Speedway/Tucson Blvd) and I'll hook you up, and we can scare all the customers away.

If you for some reason must buy a knife while you're down here, the best place is Bladerunner on Prince/Fairview.
 
...you might want to take a short drive South on I-19 (?) past Green Valley to just south of Tubac on the East side of the Frontage Rd...

Wisdom's Mexican Restaurant has some of the best Mexican Food that I've enjoyed in a very long time... It's been around a long time, is kind of a local hangout, still run by the same family. And, despite the heavily tourist/shopping influences of nearby Tubac, Wisdom's as of several weeks ago still has delicious, authentic food.

By the way, I recommend their dessert Burro - order it at the beginning of your meal - the fresh fruit filled, deep-fried burrito is a sinfully delicious end to a great meal...
 
My mouth is watering. Thank you Planterz. Do you ever go to any of the wholesale shows? I have been attending the show for the last fifteen plus years and use the trip as an excuse to head south and thaw out. I used to set up and sell but that is no fun so I bring stuff down to sell to other fossil dealers. I will stop in and say hi.
 
Planterz has his thumb on the pulse here. I first went to Casa Molina in 1963. Kolb Rd. was the edge of town and Tanque Verde was dirt.
For the Gem Show crowd I must suggest the finest restaurant in town,
Cafe Poca Cosa at Scott and Broadway at the old Santa Rita Hotel ( Clarion now). Suzanne , the owner and chef is a Master. The food is not as much Sonoran as Mexico City style. As good a meal as anywhere in the USA I have eaten. Get the Plato Poca Cosa. It is the chefs choice of 3 menu items. The menu changes daily so I let the cooks choose. Never have I been disappointed. Go at lunch if you can to save a few bucks. The menu is the same but is cheaper than the dinner prices.
 
I should mention that there's several Casa Molinas in town, and they're all good. But the original is the best.

I've heard of Poca Cosa, but haven't eaten there. From what I've heard, it's Mexico City fare is completely different than what people think of "Mexican" food.
 
From Epicurious.com list of 10 best soups in America http://www.epicurious.com/restaurants/best_eats/soup?mbid=RF

Pico de Gallo: Corn Cocktail
2618 South 6th Avenue, South Tucson, Arizona
520-623-8775
Coctel de elote (corn cocktail) is not the sort of libation its name suggests. It is served in a large Styrofoam cup like something you'd drink; but the cup is filled with an extraordinary stew of warm corn kernels, drifts of soft melted cheese, hot chili, and lime. You spoon it up like some electrically spiced farmhouse chowder that combines the earthiness of corn with the zest of lime and pepper. Like everything else dished out by this ultracasual true-Mex eatery in South Tucson, corn cocktail is utterly homespun, made from an old Delgado family recipe.
 
Pico de Gallo ???.

Interesting, surely it varies by region, here in Mexico city, the corn cocktail you describe is called "Esquite", it can be had with cheese as mentioned or with cream and even mayonnaise. "Pico de Gallo" is a name given to several different things, it can be a sauce or a salad or a fruit cocktail, with pieces of "Jicama" (some kind of bulbous root, white and very fresh, not too tasty with a crunchy texture, sorry I don´t know how to call it in English) and also fruit or cucumber or tomato cut in cubes or long pieces, served fresh with lemon and chili powder.

I´ve been to a couple of fine Mexican food places in the USA, but that was over 30 years ago in Los Angeles, never in Arizona.

Luis
 
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