Narrow down the Arizona food scene’s 200 dogueros with 15 featured stops.
Many of America’s great food cities have a signature hot dog that embodies the flavor and character of the region. Detroit has its Coney Dogs. The Windy City has its eponymous Chicago-style hot dogs. And New York’s street cart beef franks are a defining symbol of the Big Apple. Tucson takes its signature hot dog to another level.
Arizona’s second most populated city is known for its deep-rooted culinary traditions that date back more than 4,000 years and take influences from Spanish, Mexican, and Indigenous cultures. Tucson has a widely renowned food scene in the Sonoran Desert, 60 miles from the Mexican border. The first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in the U.S., one of its most beloved and iconic dishes fuses Mexican and American flavors: the Sonoran hot dog.
More than a frankfurter topped with local ingredients, the Sonoran dog is a gastronomic experience — a savory, over-the-top street food with Southwest flavors. A bacon-wrapped beef hot dog is grilled to crispy perfection. It’s then nestled on a bed of pinto beans and topped with diced tomatoes, grilled and raw onions, mustard, mayonnaise, and jalapeño sauce. And it’s all enveloped by a soft bolillo-style bun (referring to the Mexican bread roll). A roasted, blistered güero chile (a sweet, hot yellow caribe pepper) is served on the side.
Courtesy of Jackie Tran / Visit Tucson |
Courtesy of Visit Tucson |
Courtesy of Visit Tucson |
Courtesy of Visit Tucson |
“The beauty of a Sonoran hot dog is that it is about traditions. It’s about what we do with everything in this territory,” says Benjamin “Bennie” Galaz, owner of BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs. “We try to bring all the flavors into one item. We use chiles on everything. We use grilled onions on everything. So with your first bite, you can taste the bun, you can taste the crunch of the hot dog, you can feel the flavor of the pinto bean. It’s a process, a journey.”…