Best Tamales 2022 | The Tamale Store | La Vida | Phoenix
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Best Tamales

The Tamale Store

Tamales are traditionally a holiday treat, made around Christmastime. But we're glad we can grab this comfort food practically any day of the year at The Tamale Store in north Phoenix. The bright, airy space has a little bit of everything: plenty of seating, shelves featuring Tamale Store-branded salsas and other items, flat-screen TVs, and a mercado area offering frozen tamales to take home. The daily lineup of fresh tamales varies a bit, but we're always happy when the Tex-Mex (ground beef and Monterey Jack cheese), pork red chile, or Arizona cornbread with Colby Jack are options. All of the tamales are soft and delicious — never stale or bland. We like to pick a couple and stick them in a combo meal, pairing them with great side dishes like elote and potatoes with chorizo.

Best Tortas

Los Reyes de la Torta

Tirion Boan

No less a personage than Guy Fieri agrees that the sandwiches at Los Reyes de la Torta are something special. They start with a soft bolillo roll, and then the sky's the limit. The Del Rey is the most popular sandwich, according to the website, and we can confirm it's pretty great — a mix of ham, mozzarella, pork sirloin, breaded beef, and sausage-chorizo omelet, plus tomato, caramelized onions, fresh avocado, and chipotle sauce, it vanquishes all appetites. We're also partial to the Hawaiian, a sweet and savory dish made with ham, pineapple, and pork sirloin, topped with melted mozzarella, queso fresco, and a chipotle dressing. With 15 tortas to choose from made with fresh, quality ingredients, there's a sandwich to everyone's liking.

Best Quesadillas

Taco Chelo

Melissa Fossum

Gaze at a mural of Frida Kahlo and sip on a cold margarita while you devour a quesadilla or three at Taco Chelo. These handheld creations are different from the large ones you're used to, made on your choice of a small corn or flour tortilla folded in half. And like so much in life, the simpler these quesadillas are, the better. The cheese blend melts into the tortilla creating a perfect bite, warm and melty with nothing but queso and carbs. Add carnitas or veggies to the little snack if you'd like, but know that the classic dipped into some red or green salsa is just as good.

Best Chilaquiles

The Bread and Honey House

Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican breakfast food featuring tortilla chips lightly fried and simmered in a sauce, then used as a base for various toppings. At popular Arcadia eatery The Bread and Honey House, the chilaquiles are a delicious mess, a huge portion of tortillas made soft and mouthwatering by fresh guajillo- and pasilla-roasted salsa. They get topped with crema fresca, cotija cheese, sliced onions, and cilantro, plus one egg your way (we like 'em scrambled). The Bread and Honey House gives you a huge portion of chilaquiles, but if you're still looking for more sustenance, try adding a protein like carnitas, bacon, or our pick, savory chorizo. It'll fill you up and make your taste buds sing, a perfect start to your day.

Best Sonoran Hot Dog

Emilio's Tacos & Hot Dogs

Tirion Boan

Metro Phoenix is filled with roadside stands with colorful tents churning out excellent bacon-wrapped hot dogs. But if you're looking to sit down at a restaurant and enjoy a Sonoran-style dog, that's a little harder to find. Enter Emilio's Tacos & Hotdogs. Located on 19th Avenue in a former Dairy Queen, a small team of servers and cooks work the drive-thru window, fry churros, fold burritos, and top baskets of fries with carne asada, guacamole, cheese, and a rainbow of salsas. Best of all, they roll hot dogs in bacon, top them with savory pinto beans, a smattering of tomatoes, and a heavy-handed drizzle of mustard and mayonnaise, then serve them piping hot. Get messy at one of the wooden tables inside the small, brightly colored restaurant, or sit outside on the covered patio. Whether you're from Tucson and miss the Sonoran hot dogs available at BKs or El Guerro Canelo, or you've tried these messy creations on the streets of Sonora, Emilio's dogs stand up to the best.

Best Elote

Gallo Blanco

Jacob Tyler Dunn

There's a difference of opinion in the street-corn-lovers community: Do you like your corn in a cup (which is called esquites), or still on the cob (elote)? Popular central Phoenix eatery Gallo Blanco caters to the cob crowd. Its version of the Mexican snack food is one ear of corn smeared with just the right amount of mayo, then generously dusted with cotija cheese, chile piquin, and smoked paprika. You can slice the kernels off the cob, or dig in face first — hey, that's what napkins are for. The elote is perfectly roasted, fresh, and crisp, and the ideal start to a great Gallo Blanco lunch or dinner.

Best Beans

Taco Boy's

Taco Boy's two Valley locations serve some of the best tacos in town, no question. But when we think about meals we've had there, the dish that sticks in our mind, that we crave, that we tell others about, is ... the beans. Seriously. Think of the many bland piles of refried beans you've eaten in your life, then imagine the opposite of that. Taco Boy's beans are dark, with a smoky flavor. They're mostly smooth, with just a tiny bit of texture. They're incredible fresh or reheated. And they're the perfect side dish to the main offerings at Taco's Boy — we particularly love the al pastor and the carne asada. The Phoenix outpost has a few beer options in bottles, but if you head to Tempe to try the beans and their sidekicks, you can pick a beverage from the beer wall, which offers 20 taps of frothy refreshment.

Best Guacamole

Barrio Café

Allison Young

A bit of Googling quickly brings up the recipe for the guacamole at the iconic and oft-celebrated Mexican restaurant Barrio Café. It seems simple enough — avocado, onion, cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice, salt, and pomegranate seeds (and optional tomato) — and yet nothing we whip up in our kitchen tastes the same as the version that comes out of the kitchen at the central Phoenix eatery. That's fine with us — it gives us an excuse to walk through Barrio Café's doors yet again. We start with the guac, or maybe the queso fundido, then face the hard question — which of Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza's excellent dishes do we choose as an entree? (Spoiler: It's usually her savory, fragrant cochinita pibil.) But while we wait for the main course, we get to feast on the guacamole and chips, each light chip cradling a scoop of chunky green heaven.

Best Mexican Sushi

Sushi Sonora

If you're not familiar with the concept of Mexican sushi, it sounds like an oxymoron — or a joke. But it's neither. While Mexican sushi has lots in common with the conventions of traditional Japanese sushi, there are plenty of traits that make it unique. There's no nigiri or sashimi; the hallmark of Mexican sushi is the deep-fried roll, and the things that go into said rolls can vary wildly from anything you've seen before. At local chain Sushi Sonora, that means the Sushi Dog, a roll with sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and avocado, or a traditional Mexican sushi creation, the Cielo, Mar y Tierra (sky, sea, and land) Roll, which includes chicken, beef, shrimp, cream cheese, and avocado. Our favorite is the Potan Roll, which features crab mix on top of salmon, shrimp, and cream cheese, all topped with a zesty sauce. If you're looking to expand your sushi horizons, Sushi Sonora is the place.

Best Mexican Seafood

Don Cahuamanta

On weekend mornings, the parking lot at Don Cahuamanta is filled with people waiting in line for their favorite menu items. The tiny restaurant, black and white on the outside, with "Bienvenidos" painted in bold letters across the arching doorway, is a neighborhood favorite. Don Cahuamanta specializes in its namesake, manta ray. The Sonora-style restaurant's logo shows a large gray stingray, and it serves the unique meat in rich soups and atop tacos. Inside the tiny restaurant, hungry customers chat exclusively in Spanish, ordering fresh plates of aguachile and smoked marlin tacos. Cold seafood cocktails are also available in large glass goblets or served inside coconuts. Get here early or be prepared to wait at this west-side seafood destination.

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