Birria Sonoran Hot Dogs Are a Slam Dunk in Mesa

Word on the streets this fall is there's a new birria contender that'll go mano-a-mano against other braised beef-infused ramen and taco favorites with a spicy punch.

Enter the Birria Sonoran Hot Dog.

This new creation can be found at Tacos & Hot Dogs Los Mayitos in Mesa. The restaurant, which opened in 2021, serves both traditional Sonoran recipes and unique dishes.

Raymond Jimenez, a former Sheraton hotel and resort employee turned entrepreneur, combined the Sonoran hot dog with cheese and birria and now serves what could be the first of its dunkable kind in metro Phoenix.

Similar to its counterpart, the birria taco, the birria-topped bacon-wrapped hot dog "is dunked in the consome," Jimenez says. "We have regular customers as test subjects; they tried and loved it. So it'll be a part of our new secret line we are releasing."
For $7, customers can taste seven-hour-long-prepped birria in three to four minutes, thanks to the restaurant's morning meal preps.

"So we start off super early in the morning since we get our deliveries for our meat," Jimenez says. "Because you have to slow cook the birria, and you can't cook it too fast, or the meat won't be tender."

The birria recipe of chuck roast beef slow cooked in oil and water comes from relatives in Tijuana.

"The first batch takes three hours as we add some spices and then let it simmer for an additional four hours with our family chile and spice blend," Jimenez says. "The biggest seller for us is our birria."

Birria can be eaten as a stew with shredded meat, where people dip rolled tortillas into the broth. The slow cooked meat can be used in cheesy quesabirria, rolled tacos, and the ever-trendy birria ramen, a natural fit of adding ramen noodles to the rich broth.

The novel birria and hot dog mashup begins with a traditional Sonoran hot dog, where a sausage is wrapped in bacon and served in a grilled bun.

"Here in Mesa, we haven't found that one Sonoran hot dog with the bread that we like, which is what they use in Sonora," Jimenez says. He looked for the perfect bread throughout the Valley with no luck. Then he found the perfect rolls in Tucson.

"We get it imported here twice a week," he says. "Everything comes here in sheets as bolillo does. We cut it and serve it. We like our bread fresh, we cut it per order and we toast it, as it gives a little bit more flavor."

The bread is a crucial element in the Mesa-born treat, as the it maintains its structure when it absorbs the birria's beef stock.

The mountainous hot dog is then topped with melted Monterrey jack cheese, shredded birria meat, onions, and cilantro.

"I'd also top it with salsa verde, which we make here every two days, it's tomatillo, chile serrano, and other spices that my wife adds to it," Jimenez says.

And if you want it spicier, opt for the red sauce

"People who eat our birria top it with that if they want some heat on the birria adobo. The salsa is made of red Chile de Arbol, tomatoes, and other spices," he says.

Additional salsas, along with veggies and condiments are served in an open salsa bar on ice.

Los Mayitos sells six different Sonoran hot dogs, with a Dogo Regular starting at $4.

Jimenez, along with his wife and daughter, started selling food at a taco trailer in Glendale in 2020 and then moved into the brick-and-mortar spot in Mesa in 2021, with the help of their relatives and in-laws. Together, they are bringing a taste of home to the Valley.

"My wife and daughter are from Navojoa in Sonora," Jimenez says. Navojoa is about 550 miles south of Phoenix, east of the Gulf of California coastline.

"There's a lot of Sonoran hot dogs in that area," he says, "and now they're in Mesa."

Tacos & Hot Dogs Los Mayitos

330 South Gilbert Road, Mesa
623-272-6028
tacoshotdogslosmayitos.com