There’s only one place to get true Sonoran food, and it just happens to be one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Not to be confused with food from Sonora, Mexico, the Sonoran Desert,-inspired dishes are forged in the Valley of the Sun. After all, over 2,000 plants grow in the area, which covers 120,000-square-miles across Arizona, California, and the Mexican states of Baja and Sonora.
Thanks to this unique stretch of land, Phoenix is home to countless restaurants honoring traditional foods and elevating ingredients into an array of tasty dishes. Whether you’re at a pop-up or restaurant, look for ingredients such as tepary beans, mesquite, chiltepin, and nopales to embrace the wonders of these Sonoran flavors.
Cactus Cubano at The Gladly
Indigenous and Mexican people in the Sonoran Desert have eaten the pads of the prickly pear for over 10,000 years, and The Gladly continues this tradition with a twist on the Cubano sandwich. The Gladly’s version features Iberico ham smoked with cactus, pepperjack and swiss cheeses, salt and vinegar chicharróns, roasted green chile dijonnaise, and pickled nopales. This dish has limited availability, and can only be procured on Thursday or Friday. 2201 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix, thegladly.com
Tepary Bean Huarache by Juntos
This favorite pop-up serves Mexican-inspired dishes made from local, heirloom, and sustainable ingredients. The Tepary Bean Hurache perfectly showcases this dedication. The grilled, oval-shaped heirloom corn masa is topped with white and black tepary beans, salsa de tomate, queso fresco, pickled red onion, and finished with a cilantro sprig.
The tepary bean has been cultivated for thousands of years by the Akimel O’Odham and Tohono O’Odham people, but in the late 1970s neared extinction. Ramona Farms stepped to the forefront of tepary bean production and education in Arizona, and Juntos uses the beans in many dishes. Soon, fans will be able to find Juntos’ food on a regular basis at Süss Pastries. 5341 N. 7th Ave., Phoenix, juntosphx.wixsite.com
Bianco Ragu at Matilda’s All-Day Cafe
If you’re at the newly opened Matilda’s All-Day Cafe for dinner, consider the Bianco Ragu with rigatoni. The noodles come from Sonoran Pasta Co., which uses heritage Sonoran wheat grown and stone-milled by Hayden Flour Mills. The sauce compliments the pasta perfectly is a house-made pork ragu crafted with white wine, and pecorino romano.
Behind the dish we find chef Matt Celaya, founder of wood-fired pop-up Mas Amable, pizza pop-up Irma, and co-owner of Cream of the Crop. He was tapped by Matilda’s and First Place Coffee founder Devon McConville to run the kitchen, whipping up the Sonoran pasta during weekly dinner service on Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. 822 N. 6th Ave., Phoenix, matildasallday.com
Taco de Nopal at Linger Longer Lounge
Erick Pineda runs the weekend brunch, Requinto, at Linger Longer Lounge, and has a new dining concept called Tololoche. At a recent pop-up with Juntos and Cactus Cru, Pineda shared the Taco de Nopal, featuring cured cactus in a blue masa batter with avocado crema, cotija cheese, pickled chiles, onion, cilantro, and salsa de molcajete.
It runs as a special at Requinto, alongside other dishes imprinted with the Sonoran Desert, such as Tecolota and Guerrero Style White Pozole. Find Tololoche at Resonance on April 24, and at a collaboration with Kid Sister on May 14. 6522 N. 16th St. #6, Phoenix, no website
Chorizo Verde Focaccia Pizza at Barrio Bagel & Slice
Don Guerra and Oren Molovinsky founded Barrio Bagel & Slice to continue focusing on local heritage grains and Sonoran Dessert pizza toppings. The Chorizo Verde Focaccia Pizza comes laced with garlic white sauce, mozzarella cheese, chorizo, pickled nopales, and green chilis. The creative pie also comes topped with cilantro, grated cotija cheese, and chiltepin-infused salt. The sourdough-leavened focaccia, never an afterthought at Barrio, used flour from Hayden Flour Mills and BKW Farms. 689 N. Arizona Ave., Gilbert, barriobagelandslice.com
Mesquite Tres Leches at Futuro Coffee
Augustina Fekete
It’s no surprise that Futuro coffee, part of Palabra, offers pastries celebrating and expanding the flavors of the Sonoran Desert. Taste this passion in the Mesquite Tres Leches, which uses mesquite pods to give the dessert a slight spiced-caramel flavor.
Not only is this cake available, but every weekend the pastry case is taken over by GHIȚǍ, Augustina Fekete’s Romanian-French bakery project. Find this treat other mesquite desserts at Palabra’s dinner event series, and a rotation of other GHIȚǍ treats every weekend. The line up often includes items such as Chocolate Medjool Date Mesquite cookies and choux buns filled with mesquite tahini crème mousseline and topped with black sesame craquelin. 909 N. 1st St., Phoenix, palabraphx.com/futuro
