The best food I’ve had in Tucson, Arizona.
Hola friends. This week, I’m getting into my greatest passion and first love— eating food! Over the holidays, my husband and I traveled to Tucson, Arizona, where my immediate family lives. To be clear, we’re not from there, which is a story for another day. Anyways, coming from Atlanta’s pretty incredible food landscape, it can sometimes be challenging to find really delicious, locally sourced dishes. No shade Tucson, te amo! That being said, my husband and I are foodies. And I mean F-O-O-D-I-E-S. So, we never stop trying to find really great spots when visiting. This past trip, we ventured to a spot recommended by my mom and one that my husband already had saved in Google Maps. With reccos coming from two sources, I had full faith.
Buendía sits on the east side of Tucson, a cozy cafe that seats about 50 people and smells like a marriage of roasted tomatillos and fresh corn tortillas. They don’t take reservations, so either get there when they open or plan to have some way to entertain yourselves while you wait. We were there on a Thursday mid-day, and our wait was about 45 minutes for 4 people. We spent the time at the Honda bike shop around the corner, as my 18-year-old brother currently has quite the street bike obsession.
Boy, when I tell you, this spot was worth every. second. of. the. wait. We started with Café Oaxaqueño, a cinnamony, spiced, sweetened coffee. My family on my dad’s side is from Oaxaca, and nothing beats the cafecito at their restaurants, but this one was pretty yummy. They served the milk on the side, along with a little complimentary cookie. So adorable, I know. I will caution that the coffee comes pretty damn sweet, so if you’re not into that, I would recommend cutting it with some regular coffee, which they have readily available (this is what we did). For food, I ordered enchiladas verdes con queso, a classic. My husband Nick ordered chilaquiles divorciados (meaning half are red sauce, half are green sauce), mom ordered a poblano stuffed with a green chile tamal, and brother ordered enchiladas rojas con queso. Naturally, I tried everyone’s dish and can confirm that they were all slam dunks.
Whenever I’m eating a tomatillo-based salsa, I’m always gauging by one distinct taste— TANG. Tomatillos are a naturally acidic fruit, and that beautiful sweet tang is only accentuated by roasting them in their preparation. If you’re not getting the tang in a verde sauce, it’s likely been diluted with too much broth or water, not enough tomatillos were used, or the tomatillos weren’t great quality. Buendía knocked my socks off with theirs. Perfect tang, sweetness, roasty toasty sabor, and a perfect viscosity. The corn tortillas tasted hand-pressed, and the queso fresco was just the right amount of melted. My ONLY teeny tiny critique would be that the red onion slices on top were pretty thick. Totally down with them being raw, but a thinner slice and more slices would allow the eater to really distribute them better amongst bites. But that’s me nitpicking.
Not only was the food phenomenal, but their whole thing is ‘allegria’, meaning joy or happiness. There are adorable smilies all over the place, and the server even waves a little glass bottle filled with magic puff balls around your table, wishing this joy and happiness upon you. They also gave us a mini one to take home. So wholesome. It's always a plus to me when all of the servers are bilingual, too.
All this to say— if you’re ever in Tucson, por favor, pay a visit to this family-owned Mexican café, Buendía Breakfast and Lunch. This was by far the best food I’ve had in Tucson, Arizona. Let me know if you go!
xoxo, nata
