Phoenix Munchies

Sonoran hot dogs

If you only eat one thing on this page, make it a Sonoran dog. A hot dog wrapped in bacon, griddled, stuffed into a soft bolillo-style bun that's split on top, then buried in pinto beans, grilled onions, tomatoes, mustard, mayo and jalapeño salsa. It came up from Hermosillo by way of Tucson and it fits a stoned brain perfectly. Salty, smoky, creamy, a little messy. You will need napkins. More than that.

The best ones don't come from restaurants. They come from carts and trucks that set up under a pop-up canopy when the sun drops, with a folding table of salsas, a cooler of Mexican Coke in glass bottles and a line of people who know exactly what they want. That's the format. Embrace it.

El Caprichoso vs. Nogales Hot Dogs

This is the argument every Phoenix stoner has eventually. Nogales Hot Dogs on Indian School Road is the legend, a nights-only stand that has been feeding the 16th Street side of town for years and still pulls a crowd after dark. El Caprichoso, with its best-known cart on North 35th Avenue and a few other spots around the Valley, keeps landing on national best-of lists, and it earned every one of them. It also does the wild versions, with Hot Cheetos or Takis crushed on top, which is either genius or a cry for help depending on how high you are.

Both run evenings into late night and both change hours more than a restaurant would, so check before you drive across town. Better yet, get a ride. More on that in our late-night food guide.

Tacos and Mexican food

The best tacos in Phoenix sit on the big grid streets, in buildings that used to be something else. Look for a mesquite grill smoking out front, a salsa bar with at least five options and a menu board with no English on half of it. You're in the right place.

Asadero Norte de Sonora on North 16th Street, just east of downtown, is the carne asada standard. The meat comes off a mesquite grill and the lengua has a following of its own. Tacos Chiwas on McDowell does Chihuahua-style food with tortillas made from scratch, and the chorizo-and-chicken taco is the one people talk about. Guy Fieri liked it enough to show up twice, which tells you something, though we were here first.

Down in South Phoenix, Cocina Madrigal on Wood Street is a family-run spot (it cooked out of a food truck during a long rebuild after a fire, so check what's open) that once topped Yelp's list of the best places to eat in the whole country. Bring an appetite and some friends. Up north, Los Reyes de la Torta on North 7th Street makes the best tortas in the city, giant sandwiches built on toasted bread with a dozen-plus options and fresh aguas frescas on the side. It won Phoenix New Times' best tortas pick, and it deserves it.

Beyond the names, our honest advice is to just eat at the taqueria closest to you. Phoenix has hundreds. Most of them are good. The one on your corner that you've driven past 400 times is probably better than you think.

Burritos and breakfast burritos

Arizona burritos are flour-tortilla country. Thin, stretchy, slightly blistered tortillas, rolled tight around one or two things that matter, not a rice-stuffed brick. Machaca (dried, shredded beef) is the local move, and it's even better with eggs.

Carolina's Mexican Food on Mohave Street, south of downtown, has been making its own tortillas for decades, and those tortillas are the whole point. The machaca, egg and potato breakfast burrito regularly gets called the best in town, and national lists have caught on too. It's cheap, it's fast and it will cure you.

Someburros is the local chain, started in the East Valley and now all over town, including a spot on North 7th Street in Phoenix proper. It's not a hole in the wall, but it's reliable and the drive-thru is a friend to anyone on the couch at 9 p.m.

Then there are the "-berto's" burrito shops, the yellow-and-red signs on every other corner, a lot of them open around the clock. Every Phoenician has a favorite, a carne asada burrito order and a story. They're not fine dining. They are exactly right at the right moment.

Phoenix pizza

Here's a thing outsiders don't know: Phoenix has one of the most famous pizzerias in America. Chris Bianco started making pies in the back of a grocery store in the late '80s, moved into a historic brick building at Heritage Square downtown, and won a James Beard award as a pizza guy, which basically never happens. Netflix gave him an episode of Chef's Table. Food writers flew in from everywhere.

Pizzeria Bianco is still at Heritage Square on Adams Street, with a second location at Town & Country on 20th Street near Camelback. The Rosa (red onion, rosemary, parmigiano and Arizona pistachios) sounds weird and tastes like a reason to live. The Wiseguy, with fennel sausage and smoked mozzarella, is for the people who need meat. The downtown room is small, so plan a wait. Pane Bianco on Central Avenue is the sandwich-and-bread side of the operation and makes a good stoned lunch.

Cibo on North 5th Avenue does wood-fired pies inside a converted early-1900s bungalow with a patio strung with lights. On the first cool night in October, that patio is about as Phoenix as it gets. Downtown also has a handful of slice shops near the light rail if you just want a fold-in-half slice and a walk.

Pho, banh mi and the west side

West Phoenix, along 19th Avenue and Camelback and out toward 35th and 43rd, has the city's best Vietnamese food, and nobody from Scottsdale knows about it. Good. More for us.

Da Vang on North 19th Avenue is the old reliable, a no-frills room with a huge menu, enormous bowls of pho and broken rice plates. Pho Thanh on West Camelback has been doing it since the late '90s, and the pho with rare steak is the order. Further west, Pho 43 on North 43rd Avenue has been around even longer. All three are in Phoenix city limits, all three are cheap and all three will hit after a sesh in a way nothing else does. Hot broth, lime, basil, sriracha, a ridiculous amount of noodles. On a 115 degree day it sounds insane. Eat it anyway.

Banh mi is the other move. Crusty roll, pâté, pickled carrots, jalapeño, cilantro. Plenty of the west-side Vietnamese spots and Asian markets along Camelback and 19th Avenue sell them, and they make the best road-trip sandwich in the state.

Fry bread and Navajo tacos

Fry bread is a big, puffy disc of dough fried until golden, crisp outside and chewy inside. Eat it plain with honey and powdered sugar, or go savory with a Navajo taco: fry bread piled with beans, ground beef or red chile, lettuce, cheese and salsa. It's tied to a hard history for Native families in Arizona, and it's also one of the most comforting things you can eat.

You'll find fry bread at Native-owned restaurants and stands around the Valley, at powwows and at fairs and festivals all year. Some of the best ones are run out of a trailer or a tiny shop with a handwritten menu. If you see a sign, stop.

Date shakes and something sweet

The date shake is the desert's official milkshake. Medjool dates blended with vanilla ice cream and milk, thick enough to bend a straw, tasting like caramel and brown sugar. The low desert grows a huge share of the country's dates, and you'll find shakes at date farms, roadside stands on the way to California and a few local cafes and ice cream counters around town. If you've never had one, fix that.

Otherwise, Phoenix sweets lean Mexican. Paletas (fruit and cream ice pops) from a paletería, raspados piled with fruit and chamoy, conchas from the panadería, churros from a cart. Find a Mexican grocery store with a bakery case, grab a tray and tongs and go wild. Nobody's judging.

Munchies by area

Phoenix is enormous and the grid makes everything feel 20 minutes away. Here's what's worth it in each part of town. Need help with the neighborhoods themselves? Our neighborhood guides break down every corner.

Before you go

Eat first, then smoke at home, or smoke at home and get a ride to dinner. Do not drive high, and do not sesh in the car in the parking lot while you wait for your order. That's illegal for passengers too, and the parking lot is the least chill place on earth to get questioned. The light rail, a rideshare or a sober friend are all better options, and our guide to where you can actually sesh covers the rest.

Also: hours change. Carts move. Taquerias take random days off. Check before you go, and when the place you wanted is closed, there is always another taco shop two blocks down. That's the beauty of this city. When summer hits, plan around the heat (our seasons guide helps), and if you need something to do after eating, try things to do high in Phoenix.