I caught Jacks sitting in Café Passé on a beautiful, late summer afternoon. You can’t see it very well in this photo, but she was wearing a rad hxc vintage shirt. I loved the contrast of that shirt with her soft leather maryjanes and those beautiful ochre jeans (I have a thing for colored jeans in general, actually). What a badass.
Once smothered in guacamole, this hot dog from Sammy el Sinaloense is ready to be devoured by yours truly.
I have my vices, but I like to think of myself as a relatively healthy eater. I mean—and let’s be honest with each other here—to eat “relatively” healthily isn’t that difficult these days if the bar is set at an all-American diet of processed meat and cheese, corn-based products of all kinds, and sugar sweet bevs. So, yeah. Compared to that guy over there, I eat like a friggin’ hippy. So… Whose idea was the Sonoran hot dog!? Jesus! I’d thought my friend was a god-given savior when he introduced me to the Chilean completo, but that has, what? Some mayo and guacamole on top of a regular hot dog. Big deal. The Sonoran hot dog, my friends—as you all well know!—is a whole different beast. I think it may single-handedly defeat my attempts to eat well where goat cheese, Doritos, macaroni and cheese, and pupusas con queso have all failed.
The hot dog (pre-guacamole) & accompanying bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed chile at Sammy el Sinaloense.
I’ve always had a little thing for hot dogs. Where I’m from (Maine), I’ve always appreciated the impulse to butter and grill a hot dog bun. It adds a nice touch. But I could resist those hot dogs. I could admire them from afar and then go home and cook myself up a nice, healthy lunch, with the hot dog temptation but a distant memory. So why, oh why, did some perverse and dark genius need to come up with the idea of wrapping a hot dog in bacon? Seriously. Goodbye, salad. Sayonara, veggie stir-fry. Rice and beans, hasta luego. I will not cook you, I will not eat you, and you can take your healthfulness and presence of necessary nutrients and shove ‘em. I want a goddamn Sonoran hot dog and I want it now. Yup, with a Mexican Coca Cola. Thank you and goodnight.
Okay—on a more practical note, where should I be going to get the best Sonoran hot dog? So far, being the pathetically recent newcomer to Tucson that I am, I’ve only gotten to sample one man’s take on this delicious, calorie-laden excuse for a meal. Taqueria Sammy el Sinaloense (corner of Grant & Country Club, open 10am to 7pm most days except Sundays) makes a damn good Sonoran hot dog, but is someone doing it better? (I’ll add that in my ignorance I find that highly unlikely, because not only is the hot dog wrapped in bacon at Sammy’s, but the hot dog is accompanied by a hot blanco chile stuffed with cheese… And wrapped in bacon. Goddamn. Also they have limonada and horchata filled with such homemade-y goodness that I don’t even crave Mexi Coke. But I’m probably only illustrating my ignorance here. There must be dozens of places in this city vying for the title of Best Sonoran Hot Dog.* Annnnnd. I kinda want to try them all.) Show me the way! Let us go forth and eat some damn dogs!
*And I happen to live basically around the corner from one of El Guero Canelo’s locations, speaking of Best Sonoran Hot Dogs for the last million years anyone’s ever voted on anything, ever… So once I manage to slough off my prematurely-developing loyalty to Sammy El Sinaloense, I’ll check that out, for sure.
This past Tuesday, the venue Topaz hosted band Dream Salon (of the Pacific Northwest) and rounded out the night with performances by locals Ohioan, Sam Christopher, and Death Moth Family Band. Pictures below (in no particular order, sorry—and I’m also sorry that I’m such a shitty photographer). Also, check out the exclusive mix posted on Topaz’s website, featuring songs by Dream Salon and Death Moth Family Band, as well as other performers at Topaz, both past & to come. Finally, stay tuned for an even-more-exclusive-than-Topaz’s-exclusive-mix-interview (in other words, an interview) with Krysta & Joel, the stupid cool (that’s a compliment) founders/creative directors/artistes extraordinaires/brains behind Topaz. Chyeah!
P.S. Lots of photos of June, of Death Moth Family Band, who is super rad! Hopefully gonna be interviewing her, too, at some point in the near future… Stay tuned.
I try not to shy away from eating out solo, especially when a reticence to do so might stand in the way of me enjoying some damn good food. The other day I had an hour to kill before work, so I headed up the street to have lunch at Maya Quetzal, a spot I’d had my eye on practically since the day I’d arrived in Tucson.
A lot of entrees at Maya Quetzal are battered and fried. They have pupusas (only my favorite goddamn food ever) and chile rellenos, as well as this ridiculous-sounding appetizer, called rellenitos de platanos, consisting of plantains stuffed with cheese, deep-fried, and served with chipotle mayonnaise oh my god does that not sound amazing!? I resisted it all and went with an option that wasn’t fried, or covered in cream, or stuffed with cheese: the chile rostizado. Was it healthy? Meh. Was it delicious? Most definitely. The chile rostizado is an Anaheim chile stuffed with a mixture of potato, onion, garlic, mushroom, and tomato; the whole thing is topped with a mild melted cheese and a smooth tomato sauce. Rounding out my plate at Maya Quetzal were black beans, short-grain rice, and a small salad of shredded green and purple cabbage.
I was surprised that the chile retained a bright flavor even after being cooked until it was soft and pulpy. The flavor of the chile was rounded out nicely by the earthy, fuller flavors of the mushrooms and cheese. The mushrooms also added a mouthy—almost meaty—texture and flavor to the filling. The potatoes were cooked until they were incredibly soft, and they were well-seasoned with garlic and onions. The tomato sauce was little more than a watered-down paste, but as a tangy complement to the flavors of the stuffed chile it worked well.
Like the tomato sauce, the sides were unremarkable. I hadn’t eaten much of the chips and salsa that had been delivered to my table as I’d sat down (not because they weren’t delicious—the salsa was spicy and the chips were crunchy—but rather to save room for the main course), and I was glad to have the salsa to pour over my beans—literally spicing them up. The beans and rice, once augmented by the addition of the salsa, were decent. The cabbage salad was bland, but its crunch and freshness offered a nice complement to the softer, richer textures and flavors of the rest of the meal.
I got the impression that the woman waiting my table was also the dishwasher and the chef; accordingly, the service at Maya Quetzal was brusque. The overall atmosphere of the restaurant was less cozy than I would have liked—the high ceilings and the cool, lime-green walls didn’t work for me. Perhaps at dinner time, when I assume the place is fuller with patrons, the space might seem more intimate and welcoming.
Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Maya Quetzal, and I’ll be back in the future to try out another one of their intriguing dishes (probably the rellenitos de platanos…).
Revolutionary Grounds’ back patio.
Prickly pear tea and books. Lots of books.
A seriously delicious prickly pear-black iced tea. I wish I were richer; I would’ve bought a larger size! But at $1.75, the 12 oz. was pricey enough for me (refills are 50¢). At least I know my money’s support a radical* local business. Next time I come in here I want to drop some of my tip earnings on one of Revolutionary Grounds’ well-selected books. For better or for worse, I want to read every single title they carry… It’s overwhelming (and inspiring).
Socialist and progressive art, accessories, and ephemera. And more books.
*Get it!? It’s a pun… (Like “Revolutionary Grounds.” Another reason I love this coffee shop. I love puns!)
“Hiatus? So soon!?” you (=my already-devoted followers, aka my parents; hi, guys!) ask. “From the looks of that picture, it seems like you’ve just been stuffing your face on junk food and drinking an ungodly number of Miller High Lifes, Miss Zócalo Hannah,” you continue (sorry, Mom & Dad, it definitely wasn’t me who drank all of those by myself, promise!).
But I protest. I have simply been acquainting myself with a certain slice of Southwestern culture; I have not been neglecting my duty as Zócalo Hannah to make myself intimately acquainted with this silly, beautiful city. You’ll notice in this post’s photo that saladitos and Takis (the mind-bogglingly spicy ones) are featured prominently, i.e. I was learning a lot about Tucson, okay!?! Jesus, give me a break.
But actually, totally seriously, my camera’s battery died, and it was only at that point that I realized I’d left my camera battery charger in Maine. Wicked smaht (as we would say in Maine. We don’t do r’s…). So I had to wait a week for that to get shipped to me = the lull in the blog posting. Although mad kudos n’ shit to my camera battery for lasting over a month without being charged! But now my camera is back in action and my days off (I work at a café) are getting booked up with cool interviews and photo shoots that I’m gonna share with you guys. I’ll also be hitting the streets to find more stylish lads and ladies to be featured in my street style posts, and I’ll continue attempting as best I can to document my new life here in Tucson! Keep checking back for new posts, or follow me on Twitter (@HannahZocalo) to find out when I’ve posted somethin’ new.
Tiffany Rose. I spotted Tiffany Rose outside of Epic Café and had to ask — where are you headed? She looked so fly. Lo and behold, she was headed to work. I loved the details of her outfit: the giant hoops through big gauges, neon-bright nails, and, of course, the fact that she was biking.
Mixin’ drank at ze Wilko.
I looooove happy hours. What a great idea! Start drinking too early = getting to bed at a reasonable hour because you’re too tired by 10 PM to stay out any longer = bright eyed and bushy-tailed at 8 AM for work the next morning… AND the drinks are cheap. Beautiful in so many ways.
Ever since I moved to Tucson I’d had my eye on Wilko as somewhere I wanted to check out, but with my rather meager food budget I’d figured I’d have to put it off ’til mis padres came to town. Enter: happy hour! About a week ago, my coworkers and I found out that Wilko has happy hour every single day from three ’til seven PM. “Whhhhat?” we said, collectively, in a moment of eerie groupthink. (That never happened.) So, of course, we decided we had to go.
Between the three of us, my coworkers and I sampled several draft beers ($2 off each), which were all fantastic. But Wilko’s strength lies with its cocktails. My friends and I tasted the Hoodoo bash, which combines red wine with sherry, cinnamon, cucumber, and citrus for a flavor that’s both warm and crisp; the Whiskey Ginger Vinegar, an updated take on, duh, the whiskey ginger, served with raw ginger and a raspberry balsamic syrup; and the Pisco Sour, which comes off of the New “Classics” section of the Wilko drink menu. We were not disappointed, and we’ll be back (for happy hour, that is. Still can’t afford the food!).
For more info about the drink scene at Wilko, keep an eye out for an interview with Rory O’Rear, one of two head bartenders at Wilko, which you’ll find in Zocalo’s October print issue and online. Yeeeeeeeh.
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