El Charro Café is a historic three-location
Mexican restaurant based in
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
. It has been owned by the Flores family since its establishment in 1922, making it the oldest Mexican restaurant owned by the same family in the United States. It is also one of the oldest Mexican restaurants in the United States.
A ''
charro
''Charro'', in Mexico, is historically the horseman from the countryside, the Ranchero, who lived and worked in the haciendas and performed all his tasks on horseback, working mainly as vaqueros and caporales, among other jobs. He was ren ...
'' is a type of Mexican horseman.
History
The restaurant was established in September 1922 by Monica Flin, one of Tucson's first businesswomen and the oldest of eight children.
Her parents immigrated to Tucson from France in the 1880s, and Monica's father, Jules Flin, helped build the
Cathedral of Saint Augustine in the city.
Coming back from Mexico after her second husband died, Monica acted as the restaurant's hostess, waitress, and chef simultaneously to operate the one-room restaurant, with some financial assistance from her sister.
In the first months the restaurant was open, Flin had to frequently persuade the neighbor, a Chinese grocer, for provisions, make the food, have the customer pay, and then pay the grocer back for the materials.
The restaurant moved from its original Fourth Avenue location to the Temple of Art and Music, where the
Arizona Theatre Company
The Arizona Theatre Company is an American nonprofit regional theater company operating in Phoenix, Arizona.
History
The Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) was founded by Sandy Rosenthal in 1966 as the Arizona Civic Theatre. It originally performe ...
currently stands, and then moved to a more popular site on Broadway.
Flin is credited as a possible inventor of the
chimichanga
A chimichanga ( , ) is a deep-fried burrito that is common in Tex-Mex and other Southwestern U.S. cuisine. The dish is typically prepared by filling a flour tortilla with various ingredients, most commonly rice, cheese, beans, and a meat, such ...
in the late 1940s or early 1950s, after accidentally dropping a
burrito
A burrito (, ) or burro in Mexico is, historically, a regional name, among others, for what is known as a taco, a tortilla filled with food, in other parts of the country. The term ''burrito'' was regional, specifically from Guanajuato, Guerre ...
into a
deep fryer
A deep fryer (or deep fat fryer), sometimes referred to by the French name friteuse, is a kitchen appliance used to cook foods by full immersion in hot oil—deep frying. The cooking oil (or fats) are typically between temperatures of .
Long ...
. She nearly said a curse that began with "chi", but as there were children around, she quickly changed it to ''chimichanga'', Spanish for
thingamajig.
In 1968, Flin relocated the restaurant to a house she inherited from her parents on Court Street, which is now a part of the
El Presidio Historic District,
as it had to make way for urban development projects like the
Tucson Convention Center
The Tucson Convention Center (previously named the Tucson Community Center) is a multi-purpose convention center located in downtown Tucson, Arizona. Built in 1971, the location includes an 8,962-seat indoor arena, two performing arts venues, a ...
.
In 1972, Flin became very sick and appointed her sister, Zarina Dunn, and her brother-in-law to maintain the restaurant. They had just retired, however, and did not want to handle the restaurant. The couple's daughter (Monica's niece), Carlotta Flores, returned to Tucson from California a few years later to care for the restaurant.
Flin died in 1975, from complications from multiple falls.
Flores was listed on the
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
50 Women Over 50 list in 2021.
An episode of ''
Top Chef: Houston'' was filmed at the restaurant in 2022.
Menu
Menu items were inspired by Sonoroan and Tucson-style Mexican food. This includes
Arizona cheese crisps,
quesadilla
A quesadilla (; ; Mexican diminutive of ''quesada'') is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a tortilla that is filled primarily with cheese, and sometimes meats, spices, and other fillings, and then cooked on a griddle or stove. Trad ...
s,
chimichanga
A chimichanga ( , ) is a deep-fried burrito that is common in Tex-Mex and other Southwestern U.S. cuisine. The dish is typically prepared by filling a flour tortilla with various ingredients, most commonly rice, cheese, beans, and a meat, such ...
s,
queso flameado
Queso flameado (), also known as queso fundido or choriqueso, is a dish of hot melted cheese and spicy chorizo that is often served flambé. Often compared to cheese fondue, it is a party dish; it is popular at cookouts and in restaurants as an ...
, shrimp
ceviche
Ceviche, cebiche, sebiche, or seviche () is a cold dish consisting of fish or shellfish marinated in citrus and seasonings. Different versions of ceviche are part of the culinary cultures of various Latin American countries along the Pacific O ...
,
stuffed mushrooms,
quesabirria,
nachos
Nachos are a Tex-Mex dish consisting of tortilla chips or '' totopos'' covered with cheese or chile con queso, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicken), vegetables ( ...
,
fajita
A fajita (; ), in Tex-Mex cuisine, is strips of any grilled meat, optionally served with strips of peppers and onions usually served on a flour or corn tortilla. The term originally referred to skirt steak, the cut of beef first used in the di ...
s,
enchilada
An enchilada (, ) is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a savory sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with various ingredients, including meats, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, ...
s,
tamale
A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...
s, (including ones made out of
hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...
)
chile relleno
The chile relleno (, literally "stuffed chile") is a dish in Mexican cuisine that originated in the city of Puebla. In 1858, it was described as a "green chile pepper stuffed with minced meat and coated with eggs".
The most common pepper used is ...
s,
taco
A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn tortilla, corn- or Flour tortilla, wheat-based tortilla topped with a Stuffing, filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and fing ...
s,
burrito
A burrito (, ) or burro in Mexico is, historically, a regional name, among others, for what is known as a taco, a tortilla filled with food, in other parts of the country. The term ''burrito'' was regional, specifically from Guanajuato, Guerre ...
s, and a burger. Soups include
meatball soup,
pozole
Pozole (; from ) is a traditional soup or stew from Mexican cuisine. It is made from hominy with meat (typically chicken or pork), and can be seasoned and garnished with shredded lettuce or cabbage, chili peppers, onion, garlic, radishes, avoca ...
,
caldo de queso
Caldo de queso is a traditional queso (cheese) soup made in places in Hermosillo, Sonora (north Mexico).
The soup is made with boiled water, diced potatoes, onions, tomato, green chiles and oregano. Tomato puree or dehydrated chicken broth ma ...
, and
tortilla soup
Tortilla soup () is a traditional Mexican soup containing fried corn tortilla. Although the exact origin of tortilla soup is unknown, it is particularly common in the Mexico City area in Mexico. Traditional tortilla soup is made with chicken b ...
. Alcoholic drinks are also offered. As for desserts, the restaurant serves
flan,
fried ice cream,
sopaipilla
A sopaipilla, sopapilla, sopaipa, or cachanga is a kind of fried pastry and a type of quick bread served in several regions with Spanish heritage in the Americas. The word sopaipilla is the diminutive of sopaipa, a word that entered Spanish from ...
and
churro
A churro (, ) is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, made with choux pastry dough piped into hot oil with a piping bag and large closed star tip or similar shape. They are also found in Latin American cuisine, Philipp ...
s with chocolate,
tres leches cake
A tres leches cake (; , or ), ''dulce de tres leches'', also known as ''pan tres leches'' () or simply ''tres leches'', is a sponge cake originating in North, Central, and South America soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed ...
, and ''
Café de olla''. The restaurant's signature dishes are its chimichangas and
carne seca
:''See also carne-seca, a Brazilian dried meat.''
Carne seca ("dried meat" in Spanish) is a type of dried beef used in Mexican cuisine.
Regional variants
Northern Mexico
In northern Mexican cuisine, particularly the states of Chihuahua, ...
.
The carne seca's beef is sun-dried in a cage on the downtown location's roof.
Many of the restaurant's menu items are sold on
Goldbelly.
References
External links
Official website
{{commons category, El Charro Café
1922 establishments in Arizona
Mexican restaurants in the United States
Restaurants established in 1922
Restaurants in Arizona