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While we have no one to blame but ourselves, I suppose, since GOOD Magazine accepted nominations for their United States of GOOD Sandwiches project, but they seem to have some confusion about what a sandwich is. For example, they considered huevos rancheros and fish tacos as finalists? I love both menu items, but they’re neither are sandwiches by the basic definitions I’m aware of:

“AZ is the heart of the Southwest and Tex-Mex food is the official food of the desert,” one Arizonan GOOD reader writes in. “That said, our state sandwich should be huevos rancheros with flour (whole wheat, preferably) tortilla. Perfect for any meal and has all the food groups, not to mention it’s importance in Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy.”

As an Arizonan myself, I can tell you that the state doesn’t really have a sandwich. Still, I must disqualify huevos rancheros on the basis of it not being a sandwich under even the most liberal definition of the term. (Also, McCarthy’s trilogy is set mostly in New Mexico and Texas). The fish taco is a good patch for the huevos rancheros problem—though not a sandwich under all definitions of the term, at least you can pick it up with your hands. But while fish tacos are popular throughout the state, Arizona isn’t exactly known for its bodies of water. So I hereby nominate the Navajo taco, a delicious wedding of Arizona’s Mexican and Native American cultural heritage—just take a traditional taco filling and wrap it in warm flatbread. The sandwich also represents the uncomfortable mainstream appropriation of native cultures that has come to define Arizona in recent years (even the name “Navajo taco” is a pretty crude construction). It might not be GOOD, but at least it’s honest.

Isn’t the obvious pick the torta? Throw whatever you want on it (my call: carnitas, always), but here and in our overheated neighbor to the north, you can get a solid torta nearly anywhere. And, at very least, it’s clearly an actual sandwich. Bah.

This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2011.

The editor of the Tucson Weekly. I have no idea how I got here.

7 replies on “The Navajo Taco Isn’t Arizona’s Best Sandwich, Is It?”

  1. Well, hey, and what about this ridiculous statement: “Tex-Mex food is the official food of the desert” ?????????? HELL NO! We are NOT “Tex-Mex” and I heartily disagree that it is the “official” food outside of Texas (and perhaps eastern NM). This person really is geographically, not to mention culinarily, confused!!!!!!

  2. Once again, you are irrevocably incorrect. A torta is not an Arizona invention. It is a Mexican sandwich. Neither are huevos rancheros or tacos Arizona inventions. Both, however, qualify as sandwiches if the definition of sandwich is meat and other fillings on a piece of bread. The Navajo Taco is is also a sandwich by that definition, and, can be credibly called an Arizona invention.

    The correct question therefore, is not whether this is the correct choice, but whether there is any other choice at all. I say no. And to emphasize the point, I’m going home to have one right now.

  3. Wait, where did I say that the torta (or tacos or huevos rancheros) is an Arizona invention? I hope you’re not a lawyer, because your reading comprehension skills could use some work.

  4. Obviously the notion that the sandwich must be uniquely tied to Arizona is implied by the title of “Arizona’s Best Sandwich.” Otherwise, the Vito over at Jimmy John’s would be eligible, no?

    Don’t play semantic games with me, Gibson. You’re bringing a foam bat to a gunfight.

    So there.

  5. So, if you weren’t born in Arizona, you couldn’t be Arizona’s Best Lawyer? I think you’re likely smart enough to look at the list GOOD came up with and realize that a number of the honorees didn’t originate in the state they’re matched up with.

    Tacos are not sandwiches. Delicious, but not sandwiches.

  6. I disagree. Tacos are sandwiches. Just like a hotdog or a hamburger is a sandwich. Bread and meat. What’s more sandwichy than that? I don’t care what GOOD did, really. This is about whether a Navajo Taco can or should be considered Arizona’s Best Sandwich. And I say yes. And that there isn’t a better representative.

  7. Ever had the Tucsonan at McMahons? Mighty tasty, Tucson original, from an independent place and definitely representative of our cuisine.

    Just Sayin

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