In the course of looking up places to eat in Tucson, I stumbled upon a much-reviewed place called El Guero Canelo. And then I noticed one of the reviews mentioned something about a hot dog.

I told Stephanie I’d found a Mexican-hot dog fusion restaurant. I’m pretty sure she almost threw up. So I read some more of the reviews, and looked at the pictures, and discovered that this wasn’t just some kind of one-off specialty (like my Quesadilla Dog). Sonoran Dogs were a widespread Tucson thing. How had I never heard of this before!? What else don’t I know?!?

Basically it’s a Mexican chili-dog. To quote NPR:

It starts with a hot dog wrapped in bacon. Then you begin piling on the beans, grilled onions, fresh onions, tomatoes, mayonnaise, cream sauce, mustard and jalapeno salsa.

I knew I had to have one! I also knew Stephanie was not going to get within 10 feet of one. After visiting the Desert Museum, I left her with a fresh baguette (still recovering from a stomach bug) while I went out to BK Carne Asada and Hot Dogs and got me a Sonoran dog.

A key feature is the bun, slit from the top, sort of forming a boat for all the toppings. I was expecting them to explode after the first bite (if not require a fork and knife), much like its chili-dog cousin, but it actually held together quite well. It isn’t as liquid as it looks. I had forgotten about the bacon-wrapped part—that was an extra-sinful surprise. The toppings were good, though I was a little distracted by the mayo.

I think I’ll need to have another to better appreciate the ensemble. It was good, it’s just that it was sort of confusing to my well-worn hot dog taste buds.