My husband and I took a family trip for Thanksgiving to visit friends in Tucson, Arizona. We visited once before and looked forward to spending more time exploring the city.

Tucson was the first U.S. city designated a Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO. San Antonio, Texas, is the only other city in the United States to earn the distinction. We had a few bucket-list Tucson culinary items we knew we wanted to cross off during our visit.

Our first culinary stop on our first full day was with Secret Food Tours Tucson. The tour brought us to six different food and beverage spots to sample some of the city’s most unique and iconic dishes, from elote pizza to conchas. My favorite was our second stop at Rollies for a Sonoran hot dog. The classic Tucson dish features a hot dog wrapped in bacon and topped with cheese, caramelized onions, chile verde, mustard, salsa verde and mayonnaise. Besides the incredible food we experienced, we all enjoyed seeing different neighborhoods in the city.

Rollies

On another day of our visit, we chose to explore downtown Tucson, with our first stop for lunch at JoJo’s, in the Old Town Artisans Courtyard. We shared nachos, tater tots and cauliflower wings before venturing into the charming artisan shops. After shopping and sightseeing, we ended our downtown visit with drinks at The Moonstone, the rooftop bar at Graduate by Hilton Tucson.

JoJo’s

The final day of our visit we enjoyed brunch at Snooze. My husband and I ate at one of the Colorado Snooze locations before, and we were excited to return to the excellent brunch spot to conclude our unofficial Tucson food tour. After only two visits, Tucson has cemented itself as one of my favorite food cities in the United States.

— Katie Skrzek, vice president/digital director