Grab a Sandwich

A local torta chain with a handful of Valley stores, this one on McDowell near 26th Street. The tortas are cooked a la plancha or on the grill, and the one to know is the torta ahogada: pork drowned in house chile-tomato sauce, mild, medium or hot.

Chef Doug Robson's Mexican café in the historic Garfield neighborhood, just east of downtown, with a patio and grilled tortas alongside the tacos and chilaquiles. The torta people come for is the Naco: open-faced, with rib eye, avocado and two eggs over easy.

A North Phoenix torta house on 7th Street, where the sandwiches come on soft rolls and in portions big enough to split. In 2020 The Infatuation called these its favorite tortas in the city and pointed people to the Norteña.

A no-frills torta counter on North 24th Street whose namesake El Rey stacks ham, pork sirloin, breaded beef, bacon, chorizo, sausage and egg on one roll.

A west Phoenix family chain that grew out of a Sonoran hot dog truck, with a bacon-wrapped "Sonora," fresh-roasted chiles and a long list of salsas.

A 35th Avenue Sonoran dog spot that Phoenix New Times still counts among its favorites, where the big order is the "Titanic": bacon-wrapped and buried in grilled onions, beans, guacamole and cotija.

A west-side Sonoran dog spot on Indian School Road that Phoenix New Times first wrote up as a truck under a red-and-yellow awning, and that now has a breakfast menu too.