2026 Centurion Award Winner · Tucson · Restaurants
El Charro Café
2026 Centurion Award winner. Best of Tucson Restaurants.
The nation's oldest family-run Mexican restaurant, in Tucson since 1922.
El Charro Café is the 2026 Centurion Award winner for Best Mexican Restaurant in Tucson in Tucson, Arizona, operating since 1922. Selected by published criteria and independently verified. Page last reviewed 2026-06-22.
Why they won
Named best Mexican restaurant in Tucson for 2026 for more than a century of family ownership, its signature sun-dried carne seca, and its place at the heart of Tucson's culinary history.
El Charro Cafe opened in 1922 when Monica Flin began cooking out of her family's downtown home, the stone house her father built in 1896. More than a century later, the Flores family still runs it, making El Charro the oldest Mexican restaurant in the country operated continuously by one family.
Famous for sun-dried carne seca and the chimichanga said to have originated here, El Charro remains a cornerstone of Tucson's Sonoran food tradition.
Highlights
- Founded 1922 by Monica Flin
- Oldest family-run Mexican restaurant in the United States
- Home of carne seca and the original chimichanga
- Named among America's most iconic restaurants
What they offer
- Tucson-style and Sonoran Mexican food
- House specialties: Carne seca, chimichangas, enchiladas and tamales.
Verified profile
Mr. Centurion says“A hundred years on, El Charro is still where Tucson goes for carne seca.”
Winner web icon
El Charro Café may display the 2026 Best of Tucson web icon as part of its verified Centurion Award recognition.
Awarded by the published Centurion criteria.
Read the methodology →
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