Tucson, AZ
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Green corn and red chile are the two Tucson tamales, and December is when the lines form: a Campbell Avenue tamal specialist, a Barrio Anita market making tortillas by hand since 1982, the restaurant that carries on Lerua's recipe, a 1978 St. Mary's Road counter and a south side festival winner. Sourced from the Arizona Daily Star.
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Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Arizona Daily Star. Updated September 2026.
Del Cielo Tamal Restaurant · Campbell Avenue
Herminia Serino's Campbell Avenue restaurant is built around the tamal, and the Arizona Daily Star's guide runs the flavors: red chile beef, chicken in green salsa, green corn, and red chile spinach. The vegan side is unusually long here, the spinach among it, with a seasonal special rotating through. Plates come with rice and beans if a tamal on its own is not enough. Order the red chile spinach and a green corn, and eat in rather than carry out.
Anita Street Market · Barrio Anita
The Arizona Daily Star's tamal guide records that Anita's is back up and running, selling red chile and green corn tamales by the dozen, and that the shop also sells the masa and its red chile sauce for anyone making their own. Jamie Donnelly's profile of the market traces it to 1982, when Grace and Mario Soto took over a Barrio Anita storefront and started making tortillas by hand. Order a dozen red chile tamales, and the shredded beef in red chile sauce wrapped in a giant tortilla that the profile is built around.
El Torero Restaurant · South Tucson
When Lerua's closed in 2019 after decades as the Tucson tamal answer, its sister restaurant kept the recipe. The Arizona Daily Star reports that El Torero still sells Lerua's tamales by the dozen, in green corn, beef or chicken, and that one reader called the green corn the finest in town without qualification. Order a dozen green corn, or sit down for a combo plate. Tamale pie and a veggie tamale pie are on the menu too.
St. Mary's Mexican Food · Menlo Park
This St. Mary's Road counter has been open since 1978 and was among the top comments when the Arizona Daily Star asked readers for tamal suggestions. The red chile burrito is what the shop is known for, but the guide is clear that the tamales are the other reason to stop, made in both red chile and green corn. Order one of each, or a combination plate, which the guide says comes with beans, rice and an assortment of tacos.
Perfecto's Mexican Restaurant · South Side
Perfecto León's south side restaurant has taken Best Overall Tamal at the Casino Del Sol Tamal Festival more than once, which is the credential the Arizona Daily Star's guide leads with here. Dozens are sold for holiday parties, and the signature tamales also turn up inside the combo plates at lunch. Order a dozen ahead for a party, or sit down with the combo plate on South 12th Avenue and start with the tamales.