Located a mere 70 miles from the Mexico-United States border, Tucson, Arizona is brimming with immigrants who brought over authentic Sonoran recipes from their homeland down south, and Mi Nidito is as good as it gets. The restaurant is celebrating its 70th year in operation this year, and it's as popular as ever because it's been doing things the same way for all this time.
All of the staples you would expect at a Mexican restaurant are on the menu here, but what sets Mi Nidito (Spanish for "my little nest") apart is the quality of everything and the amount of care they put into making it. For example, the refried beans that you see on the plate above are made from scratch every morning and served to you hot, fresh and topped with cheese. They are quite simply the best thing about eating at Mi Nidito...but they're far from the only amazing thing.
The dish I ordered included, along with the beans, a chicken taco, a cheese enchilada and a beef tamale, plus a heap of lettuce and tomato. Everything on the plate was made to perfection. The flavors work together so well, mixing the cheese, meats and red sauce together to form a perfect combination that simply can't be beat.
The most accurate thing I can say about this is that I've been around for 24 years, and I've not found a Mexican meal that has topped Mi Nidito. Taco Bus in Tampa is right up there with it, but the plethora of meals available put Mi Nidito ahead by the tiniest of margins.
Speaking of a plethora of food, what I got isn't even the biggest thing on the menu at Mi Nidito. That would be the President's Plate, so named because in 1999, Bill Clinton visited Mi Nidito and asked the restaurant to load up a plate for him with their best dishes, because the president had a pretty big appetite that day.
So the restaurant put together a dish that included a chile relleno, a chicken enchilada, a beef tamale, a bean tostada and a shredded beef taco. Clinton devoured the whole thing, and from then on, the President's Plate has been a Mi Nidito staple. They even have the President's booth to commemorate where Clinton enjoyed his meal, which is open for customers.
The atmosphere is pretty awesome, you're eating at a Mexican institution in a city known for its Mexican cuisine. I really can't recommend this place highly enough. If you find yourself in Tucson and only have enough time for one meal, make it Mi Nidito.
Recap
Time to go: Lunch or dinner. Mi Nidito is closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Wait during my visit: Oh boy. The wait is very lengthy. Once you get in, you're going to wait, and wait, and wait for a table. However, if things go your way, this wait does have the potential to be an enjoyable one. If you're fortunate enough to be there while owner/general manager Jimmy Lopez is working and he gets a minute, I highly recommend starting a conversation with Jimmy.
A word about Jimmy: Jimmy is one of the most attentive and personable men in the restaurant business, period. He's the grandson of the founders of the restaurant, and he treats every customer like the most important person in the restaurant. As I explained, when I visited, Mi Nidito was packed. The wait time was 45 minutes, and the restaurant had the potential to be chaos.
Didn't matter to Jimmy. Despite the fact that I had never been to Mi Nidito before, giving him my name for my reservation was all Jimmy needed to remember it for the rest of the night. Even after I had completed my meal, Jimmy still addressed me as if we'd been friends for years. I left one of my best tips ever that night, in large part because of Jimmy.
Location: You can find Mi Nidito at 1813 S. 4th Avenue in Tucson, Ariz. Be careful because Tucson uses numerical designations for more than just avenues.
Parking: There's not much, but you can find a place. If it's busy, though, it's going to be tricky.
Website: Mi Nidito
Signature items: President's Plate, refried beans
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dan Angell, and I'm a sportswriter in Davenport, Iowa. Ever since graduating college and taking my first job in Idaho, I've discovered that in addition to sports, I love both travel and food. When they're together, there's almost no better experience, especially because I can usually involve a sporting event, fulfilling all of my passions.
When I first discovered Man vs. Food, I was intrigued to learn about the specialty foods of each city that appeared on an episode. I had always loved finding specialty foods in each location, but in most places, it was simply a generic food, with no idea what was the best that served it or what the signature dish even was in some cities. For instance, I'd never heard of a Juicy Lucy, a Minneapolis staple, or coffee milk, served in Rhode Island. Thanks to MvF and some of my own research, I had a guide to what I wanted and where to get it, and that led to me deciding to try visiting some of these iconic restaurants whenever I could.
As that continued, naturally, some friends started to get envious of the places I was able to see (thank you, Idaho State basketball beat) and the foods I was able to try. After hearing about several of them, one asked me to start taking pictures of the places I was visiting and post them online. Step two had been taken, and I began taking pictures in Tucson, Arizona, one year after getting the job in Idaho.
That was when I realized that trying these places had developed into more than just pictures for my friends. It had become a real hobby, and as the show kept visiting new places, I saw more and more things I wanted to try. Travel Channel followed Man vs. Food with their 101 Best Places to Chow Down, giving me even more restaurants that I wanted to experience for myself. Step three was the formation of my map, keeping track of every place I'd visited.
Now that I'm approaching having reached 70 of the show's restaurants, it's time to describe my experiences and share them with the public. That's what this blog will be.
Each post will be about a restaurant I've had the pleasure to visit, some on MvF, some from the Chowdown Countdown and some from neither show but worthy of inclusion because it was a great experience not to be missed. Many will have pictures. Some will not. Some of the places I've visited were so long ago that I will not review them, as it's been too long for me to give a good review. Sure, I've been to Chunky's Burgers in San Antonio and Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, but that was almost four years ago. I'd need another visit to properly review it.
Three more things before we get going. First, I'm always open to suggestions. If you know of a place that I need to visit, please leave a comment or e-mail me at nighthawk892005@yahoo.com to let me know. I can't promise I'll get there immediately, but I'll put it on my list and I will try to get there when the opportunity arises.
Second, as I make each post, I'm going to tag them with the type of cuisine and the geographic location, including city, state and region. For example, a place with standard American food in Missouri will get a Midwest label. The geographic groups will be as follows: New England, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountains and Pacific.
Third, since I've been to 66 MvF places, I've got a lot of posts that will be coming. As I add more and more restaurants, if there's a certain one I've been to that you want to see reviewed sooner rather than later, let me know.
How do you know which places I've visited? Here's my map, with all the information you need:
Dan's food map
Welcome to my ultimate hunger quest. This is Dan vs. Food.
