The New York Times spent over a year crisscrossing the country in search of the best Mexican food America has to offer, and when the dust settled, the paper’s food team published ‘‘41 of the Greatest Mexican Restaurants Across the United States.’’

The Valley landed two spots on the list. One was completely predictable. The other? Unless you’ve spent time cruising Buckeye Road in south Phoenix, you’ve probably never heard of it. Let’s get into both.

The one everybody saw coming

If you’ve paid any attention to Phoenix’s dining scene over the last few years, Bacanora making this list is about as surprising as the sun coming up.

Chef and co-owner Rene Andrade opened the tiny, triangular restaurant at Grand Avenue and McKinley Street in 2021, and it didn’t take long for national outlets to notice. Esquire and the Times had already sung its praises before this list dropped, and in 2024, Andrade took home the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest.

The draw is simple, and it’s the same thing that’s been drawing crowds since day one: live-fire Sonoran cooking. Walk in and the first thing you notice is the smell of burning mesquite. Then you see Andrade and his team working the grill, turning out bone-in New York strip, rib-eye, and grilled chicken that the Times specifically called out.

Don’t skip the elote or the frijoles, either. The sides at Bacanora work just as hard as the mains.

Getting a table has never been easy, and this listing certainly won’t make it easier. If Bacanora’s booked solid, Andrade’s more casual sister spot, Huarachis Taqueria, is a worthy backup a few blocks away.

The one nobody saw coming

Here’s the one that’ll make you feel like you’re not paying close enough attention to your own city. Mariscos El Profe is a food truck parked at Buckeye Road and 23rd Avenue in south Phoenix, and it’s only been open about a year and a half.

No dining room, no reservations list, no James Beard buzz – just shaded tables around a truck and some of the best coastal Mexican cooking in the Valley.

The Times pointed to the seafood as the reason to seek it out, noting that Arizona sits close enough to Sonora to inherit its lime-and-chile mariscos traditions. The standout dish is the mixed seafood ceviche, a mash-up of marinated marlin, salt-cured sea bass, and octopus that the paper singled out as a fitting introduction to the truck’s coastal flavors.

The rib-eye aguachile gets a shoutout too, along with tostadas, tacos, and quesadillas rounding out the menu.

The takeaway

Two very different restaurants, two very different vibes – a candlelit, mesquite-scented steakhouse that’s already a local institution, and a food truck that’s still flying under most people’s radar. Together, they’re a pretty good snapshot of why the Valley’s Mexican food scene deserves the national attention it’s finally getting.