Delicias de Michoacan, Tucson

I recently took a business trip to Tucson, Arizona.  It was a very short trip, helping with campus recruiting at University of Arizona. We had evening events presenting to the students every night, so no time for seeking out great cuisine.  In my short time there, I focused mostly on getting soft serve ice cream during the day (it was 95* and PERFECT ice cream weather!), which lead me to my first ever visit to Dairy Queen and to local gem Noodies. 

But my last night there, I decided I wanted to lean into the unique cuisine of the area, which certainly seemed to be Mexican (a lot of Sonoran influence).  But I don't really like tacos, burritos (burros), enchiladas, chimichangas (chimis), and the like.  The street food though did draw me in, with featured  their version of sorta Frito pie with all sorts of goodies dumped on top of bagged Mexican tortilla chips, lots of refreshing fruit/ice creations (respados), bacon wrapped hotdogs topped with pinto beans/onions/mustard/jalapeno sauce/etc (Sonoran dogs), and a bunch of snacks featuring tamarind candy and other "cocktails" of sweet/savory/sour items.

  

I somewhat randomly picked a venue, Delicias de Michoacan.  They actually specialize more in the ice cream and fruits/ice desserts, but since many of the respados include melons, and I'm extremely allergic, I had to forgo those items, in fear of cross-contamination.  I don't get the impression that these hole in the wall little places would use fresh knife/cutting board between their melons, strawberries, and mangos.

I ordered for delivery, since I was staying at a hotel 3 miles away and didn't have a car.  It took nearly 1.5 hours to arrive, which I'm not sure if was their fault (it stayed in "preparing your order" status for a REALLY long time).  The hot item I got was barely lukewarm when it arrived, so I think it really was ready and just sitting there.  

I didn't enjoy my goodies, and I still don't know if perhaps I just don't like these things, or if they just didn't do a good job with them.

Corn Cocktail.  $6.99.

"Corn, salt,lime,Tajín,mayoneis,Sour cream, butter,cheese and chili Optional nacho Cheese extra $1.75."

I was really looking forward to the corn cocktail.  I love corn.  This play on elote as a dish sounded great, and I thought it might be a bit like Korean corn cheese, just Mexican style.  Many other places had similar dishes (although most others didn't include the sour cream).

It came in a styrofoam cup, still lightly warm.  I dug in.

Corn Cocktail: Top View.

The first bite I got was ... all sour cream with some cojita.  Pretty generic sour cream that wasn't really pleasant as it was warm (but not hot).  I dug deeper.  Still just sour cream.  The top layer was really quite thick, and made it hard to actually reach the corn.  I think you are supposed to just mix it all up?  I wanted to taste it all separately first.  I never found the mayo.  

There was also a little bit of hot sauce (was this the chili and tajin? I never found those elsewhere).  It was fairly mild, and not that flavorful.

Finally I reached the corn.  I was instantly let down.  The corn was like canned corn.  It didn't taste fresh, it wasn't roasted, it was just ... very bland plain corn.  It was a bit too hard too, like it wasn't cooked enough.  It had basically no flavor.  Where was the salt? The lime?  The butter?  I expected the corn element to be so much better than this.

I didn't really like anything about this.  I don't have comparison points, so I don't know if this is what it is supposed to be like, but I found it remarkably bland, hard to eat, and just not very good at all. *.

Pepihuates. $6.99.

"Cup with cucumber peanuts and tamarind candys saludito salt lime chamoy chili and Clamato."

Behold!  The pepihuates.  It looked about as I expected, and just as crazy as I anticipated.  Yes, there was cucumber, Japanese coated peanuts, all sorts of tamarind candy, and Clamato juice ... in a cup, with a straw ...  

Garnishes.

I was intimidated just getting to the garnishes!  A straw coated with chewy salty sour tamarind candy, and a roll up of some sort.  Was that the saladitos?  Lots of chew, lots of sour, some spice, very interesting.

Churro loko?

The very top layer was these tamarind candies, that I think are churro loko?  They were chewy, sour, sweet, and quite interesting in terms of texture.

Below that was the peanut, Japanese coated style.  I love, love, love those peanuts normally, which is why I got this, but since they had been soaking in the Clamato, they were soft, soggy, and strangely gummy.  Sadness, but I think this makes sense, it just made me not care for them.

And finally, cucumber, chopped into batons.  Very soft, slimy.  Some versions at other places also include jicama, which I think would be great in here for more freshness and juiciness.

This was all drowning in the Clamato.  I didn't really taste any clam, but it was moderately spicy tomato cocktail juice.  

Overall, very ... interesting, and I liked the combo of spicy + sweet + sour, and all the textures, but ... I didn't actually enjoy it very much.  I wonder if it is better fresher?  I could see it being more refreshing if the cucumber was juicier and crispier? Fun to try, *** for the experience, but ** for my lack of enjoyment.