Old Dog, New Tricks: Try Tucson’s Sonoran Hot Dog at Que Padre Taqueria in East Boston

Photo by Scott Goodwin
Food Styling by Rowena Day/Ennis

The Sonoran Hot Dog is not your average Fenway Frank. Picture the same snappy Kayem foundation, but instead wrapped in smoked bacon and smothered with red beans, onions, tomatoes, jalapeño sauce, mayo, and mustard, then nestled into a homemade bolillo bun. These Mexican-American dogs, native to Tucson, Arizona, are now on the menu at Que Padre Taquería y Mas, a new Mexican-Bolivian restaurant in East Boston.

Owner Victor Duran, who is Bolivian, is already known for his commitment to authenticity—two cooks were hired from Sonora—but the fact that he’s engaged to a Mexican-American Tucson native made it essential that he get the franks just right. So he consulted Daniel Contreras, who introduced them to Arizona in the early ’90s. “He gave me some pointers,” Duran says, “but he didn’t give me the whole shebang.” Duran’s not giving away much, either, refusing to divulge the secret to his sweet-spicy jalapeño sauce.

Que Padre fans have traveled from as far as Worcester just for Duran’s baked-empanada-like salteñas, but it’s the hot dog that’s creating the most buzz. And now that a food truck is in the works, the excitement may soon spread beyond East Boston.

386 Chelsea St., East Boston, 617-418-7278