Tumerico's Nopalitos Tacos
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“It’s all about food, serving the community by healing through food. The food feels like home, it’s like family.”
Those sentiments, touted front and center on Tumerico’s home page, sums up Chef/Owner Wendy Garcia’s approach to running this vegan/vegetarian, Latin-inspired restaurant that Tucson diners have embraced — so much so that Tumerico recently took the #1 spot on Yelp’s Top 100 US Restaurants 2024, released in late January.
“I felt super excited and happy! It’s great news for the restaurant and all the Tumerico team,” Garcia says. “I was like Whattttt???? number 1? I’m still kind of assimilating the news.”
Garcia — who was named a semifinalist for the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest for the second year in a row the day after learning of the Yelp honor, and ranked #1 on Yelp’s Top 100 Southwest Restaurants list in April 2023 — has been called a “tireless ambassador for vegetarian Mexican food.”
She says cooking “is a part of who I am,” and that her menu is a nod to recipes she “grew up eating with my family — mom, dad, grandma, tios, tias, primos” in Hermosillo, Mexico.
She started introducing Tuscon customers to those recipes at a local farmers market, and built a customer base large enough to take the plunge with a brick-and-mortar location. She opened Tumerico with a menu that features dishes including enchiladas, tamales, bowls, burritos and several tacos, in 2016. As Garcia told Yelp, “...whatever Mexican dish you can think of, we can make [a vegetarian version] at Tumerico.”
Creating those dishes “takes me home with those loved ones,” she says. “When I thought of Tumerico 10 years ago, I wanted to cook delicious, tasty food but also the warm feeling of home and love,” she continues. “I want Tumerico customers to feel love and nourished and enjoy a homemade meal full of flavor. I believe in my heart that food is a form of telling someone you love and care for them. Our customers like being taken care of and fed.”
Here, Garcia shares her recipe for one of the most popular dishes that keeps Tumerico’s customers “taken care of and fed” — her Nopalitos Tacos.
Nopalitos Tacos
Makes 3 servings
Oil, for frying
4 c. cleaned, diced nopalitos (cactuts pads)
3 T. onion, diced
1 t. garlic
Red chili sauce (recipe below)
Corn tortillas
The Filling:
Sauté nopalitos in oil of your choice. Add the diced onion, garlic and red chili sauce; bring to boil, let simmer for 5 minutes. When ready, warm tortillas and fill with nopalito mixture. Garnish with cilantro. Enjoy!
The Red Chili Sauce:
8 oz. New Mexico chili 4 cloves garlic
½ onion
Salt, to taste
Blend first 3 ingredients together; salt to taste.
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