I'm not writing this article to bring up a tired old stereotype like that.

These restaurants and many others shatter the wrongheaded notion that Mexican food should be cheap. Each pushes the envelope with exciting and beautifully executed takes on Sonoran cuisine. Just go to a Valley restaurant like Bacanora or Renata's Hearth. Like any cuisine, Mexican food can be high-priced and gourmet there's no question about that. Why I wanted to try this $18 Sonoran hot dog But this one cost me $25 after tax and tip, so I expected it to be five times as delicious. So is it worth it? That's a question I ask myself every time I eat a hot dog. It doesn't have chopped tomatoes or jalapeño salsa either, but the most important elements, the bacon and the pinto beans are there. This may just be the most expensive Sonoran hot dog in the state of Arizona and with exchange rates what they are, maybe even the world. Sonoran hot dogs are typically priced between $3.50 and $5, but this bad boy clocks in at $18 with no sides, not even a bulb onion or one of those roasted yellow chile güeros that set your mouth on fire. So cheffed-up tacos and $14 guacamole are a given, but a street cart calorie bomb like a bacon-wrapped hot dog? The 'modern Latin' menu here largely consists of Mexican food with a little Spanish and Peruvian cuisine thrown in. Businesspeople were power lunching around us inside the Kierland Commons mall location of the popular Old Town Scottsdale restaurant. Australian Kobe-style wagyu beef is wrapped in applewood smoked bacon with pinto beans, red onions and crema in a fluffy brioche bun.Ī Sonoran hot dog on the menu was a tad unexpected at a restaurant that's basically a glitzy reproduction of a Spanish mission, complete with chandeliers and a sky-high cross that flanks an altar of tequilas.

They call it the 'Kobe dog.' It's the chef's favorite thing on the lunch menu at The Mission, our server said. View Gallery: The Mission serves Arizona's most expensive Sonoran hot dog