One of the more popular “Mexican” foods is the chimichanga.   The chimichanga, or chimi, is like a deep fried burrito. Probably not the healthiest food item, but very tasty.  However, the chimichanga is not from Mexico, it is an Arizona original.  Chimi historians seems to agree that it was invented by a Tucson restaurant decades ago.  Which restaurant it was is unclear.  Several Tucson restaurant have claimed that they came up with the original chimichanga. 

One of Tucson’s first restaurants open in 1870 and was known as the “Shoo Fly Restaurant” It was named this because the restaurant was plagues by flies, which constantly buzzed around the diners.  To keep the flies at bay, two boys were paid to walk around the establishment, swatting as many as they could. 

The food must have been fairly good, for despite the fly problem, the restaurant was reported to have been fairly popular.