Mesa sits in the East Valley of metro Phoenix, and its food is Sonoran Mexican at the base: flour tortillas, carne asada, machaca, and the bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog that came up from northern Mexico.
The surrounding valley was citrus and cotton country before the suburbs reached it, and enough groves survive that winter citrus remains genuinely local. The Mesa Farmers Market runs through the cooler months.
Downtown Mesa has been steadily redeveloped and now holds a run of independent restaurants and breweries along Main Street. The city also has a growing Somali, Ethiopian and Filipino food presence, particularly along the western edge toward Tempe.