An Arizona-Mexican snack: a large flour tortilla baked or griddled flat with melted cheese on top, open-faced and crisp, cut into wedges like a pizza.

The cheese crisp is pure Arizona, a bar-and-table snack that grew out of the region's oversized flour tortillas. Unlike a quesadilla, it is open-faced: the tortilla is laid flat, topped with cheese and crisped until the edges curl. Valley Mexican rooms have served it for generations, sometimes plain, sometimes finished with green chile or chopped jalapeno.

2 editor picks for Cheese crisp in Phoenix, ranked by editorial score. All Phoenix signature dishes · Cheese crisp across every city.