El Charro Café in Tucson, AZ., is the oldest, continuously-operating Mexican restaurant in the U.S. run by the same family, and probably the place where chimichangas were invented. However, this beloved restaurant also has an unusual honorary location — 400 feet under the sea.

The memory of the restaurant’s food has forever been enshrined in the USS Tucson — a submarine that named its galley in honor of El Charro. While the food on the USS Tucson — primarily canned and frozen foods — is a far cry from El Charro's, the sailors can at least dream of what awaits them ashore.

Above ground, however, the restaurant is best known for the jerky-like meat known as carne seca, made by drying the meat in a cage under the sun. Through a combination of tradition, innovation, and great food, El Charro has endeared itself to generations of Tucsonans both on land and sea.