Cocina Madrigal

Cocina Madrigal is a Mexican restaurant on 16th Street, just north of Broadway Road in South Phoenix, Arizona. Chef Leo Madrigal founded it with his son Brian.

Leo Madrigal was born in Mexico City and began cooking there as a teenager, then moved to Houston and later to Phoenix. In Arizona he helped open the first Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Scottsdale, worked as corporate chef of Z'Tejas Grill and developed menus for Taco Guild, Hopdaddy Burger Bar and Salty Sow. Father and son opened their own place in 2018, a family business where the chef owns the kitchen, and a few years later Yelp put it at the top of its national ranking of restaurants.

Everything is cooked from scratch, and while Madrigal leans on the flavours of Mexico City and Oaxaca, he does not keep strictly to Mexican food. Big plates of enchiladas are the heart of the menu, and the wild mushroom version is both the most unusual and the best seller; others are filled with beef birria or green chile pork. Tacos come with steak, al pastor, achiote-rubbed chicken or shrimp, and starters include elote, queso fundido and guacamole made to order, next to a burger, a turkey sandwich and beef tenderloin. Margaritas are at the centre of the drinks. A chef trained in big American kitchens shows here in the range of the menu, while the mushroom enchilada points back to his home city.

The original building has 105 seats and a bar at the back. In March 2024 an electrical fire broke out in the kitchen during service; everyone got out safely, but the restaurant had to close. The family kept cooking from a food truck a block away, and the original staff stayed with them. Rebuilding took far longer than expected, and the return to the restored building was planned for mid to late October, more than two years after the fire.