If you have been following the South Phoenix food scene, you know the name Cocina Madrigal. It is the kind of place that earns a national reputation while staying firmly rooted in its neighborhood, and after a long and difficult stretch, it is finally on the verge of coming back. The family behind it — Chef Leo Madrigal and his sons, Brian and Edson — has been building kitchens and menus across the Valley for thirty years, and they are about to reopen their doors at 1530 E. Wood St. this fall.
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To understand why this reopening matters, it helps to know how the restaurant got here. Cocina Madrigal opened in 2018 as a father-and-son project between Leo and Brian, and it quickly became one of the most talked-about spots in the city, eventually being voted the number-one restaurant in the United States by Yelp in 2022. That run came to a sudden halt in March 2024, when a fire broke out during a busy service on a rainy weekend after water seeped into an exterior electrical panel. No one was hurt, but the damage was severe enough that the insurance company recommended demolishing the building, and the restaurant closed indefinitely.
Rather than walk away, the family found a way to keep going. More than a year later, they launched a food truck parked at 1523 E. Wood St., in the lot of the church they had previously used for overflow parking. It was a way to keep their staff employed and stay connected with the customers who had been asking when they would be back. The truck serves most of the restaurant's menu — burritos, a grilled arugula salad with mango and meat, custom-made guacamole, and house-made aguas frescas — and diners eat under a covered porch surrounded by planters with palm trees and cacti. In the summer, seating was even available inside the church.
Now the permanent restaurant is scheduled to reopen at 1530 E. Wood St., with the family hoping to open the revamped space within the next month, somewhere in mid-to-late October. The renovations are thorough: a new power transformer, new drywall, fresh paint, new tiles, updated art, improved accessible bathrooms, and repaved parking with more spaces. The interior keeps the same layout, so it will feel familiar, but there are a few new additions to the menu, including a shrimp toast and a stuffed chicken. The hours are Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., with dine-in, outdoor seating, and in-store pickup all available. The dishes that put it on the map — steak tacos, wild mushroom enchiladas, barbacoa green chile enchiladas, al pastor tacos, and barbacoa burritos — are the ones to look for first.
While you wait for the doors to open, it is worth knowing that the Madrigal family has not been sitting still. Edson and his wife moved their downtown Centrico restaurant to a larger space a block away and opened Vicio, a Detroit-style pizzeria with Mexican ingredients, in the former Mexican restaurant space inside the Hotel San Carlos at 202 N. Central Ave., on the northwest corner of Central and Monroe. Vicio opens at 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, with classic pepperoni and margherita pizzas alongside Latin-inspired pies like the spicy El Infierno, the chicken-topped Bad Chick, and the pork-loaded La Cochina, plus cocktails, mocktails, and shots. It is a nice way to get a taste of the family's cooking while the main event gets its final touches.
