PHOENIX — Despite a fire, reconstruction delays and even a recent burglary, nothing is stopping one south Phoenix family from reopening their restaurant.
For the past two years following a devastating fire, Cocina Madrigal has been operating out of a food truck just steps away from their original building off 16th Street and Wood Street.
Father and son duo Leo and Brian Madrigal started the restaurant in 2018. It quickly rose to fame and earned the top-ranked spot nationally for restaurants on Yelp in 2022.
"Since I was a child, I used to start cooking for my grandma,” Leo Madrigal said.
Brian Madrigal said recovery and construction following the 2024 fire has taken longer than expected with another setback over the weekend. He said someone broke into their restaurant and damaged the property.
"They came in and stole, you know, a lot of items, things that can be replaced, thankfully. But they did do some damage to the inside and the roof,” Brian Madrigal said. "But we're persevering. We're moving forward.”
Despite everything, the family hopes to open their revamped restaurant in the original location within the next month.
"Now that I see this and everything,” Leo Madrigal said looking over a spread of his favorite dishes. “It’s giving me more, more power, more emotion that we really want to reopen soon.”
For the Madrigal family, the reopening is more than just perseverance through fire, delays and theft.
"We're doing this for two passions. My father, this was his dream and we're able to see it succeed,” Brian Madrigal said. "And then I have a newborn daughter, she just hit a year old. So, when you think about family and legacy, I don't really think about it for me anymore.”
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