L.A.'s modern Mexican restaurants have been fighting an uphill battle since tacos first passed the $5 price line. However, today marks a noticeable turning point in the dining category, as five respected establishments in the genre have been named as esteemed semifinalists in the 2025 James Beard Awards.
Out of the nearly 50,000 Mexican restaurants that are in business in the U.S., Los Angeles continues to lead the charge when it comes to Mexican cuisine. In the last 15 years, our city's modern Mexican cooking has pointedly emerged, finding its way to people's date nights and special dining occasions.
This evolution is undoubtedly tied to the greater number of taco lovers who have made the easy, affordable three-hour-flight to Mexico City, then returned to Los Angeles with higher expectations and a more flexible appetite for paying a higher price for better quality offerings.
Pioneering restaurants that paved the way locally include Taco Maria in Orange County (which many media outlets bunched into L.A.-centered Mexican restaurant lists despite the location), Ray Garcia's Broken Spanish in Downtown L.A., and Verlaine in West Hollywood, which all eventually shuttered along the way.
Nonetheless, this national recognition of today's modern Mexican nominees in L.A. and its surrounding regions feels like sweet vindication, a counterstrike to those who hold reservations about a taco (or concha) being delicious, "but a little expensive."