Los Angeles' Toca Madera Serves Up Tasty Mexican Cuisine

It's loud and crowded in the main bar of Los Angeles' Toca Madera, so we headed to the back patio. A beautiful lit tree with twinkling lights centers the small space adorned with walls of skulls on one side and hanging plants in metal boxes on the opposite wall.

This restaurant, known for its sharing plates, caters to any dietary restriction in the crowd, including vegan and gluten-free. Appetizer highlights include the guacamole with pomegranate seeds, lime pepitas, and jalapeno served with house-made crispy plantain chips and the taquitos made with a choice of vegan picadillo, chicken or brisket and topped with jalapeno cabbage, queso fresco, avocado tomatillo salsa and pickled onions.

For our entrees, we chose the Chilean sea bass tacos with pasilla peppers, tomato, radish and an avocado vinaigrette; the American Waygu with cilantro, onions, habanero salt, and Diablo salsa; grilled tajin vegetables and street corn. All were a little on the spicy side and delicious.

Cocktails at Toca Madera are unique and worth the visit just to indulge in a few of the bar's spectacular libations. The Dia de Los Muertos includes tocas patron reposado, banana du bresil, guava canela and lemon and is lit tableside. We also tried La Bonita with Avion Silver, strawberry basil lime, and an alderwood salt rim. Both were sweet (and beautiful – perfect for Instagram).

Desserts are tasty and include something for every craving. The chocolate tart is decadent with raspberry jam and pulled cocoa and the strawberry tres leches is savory with cake soaked in vanilla tres leches and layered with strawberries and whipped cream.

In a city packed with delicious tacos, we'll return to Toca Madera for a crowd-pleasing meal. But there are delicious tacos in every state.