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Three Times. Our Story with L.A. Taco Madness.
How Villa’s Tacos earned the community’s vote year after year.
I still remember selling my first taco.
November 2, 2018. I didn’t have much — just a grill, a table, a canopy and a first round of food. My grandmother’s front yard in Highland Park. That was it.
I had no idea where that first taco would take me.
But in 2021, 2022, and 2024, the people of Los Angeles voted Villa’s Tacos as the L.A. Taco Madness champion — making us the only taqueria in the history of the tournament to win three times.
What Is L.A. Taco Madness?
If you haven’t heard of it — L.A. Taco Madness is the city’s biggest taco tournament, organized every year by the team at LA Taco. Over 30 taqueria go head-to-head in a bracket, and the city votes. No judges. No panels. Just the community deciding who’s got the best taco in Los Angeles.
That’s what makes it real. That’s what makes it matter.
In 2021, we entered as the biggest underdog — the least amount of followers, just a pop-up, operating out of my grandmother’s backyard — going up against the biggest names in Los Angeles. Well-established businesses. And the city voted for us.
Then in 2022 — they voted for us again. Then in 2024 — three times. The only taqueria in the history of the tournament to do it three times.
Honestly? It still doesn’t feel real when I say it out loud.
“We were just a little taqueria operating out of my grandma’s backyard going up against the biggest names in Los Angeles.”
Where It All Started
My grandmother — I call her “La Chula” — she taught me everything. Not in culinary school. In her kitchen.
She cooked with cariño. And when I asked her why her food always tasted so good, she’d look at me with the biggest, most innocent abuelita smile and say: “Porque le puse mucho amor.”
That’s the secret ingredient. That’s in every taco we make.
When I told her I wanted to open a business, her advice stayed with me: Echale todas las ganas. It won’t be easy, but cook with love.
She is still with us today. And she is extremely proud.
Three L.A. Taco Madness titles. Three consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand recognitions. Netflix. The Super Bowl. Three locations across Los Angeles.
None of it started with money. None of it started with investors or a plan.
Every day, we get a little better and better. And thank God, there’s more and more people coming.
We just did us. Just like our food.