Diana Dávila of Mi Tocaya Finds Joy in Sharing Mexican Culture With Chicago

Chicago’s dining scene has evolved so much in the last few years. What have you seen over time, and what’s your take on the state of the restaurant industry here right now? 

Lately, hospitality has been declining around the more human experience. It’s more robotic. In general, I feel like service could be a lot stronger. I wonder if that’s because a lot of people have changed tip structure or whoever is managing. We’re losing some of that leadership. People need to step up from within for more leadership roles and put the heart back into hospitality.

I do pre-shift and we’re a chef-driven restaurant, so I go over the concept and dish components meticulously — it’s so much information. What you say when you drop off a dish, it needs to flow and make sense. Especially our food, which is Mexican, and I feel like people don’t know anything about Mexican food. You can only put so much information on the menu. 

So how do you address that?

Our menu is in Spanish, and Mexican food can be nostalgic. You don’t only eat with your taste. A big thing is the sixth sense with your mind. If you don’t know what you’re looking for or why this is special, you’ll be like, okay, this is whatever. But when you know these beans are from the ancestral valley where beans were cultivated thousands of years ago, that’s dope as f—. There are tons of those things like that on our menu. So service and servers are vital and important.

Mi Tocaya was named one of Eater’s best restaurants of the past 20 years and was named as one of the 25 best restaurants in Chicago right now by the New York Times. What do accolades like that mean to you? 

It’s funny — accolades don’t mean anything until you get them, but when you do, you realize how special it is. It’s not anything we seek out, but this is big, and it makes me feel really good. It’s someone saying “We see you.” At first I felt imposter syndrome. I said, they’re probably doing this because they needed to fill a brown person or a woman chef void. I did that a lot in the beginning, but I got over that and realized: No, we are really special. I don’t know any other place that’s like us

Do you find it hard to stay relevant or on diners’ radars as more and more spots open? 

Yeah. We’re going to be nine in March and we’re not the new kid on the block. Those things have passed. I’ve always changed our menu. The moment you stop creating and you’re just standing still, to me that’s creative death. I still desperately love what I do and feel the need in my blood to keep creating. 

What do you see when it comes to diner behavior right now? 

Honestly, I think we have really good guests. At first it was definitely hard. There would be a lot of people who would say they didn’t want to spend $4 on a taco where they could go down the street to a “real” Mexican place and get one for $1. That happened a lot in the beginning, and it was ridiculous to me. When places like Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, and Eater started saying this place is really good, that ignorance of Mexican food stopped. I also love our neighborhood. This is where I live as well. We do get people from everywhere, but for the most part people read a bit before coming and know what to expect. We have a health insurance charge and seldom do people ask to take it off, which is not a problem. 

What trends are you hoping to see more of in 2026 around food or beverage?

I would love to see more natural wine. And the same thing with spirits. There are so many interesting spirits and cordials and wine. Having more wine knowledge as well. And the trend right now with cocktails is going back to the classics. You don’t need so many ingredients; it’s okay to have just really good classic cocktails. Just source good booze and products. And I feel like people are buying more things from farms and overall having more sustainable proteins. It shouldn’t feel like something you can make at home; it should be special to go out to eat. 

What defines a successful restaurant to you?

You have to care every day. You have to have something to put out there. Being a chef-driven niche restaurant, what has made us successful is creating “new” all the time. I feel like we always create and push ourselves to continuously learn about food and have that drive. That’s not just the food, but every year we get better. Our wine list is amazing. You have to keep learning and changing and have to care about your people. I can’t tell you how important that is. If you don’t have that drive, that’s your fault. People miss that mark.

When you look at restaurants right now, whether as a diner or operator, what gets you excited? 

Anytime something is different and interesting or I haven’t had something before. Something that will never go out of style is delicious food and knowing how to cook. That sounds dumb to say, but there are places that don’t get that food is supposed to be hot, or salted, which is funny because there are so many people who say they want to be a chef. So stop posting on Instagram and learn how to cook. Good food all day and hospitality is important, especially right now when everything is so expensive. You lose if you let people walk out. They’re never coming back. And I love reading menus because you can get a snapshot or map of the restaurant. It’s not just words, but how you word things. People can get cheeky and playful. 

Wintertime time tends to be slower in restaurants except maybe right around the holidays. What are some ways you’re combating that to drive in business? 

It’s always hard for us. We don’t have a bigger restaurant with a private dining room. For us it’s always about finding ways to have small parties and booking those. This year we started doing more marketing and sending a newsletter. You have to get creative. With social media, you have to make content and put it out there. You can get lost in the shuffle. That’s my fear. 

What about the climate around immigrants in our city and country right now?

I feel terrible right now because of what’s happening. It just breaks my heart. The majority of people just don’t understand how s—– this all is because it doesn’t affect them. That part makes me really sad. I’ve always raised money for immigration reform and providing legal resources. Right now, they’re literally detaining people who don’t have access to their lawyers. I reached out to a friend who is vice president of The Resurrection Project. She said they have the money, but not the access to their own clients. It really sucks not being able to help your community. So we’re trying to tell people about what’s happening. 

You’ve always celebrated and elevated Mexican cuisine and culture. Is that more important now than ever before or is it a continuum? 

To me it has always been important to elevate Mexican food and culture. What you see out there isn’t [necessarily] authentic. We don’t eat tacos every night or always have rice and beans with our dinner, and Mexican food isn’t unhealthy. We’re one of the most biodiverse agricultural countries in the world. I think Mexican food is the best cuisine in the world. I want to showcase that and for people to know how much history it has. I am obsessive about it: reading our history, knowing where spices come from. It’s joyful for me to have people experience that and share things I love with people. That’s literally why I have a Mexican restaurant. It’s the most important thing for us.