Costa Vida Restaurant, Goodyear

Accomplished executive chef Geoff Alter crafts a menu of Mexican dishes prepared from scratch on a daily basis within a casual setting. When carrying out, diners can sip from spoonfuls of chicken-tortilla soup or crunch on tortilla chips served with queso or guacamole. For a main course, the sweet pork burrito wears a handcrafted couture tortilla dress, which encases melted cheese, black or pinto beans, cilantro-lime rice, and one of three piquant sauces. Enchiladas, tacos, and quesadillas can each confine a selection of grilled steak, sweet pork, or grilled chicken within their soft, floury exteriors. Many dishes are gluten free, including all enchiladas, tacos, and salads.

The restaurant's interior pulses with surf videos and interviews with sharks that play on flat-panel televisions, and vivacious music dances out from the speakers and into the ears of munching diners. Costa Vida takes nutrition and taste seriously—the website offers a nutrition calculator that tallies calories, cholesterol, protein, and oxygen content.