El Tejano Expands Tex-Mex Party to Woodland Hills

Tex-Mex food is trending, and El Tejano is one of the Valley’s most popular practitioners of the form, which favors flour tortillas, molten queso and massive micheladas. Good news for Tex-Mex fans: The high-energy concept just expanded from NoHo to Woodland Hills.

Plenty of people flock to the restaurant for “Texas-sized” cocktails, beers and shots, but Mexican-tinged comfort food is a sizable part of El Tejano’s culinary puzzle. Tacos on house-made flour tortillas are the best bets, particularly when filled with grilled whitefish and cabbage slaw or shrimp sautéed in chipotle cream sauce. The aforementioned tortillas also factor into fat burritos co-starring rice and black beans. Grilled Mexican street corn slathered with chile de arbol aioli and a Mexican Caesar salad with cotija, pepitas and limon vinaigrette are two more popular menu choices.

This restaurant is the handiwork of Texas native P.J. Brill, Joe Barker and Jeff Berry, the team behind Big Wang’s, Tipsy Cow and The Thirsty Merchant—to name just three concepts. They partnered with Knitting Factory Entertainment, a company that runs The Federal Bar in the NoHo Arts District and Long Beach.

El Tejano Woodland Hills replaces a Tipsy Cow location. The retooled space features a pastel pink-and-blue color scheme, patio with an Astroturf-lined cornhole court, and colorful murals of Texas and Lone Star Beer. The fun extends to cactus and steer horn-patterned wallpaper and 14 flat-screen TVs that primarily show sports. Order food and booze at the bar.

21028 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, 818-302-7206