El Molino Central Sonoma

This is the fifth post in our series on Sonoma California! Other posts in this series include Harvest Moon Sonoma, La Salette Portuguese Cuisine, The Donum Estate, and The Sunflower Caffe.

Sonoma may not be the first place you'd consider when seeking out Mexican food. However, for those of us who had been living in Hong Kong for close to a year, going to Sonoma meant we were going to California, which has LOTS of better Mexican food than Hong Kong does (as far as I can tell!).

We were confident we would find some good Mexican food.

After inquiring with locals (most of whom were Mexican), we headed to Boyes Hot Springs, the next town over from Sonoma, which is known for good local Mexican food due to its largely Latino population. We finally settled upon trying El Molino, a restaurant hailed by the SF Chronicle in 2017 as being the "best Mexican restaurant in the Bay area."

Bold claims indeed. We were definitely curious.
The word "molino" refers to milled corn, more specifically dried corn that has been cooked in an alkaline bath before being washed, hulled, and ground into a course powder. It's the most traditional way one can use to make tortillas.

These days, most restaurants don't make the effort, and instead use instant powdered corn flour, or masa. El Molino is unique because it still employs these traditional methods for making its stone ground tortillas.

The owner, Karen Taylor, has a passion for Mexican food. Though she is not Mexican herself, she has studied Mexican cuisine for a long time, traveling all over Mexican and studying under Diana Kennedy, a well-known established authority on Mexican cuisine.

Ms. Taylor employs a full staff of Latino immigrants (mostly from different places in Mexico), and often will partner with them to create recipes that are based on dishes they learned from their own mothers.

The restaurant is casual, with a walk up counter for ordering and outdoor seating on benches, either in the covered patio area or purely outside behind the restaurant.

We tried their special of the day, Sopes Colima ($14.50), griddled masa cakes (made from the same special stone ground corn flour!) topped with pork, cabbage, tomatilla, salsa de arbol (a spicy Mexican chili!), and queso anijo (a firm, aged, Mexican cheese). It was delicious, packed with flavor from the combination of the slow-cooked pork, hard cheese, and spicy salsa. Fantastic.

We also tried the Bohemian Beer Battered Fish Tacos ($9.50), which we didn't love as much. The fish had a very thick crust (what you would expect from beer battered fish & chips) and came served with an avocado-lime mayonnaise, hot salsa de arbol, and raw radish and cabbage.

I personally prefer the fish in my fish tacos to be just slightly deep fried, with a light dusting of cornmeal or flour. This wasn't necessarily bad, but I didn't enjoy it as much. It felt a bit too heavy.

Our favorite was Rufina's Pork Tamales ($12.50), which came with a super flavorful mole.

We didn't have room for dessert or coffee, but El Molino also pourover coffee and desserts like churros.

General Thoughts - El Molino Central

The environment is casual, friendly, and laid back. The prices are on the higher side (at least for Mexican food), and apparently most of the Latino vine workers don't come eat here. They eat at even more local places (which perhaps we'll check out next time!).

I like the focus on quality ingredients and the passion to create great Mexican food. We loved the tamales, really enjoyed the sopes, and could still appreciate why some people would enjoy the crispy battered fish taco. All in all, it totally satisfied our Mexican food craving and we'd happily come back again.

El Molino Central Sonoma [website]
11 Central Ave, Sonoma, CA 95476
(Boyes Hot Springs)

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