El Molino Central

It was a grey Sunday in Sonoma and my husband and I were driving south on Highway 12, my stomach was grumbling and I could not bear the thought of more wine or frou-frou food. We were contemplating In-N-Out, but as the smell of fire-grilled meat wafted through the window, we knew it would not fill the void. A clean, brightly colored building on the left side of the road caught my eye and in my rear-view mirror I read “Mexican Street Food,” and “Blue Bottle Coffee”. I instantly perked up. My husband decided to make a crazy u-turn to get to the parking lot. It was a smart move.  Inside the restaurant, we saw that we were in El Molino Central and were instantly drooling at the short but tantalizing menu.

EL Molino Central is a Sonoma expansion of Karen Waikiki’s Primavera at the San Francisco Ferry building. People will stand on line for 40 minutes for one of her outstanding tamales. El Molino focuses on fresh, top-quality ingredients and authentic recipes. The flaky and moist fish tacos had a satisfying, crunchy coating. My husband tried the Tacos El Pastor, which was topped with pineapple. He loved the salty/sweet/spicy combo of the flavors.

As we were finishing our meal, the tall, blonde owner walked by and we complemented her cooking. After chatting for a few minutes, she warmly invited me into the kitchen to photograph their process. Many bowls, buckets and pots of flavor dotted the counter tops as a dozen staff members buzzed around the small kitchen. It was Mother’s Day, and she was kind enough to share one of her specials, which turned out to be our favorite dish. It was a salmon recipe adapted from Chef Daniel Boulud. The salmon is only cooked halfway and then marinated with vinegar and citrus, topped with marinated vegetables. Delicious! It was a wonderful treat that filled the void all the way home.