El Molino Central
Karen Taylor Waikiki nixtamalizes and stone-grinds her own corn, then cooks whole lamb over maguey leaves in a Caja China. You order at the front counter and walk through the kitchen to eat on the gravel out back.1
Why go
A molino is where nixtamalized corn gets ground into masa, and Chris Ying's point in the Chronicle was that the name is not decoration.1 Most fresh tortillas
start as Maseca. These start as corn simmered in an alkaline bath, washed, hulled and stone-ground, and the kitchen runs two batches: the more thoroughly washed one becomes chips and tostadas with a shattery crunch, the other becomes tortillas that Ying called large, thick and bouncy.1 Taylor Waikiki learned regional Mexican cooking from women she worked beside for years at La Casa in Sonoma, and she is a longtime friend and student of Diana Kennedy.31 She opened here in 2010, and her other company, Primavera, has been selling masa around the Bay for over 25 years.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the barbacoa taco. A whole lamb goes over maguey leaves under charcoal in a Caja China roasting box, and it was Ying's favorite filling.1
- Order: the beans. Pinto or black depending on the day, refried in freshly rendered lard with onion and chile.1
- Order: a sope. Same masa as the tortillas, hand-formed into a cup and griddled so it stays crisp under shredded chicken and salsa.1
- Avoid: the tamales, if Ying's palate is close to yours. He finds fresh masa loses its delicacy once it is bricked in a banana leaf and steamed, and he says he knows that is an unpopular position.1
What locals & experts say
- Chris Ying, San Francisco Chronicle (10 May 2017):
El Molino Central in Boyes Hot Springs serves the best Mexican food in the Bay Area.
On the beans:Everybody flips out about El Molino Central's beans.
1 - The MICHELIN inspector, on the room:
The colorful little building has a strange layout (order at the counter, then pass through the kitchen to dine on the patio), but it still draws a large following.
Bib Gourmand.2
Good to know
- Bib Gourmand, one of three in Sonoma Valley in Michelin's 25 June 2025 round, alongside Glen Ellen Star and Valley.3
- The restaurant takes its own bookings rather than running through a platform.2
- You pick your own beer and wine out of a fridge by the door and carry it to the table.1
Verdict
must-visit — The mill is the argument. Karen Taylor Waikiki nixtamalizes and stone-grinds her own corn and runs two different washes, a thorough one for chips and tostadas and a lighter one for tortillas, which is why Chris Ying could call this the best Mexican food in the Bay Area in the Chronicle and spend most of the review on dough. Michelin has it as a current Bib Gourmand, one of three in Sonoma Valley in the 25 June 2025 round. The lamb barbacoa goes in whole over maguey leaves under charcoal in a Caja China, and the beans are refried in lard rendered that day. Two independent judgments, fifteen years of it, and a technique almost nobody else here bothers with.