In Boyes Hot Springs, it's masa of Mexico

What many of us here in the States think of as Mexican food — soft tacos, burritos, tortas — is in Mexico really street food, fast food, catch-it-on-the-run food.

But Mexico has a long and proud tradition of a different kind of cooking, the kind someone takes on at home, on the weekend when things aren't so rushed, when there's time for all the little tricks and extras that make the taste buds swoon.

Think about the ingredients in great Mexican food — the chilies, avocados, tomatillos, squashes, tomatoes; the fresh cheeses and sour cream, the meat and especially the mariscos or shellfish; the herbs, like cilantro and epazote; the greens, like chard; the starches, like corn and beans — especially the corn.

This brings us to El Molino Central in Boyes Hot Springs, the only tortilleria I know of in the North Bay that mills its own masa or cornmeal dough, starting from scratch with raw corn kernels. Owner and chef Karen Taylor Waikiki soaks the kernels in alkaline water. This process, called nixtamalization, frees up niacin in the kernels so it's available as a human nutrient. The soak also softens the corn hulls, which are then removed by hand. She then grinds the corn in a mill to produce a soft, wet masa that is made by hand into the tortillas of your dreams — delicious, pliable, rich-tasting, slightly sweet corn flatbreads totally unlike the cardboard Frisbees you buy at the supermarkets.

And this is where chef Waikiki starts, with tortillas made from scratch in the ancient way of Central America. She also uses the masa to make her famous Primavera Tamales, which she sells at nearly 300 locations around the Bay Area. At the Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco, she serves up about 900 meals of one or another regional Mexican specialty every Saturday.

This intrepid chef got her start nearly 30 years ago when she was influenced by Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy's book, "The Cuisines of Mexico." She worked for years at La Casa Mexican restaurant in Sonoma, where she cooked side by side with women from various parts of Mexico and learned from them. She visited Kennedy in Oaxaca to learn more, and they became friends. As her experience grew, so did her determination to bring real Oaxacan cooking along with dishes from Jalisco and Michoacan back home to Sonoma and the rest of the Bay Area.

She's succeeded admirably at El Molino Central, located in the former Barking Dog Roastery. It's a sort of test restaurant for her, to see whether the concept will fly in Sonoma and its surrounding villages of Boyes Hot Springs, Agua Caliente and El Verano. It's more of a take-out place than a sit-down restaurant, as there are only two seats inside under a speaker blaring Mexican pop tunes and a few more on an outside patio. The area around her shop is scheduled for redevelopment, and if that happens and El Molina Central is a success, she plans to be a big part of it, with a full restaurant and bar serving beer and margaritas to accompany her food.

The most frequent comment I hear from people who've tried the place is that the food is great but it's very expensive for Mexican food. Both observations are correct. In defense of the prices (most plates are $9.50; a single tamale is $5), chef Waikiki seeks out the best authentic and organic ingredients she can find. The meats are from Niman Ranch, the corn supplied by a single farmer in Nebraska, the vegetables are local and organic, and everything is hand-made and tastes that way. You are paying for unadulterated freshness and quality — and they're worth the few extra bucks.

If the Chicken Mole Tamales ($9.50 for two, 4 stars) are on the menu, start there. You'll find the masa used to wrap the filling to be steamy-sweet, the chicken tender, and the mole sauce — made from 15 ingredients — superb. My first impression of the mole was, "Ahh! So this is what mole is supposed to be." The green chili and cheese tamales are just as good.

This kind of food is filling, as you'll discover if you try the Swiss Chard Enchiladas ($9.50, 4 stars). The tangy tender chard — leaf part only, not the ribs — is joined by a chipotle-tomato salsa, sour cream and cotija (hard, grated, salty cow's milk cheese from Mexico).

The chef makes what she calls Crispy Yukon Gold Potato Tacos ($9.50, 4 stars), but what we might call fish tacos. You get three crispy tacos filled with salsa escabeche (fish battered and fried and soaked in a vinegary mix of tomatoes and onions, then spooned onto the tacos), lettuce, sour crea, and grated cotija cheese.

These laundry lists of ingredients don't really do justice to the careful, balanced way the ingredients fit together to create a whole, mouth-filling experience of goodness. Each bite tends to be sloppy with salsa, sour cream, Mexican crema, or other ingredients yielding up their goodness — but always in a nice harmony of flavors. The food carries a notion of generosity, warmth and caring because someone has worked hard to make it so.

Consider the Enchiladas Verdes Suizas ($9.50, 4 stars). Chicken is wrapped gently in the house-made tortillas and bathed in a green chili sauce, then topped with cilantro, cream, grated cheese and onion, with a pickled cabbage slaw on the side. It's not only a treat for the taste buds, but healthful proportions of protein, grain, vegetables and some fatty cream and cheese just to keep you happy.

You'll be happy with the Tostadas de Tinga ($9.50, 4 stars). Tinga means any meat shredded and stewed in a spicy tomato sauce. Here the meat is shredded pork laid on toasted tortillas, enlivened with little red, smoked jalape?s and cooled by lettuce, avocado, sour cream and cotija cheese. And just in case your taste buds aren't shivering with pleasure yet, there are pickled chilies there, too.

There's more, like Chalupas de Pollo ($9.50, 4 stars), real Mexican street food. Masa boats are piled high with beans, chicken, salsa verde, onions, cilantro and avocado. They're messy to eat, so just give in and get messy. If you stop in between 7 and 11 a.m., you'll find Chilaquiles "El Cardenal" ($9.50, 4 stars), a fluffy scrambled egg concoction served on tostaditos with tomato-chipotle sauce, avocado, onion, cream and cotija. And you can buy a cup of Blue Bottle coffee to wash it down.

To sum up: Wonderful Mexican dishes made with care, love and attention to detail make this restaurant the kind of place whose fame will quickly spread.

Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review for the Sonoma Living section. He can be reached at jeffcox@sonic.net.