A few of my friends and I were scheduled to go to Sonoma right after the terrible fires up there, so we weren't really sure what to expect when we got there. But I was so glad that we made it up there to help the local businesses. It was kind of nice to be there when there weren't a lot of people and the local businesses were thrilled to have us there.
El Molino Central was a total unexpected find and it was fabulous. Even though Mexican food is super popular in California, when you think Sonoma, you generally think more expensive farm to table or some other kind of bougie food. El Molino Central is the total opposite. It's a very casual Mexican place that is super affordable. What I loved about the place was that the menu was authentic and the place was clearly run by local Mexicans. Plus for some reason, walking through the kitchen to get to the back patio made me happy because that's how low key it was.
Everything on the menu sounded amazing and had more of a slant towards enchiladas and tamales - there was no burrito or sour cream in sight. I ended up with the fish tacos ($9.50) because if they're on the menu, I'm getting them. We grabbed a warm cozy table outside under the heat lamp and the food came out fast and furious. The fish tacos were two huge tacos filled with beer battered white fish, avocado lime mayo, a smokey spicy salsa and shredded cabbage and radish. The fish was perfectly battered and fried - it wasn't too greasy but it had a great crunch to it. I loved that it was two very hearty tacos and not the tiny delicate tacos you sometimes get a high end places in NYC. I ended up splitting my dish with Neera who got one of the enchiladas, which was amazing. Everyone raved at how fantastic the food was and how it really hit the spot. It was quick, easy and very filling. It was the perfect intro to our long weekend in Sonoma and a nice diversion from the rest of the more traditional rustic California food (which isn't bad at all but it is everywhere!). Plus it'll definitely be the cheapest meal you'll get out here. We joked that we should have gone back a few times here for lunch or dinner and if we had stayed longer, I could have totally seen us doing that. Total bill: $80 for 5 people with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
Girl and the Fig 110 W Spain St., Sonoma, CA 95476 3.5 Forks
Girl and the Fig is your quintessential Sonoma restaurant - it's total California locally sourced chic food. There's nothing super fancy about the place but it's fairly well known since it's right off the main square in town. Despite the fires, the place was pretty packed when we got there.
One of the downsides of having dinner in Sonoma is that you generally have been wine tasting during the day, so if you're not careful you can arrive to dinner kind of tipsy and or not super hungry because you've been noshing on bread and cheese the whole day. That's pretty much what happened to us. We had hit up a few wineries before hand and even though we weren't drunk at all, some of us weren't really on our A-game. The menu is long and extensive and has a bit of a French feel to it with steak frites, croque Monsieurs, and lots of cheese plates. They had a great sounding Plats du Jour deal where you can get a 3 course meal for $42 but it was just too much food for me to stomach. The frustrating thing is that one of the 3 dishes was a Brussels sprout salad that sounded right up my alley but they couldn't/wouldn't offer up just the salad as a stand alone dish, which I thought was kind of annoying. I hemmed and hawed for a long time on what to get because I was sadly not that hungry but didn't want to waste this opportunity. I ended up going with the fig and arugula salad ($15) - I know it sounds kind of lame to come all the way here for dinner to just get a salad but we had eaten our weight in bread and cheese earlier so sadly I really screwed myself. I got this salad because it had figs and hey, we're at Girl and the Fig right?
The salad also came with pecans, pancetta, goat cheese, and dressed with a port vinaigrette. Honestly, it was a good salad but it didn't blow my mind away. In fact, it was a bit overdressed and I didn't really get a ton of fig in it. I also ordered a side of fries because I am such a damn sucker for them and they were delicious - it kind of rounded out the unhealthy part of the meal.
The main reason for the less than 4 fork review was the service was crazy slow. Even though our waiter was a very kind man, it took forever to place our order. We had eaten an entire plate of heirloom radishes and bread basket before he came back around to take our order. Also, I had them bring out a dessert for Neera's birthday and we all agreed on the pumpkin pudding cake and it just tasted like plain pumpkin bread - there wasn't anything super special to it. Maybe we just didn't order the right thing or maybe it was because we were in a slightly hazy state, but I found our meal at El Molino Central the night before to be way more satisfying. But Girl and the Fig is an institution in Sonoma so I would go back and try it out again. Total bill: $255 for 5 people with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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