Oaxaca Calling, the Home of Molé - Sonoma County Oaxacan Restaurants

Sometimes I get the urge to chuck it all and move to Oaxaca. I’ve actually never been to Oaxaca but I dream of it. Do you dream of far off places, too? Sandy beaches and sleepy fishing villages call like a siren’s song. Clean fresh mountain air breezes through my mind. I imagine the wafting smell of roasting peppers and molé. Hammocks await with a good book and a hunk of chocolate, lazing away the day in the bright Mexican sun.

Here now in Sonoma County, there are exciting new restaurants and stores dedicated solely to the thrilling cuisine of Oaxaca and you should take note. Oaxaca isn’t just the home of molé, one of Mexico’s signature dishes. This southern Mexican state’s food-stuffs feature both rural mountain and seaside village ingredients, a Mexican surf and turf, melded with dazzling slowcooked spices for complex flavors that excite even the most jaded western European palates. Oaxaca is dream-worthy and cool.

The first break-out Oaxacan restaurant is in Sonoma Valley’s Springs neighborhood. It is aptly named Sonoma Eats. Why would anyone eat anywhere else? This IS where you should be eating right now. Here’s why.

Start with Sonoma Eats’ dreamy pumpkin seed based hummus. Its cool on the palate and creamy while remaining lively enough to whet your appetite for what’s to come. If you like hummus, take flight down to Sonoma Eats. It’s a “must-try” appetizer.

Entrées arrive with a side of chips and salsa. Let’s just say this about salsa. Everyone who knows me knows not to let me into their house for one reason — I drink their salsa. I’ll drink your salsa for breakfast, too. Sonoma Eats’ salsas will take your breath away with precision and panache. The incredible orange colored salsa made my heart stop. The verde was an adventure of its own; pure citrus tones from bold tomatillo fruitiness that shines like the rising sun over the verdant Oaxacan hills. The rojo was equally delicious too, with mild almost paprika-like smokiness and deep complex embers of heat. These are spectacular salsas!

Molé could very well be the heart of authentic real Mexican cuisine and Oaxaca is the home of Molé. What I dream of comes down to this adventure. One can go to the mountains of Oaxaca and find that every remote village has its own unique molé charms and flavors, like sausages in Germany, cider in Normandy or wine in Sonoma County! In Oaxaca molé boils down to the number 7. A very few restaurants in the region offer a glimpse of the whole package by serving the 7 Traditional Molés of Oaxaca in one seating. I dream of going to the mountains of Southern Mexico and trying the 7 Molés of Oaxaca (look it up if you want more info) just once in my life, and swim in cool pools or mountain streams and eat salsa and chips all day.

The gloriously complex, creamy smooth, rich and delicious negro molé on Sonoma Eats’ chicken enchilada only confirms my firm belief that the easily accessible best Mexican dishes served right on our doorsteps in Sonoma County rival the best of France’s fabled “Haut Cuisine” or the high end “California Cuisine,” but priced for a regular family to go and eat out and try. $13.00. Mic drop. Sonoma Eats mole is that good.

Incredibly, there are now two specialty Oaxacan stores right here in Sonoma County! Santa Rosa’s La Oaxaqueña finishes the story later, but Petaluma’s super fun little Viva Oaxaca store comes first. The store is chock full of traditional clothing, cooking wares and delicious food items, all unique to Oaxaca. I bought a trio of Oaxacan molé mixes including a Negro, Rojo and a spicy Coloradito. The Rojo was calling so I sautéed a 1/2 onion, a tomato, a third of the sauce package with some stock, a teaspoon of cocoa powder mixed with a touch of sugar and then braised a chicken in the sauce. !Ahi Esta! In just over an hour I was transported to the rugged green mountains, a little sleepy village, a veranda and a candlelit table with little sides of avocado, lime, cabbage, and warmed tortillas for my molé tacos for the evening. Head on down to Viva Oaxaca right now. These authentic and magical molés could be in your own kitchen tonight.

One can’t explore Sonoma County’s Oaxacan connections without a visit to Healdsburg and the fabulous establishments of the Agave Restaurant and Casa del Molé.

Casa del Molé looks like a basic Sonoma County Mexican store, but in the back of the store sits one of Sonoma County’s most exciting little eateries. Over the open kitchen is the chalkboard menu with traditional Oaxacan dishes listed front and center. The negro molé is mild and easy on the palate in the Molé Oaxaqueno platter. Seafood abounds with a Mojarra frita and two fabulous camarone dishes on the menu. Oaxacan seafood is here!

Casa Agave is worth a 1st class ticket to get to. Tlayuda, a real one, is a rare treat. Do you like a crunchy, thin-crust pizza? If so, you won’t find a better pizza for miles around than this spectacular Oaxacan dish for the crust is a huge crunchy baked (not fried) flour tortilla! It’s like a mammoth tostada without the flavorless lettuce or grease - just the good stuff. On the Chile relleno you’ll find a slathering of elegant molé, a good heaping amount of mild cheese and here’s what’s special about the dish. When the melted cheese oozes out of the relleno and is mixed with the molé, you’ve got a delirious Oaxacan cheesy molé mess! The Camarones Al Mojo de Aho is a garlic-butter-shrimp lighthouse on otherwise rough seas from back home. The cucumber-lime-agave drink is as refreshing as can be. This is a solid Mexican restaurant with a flair that is unmistakably Oaxacan.

Speaking of cucumber-lime concoctions, the thrilling Oaxacan based Charro Negro food truck in Roseland’s food court plaza serves up a spectacular aquachile verde that may be the best ceviche dish in all of Sonoma County. Slices of cucumber, slivers of onion, and huge prawns are marinated in a deeply flavored lime juice, served in a large glass with a spice on the rim. All of the ceviches and aquachiles at Charo Negro are showstoppers while the specialty quesadillas are a “must try” for anyone interested in the cuisine scene of Sonoma County. This may be the best new restaurant in our county in the past year. Yes, Charro Negro food truck is that good.

Finishing things off, one must remember that southern Mexico is the botanical source of both chocolate and vanilla. Cinnamon, brought to Mexico in the mid 1500s as part of the Spanish trade routes, plays a central role in Mexican cuisine too. These combined ingredients make Oaxacan chocolate flavors dazzle like no other in the world. You can try the real stuff, fresh, smooth and delicious, from only one local source; in little plastic wrapped packages in the back of a sweet little corner store at the western edge of Santa Rosa called La Oaxaqueña. This singular store’s Oaxacan chocolate will cause you to dream of hot chocolate this winter, swoon about brownies and cakes, and carry your day off to the land of a shimmering chocolate fantasy. The thrill of real Oaxacan chocolate is right here at La Oaxaqueña.

The new Oaxacan influences are a spectacular addition to our culinary arts here in Sonoma. Revelations abound around every corner as Oaxacan flavors are impacting our daily food scene. While it may be hard here sometimes, and we all may want to fly the coop from time-to-time, our Sonoma County openness to the world is being spectacularly rewarded by our friends and neighbors from southern Mexico. We simply can’t get enough of these Oaxacan flavors and can only dream for more of the real stuff to come to our doorsteps right now.