El Verano, Boyes Hot Springs, and Agua Caliente are cookin’ (Part 2)

The second part of our short series covers the northern area of The Springs. (Note: prices are approximate; credit cards accepted unless otherwise noted.)
Heading up Hwy. 12 from Sierra Way, the first spot we came upon was Taqueria Los Primos for real Mexican food. This is the little restaurant in the same brown building as a beauty salon at the corner of Hawthorne Avenue on the east side of the highway.
A decal in the door window proclaims that the taqueria recycles all its frying oil into biodiesel fuel, one of the few restaurants in Sonoma Valley making that effort.
Tile floors and beige tables and chairs makeup the décor, with the requisite television on one wall playing Latino soap operas and soccer.
Under tacos, burritos, enchiladas and tostadas, Los Primos offers barbecued pork, grilled beef, fried pork, chicken, barbecued goat, beef tongue, beef head or sausage.
Various shrimp cocktails, a house specialty, are available for around $10, quesadillas $2, combination plates $8-$10. Breakfast comes with rice, beans and tortillas with eggs any way or with chorizo or ham ($6), and burritos run $5-$7. Big combinations with three special items are $10.
Mexican beverages include Horchata (rice milk), tamarind, Penafel fruit-flavored sodas and several Mexican and American beer choices. Open daily 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. 18375 Hwy. 12, Boyes Hot Springs. No credit cards.
El Cactus Tacos has become a new favorite in the neighborhood. Owned by members of the Robledo family, who have spiffed the restaurant up beautifully, the former ice cream/coffee shop offers seating indoors as well as on a screened-in deck.
El Cactus has an excellent salsa bar featuring marinated cucumbers and radish sections, and makes huge hamburgers and tortas (sandwiches). Tacos come on small soft tortillas and are piled with meat, sweet onions and cilantro, and whole beans are always available. Choices include steak, chicken, chorizo, pulled spicy pork, fried pork, beef tongue or beef head, tripe, fish or vegetables.
In addition to regular burrito choices, El Cactus makes one with steak and shrimp. Ham, Mexican cheese or sausage quesadillas are priced from about $3 to $6.50. Tortas may be stuffed with all of the above meats, plus one made with breaded steak; the “Hawaiana” with steak, pineapple, ham and cheese; or the “Cubana,” with pork leg, steak, chicken and ham (all around $6).
Try loads of kids specials, seafood, salads, club sandwiches, combination plates, ice cream, banana splits and Mexican sodas. Great breakfasts include pancakes, fresh fruit cocktail with orange juice sauce, fresh fruit and granola with sweet cream and coconut, flan, fabulous corn with sour cream and cheese and espresso drinks. Beer and wine are served. 40 Calle del Monte, Boyes Hot Springs, 707.996.7099.
Up in Agua Caliente, you can turn around at El Brinquito taqueria and carniceria, a small grocery store with a tiny, cluttered kitchen in the back. Paper plates are filled with food that can be taken out, or eaten in, on stools lined up in front of a shelf outside the north-facing exterior wall of the store.
My favorite item here is the barbecued chicken that’s cooked on large grills out front on weekend afternoons and evenings ($11 for two halves). You can also purchase chicken coated with their special rub from the meat case.
El Brinquito is welcoming to everyone. You can order burritos, including vegetarian, tacos ($1.25-$2), tortas (under $6), nachos ($2.50-$4.50), quesadillas ($5.50). Menudo is served on weekends, along with breakfasts including eggs, bacon, omelets, fruit and coffee ($5.50). Mexican beer and sodas. 17380 Hwy. 12, Agua Caliente. 707.996.4912.
Back down Highway 12, Taqueria La Hacienda is everyone’s favorite for authentic Mexican food. It has the most space and is usually crowded at lunch and dinner.
Among La Hacienda’s specialties is the enormous shrimp cocktail served in a stemmed glass that few people can finish and the mojarra frita (fried whole tilapia) ($10.50). There is a children’s menu ($2-$7) and great quesadillas, burritos, house-roasted chiles rellenos, and all the tacos, enchiladas and burritos imaginable filled with pork, carne asada, fried roast pork, shredded chicken, tongue or beef cheeks. Combination plates are $6-$11 (the latter for steak picado). Breakfasts include huevos rancheros, burritos and steak and eggs ($5-$9). Mexican and domestic beer, wine, wine margaritas. Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 17960 Hwy. 12, Boyes Hot Springs.
If you turn west on Boyes Blvd. (passing the Big 3 and Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn), in about half-a-mile you’ll come to the Creekside Café. The Creekside’s chef also cooks at Café La Haye, so you know you are in for a treat.
This is egg heaven, with oodles of omelets and scrambles every day, some Mexican egg dishes, salads from Cobb to Caesar and spinach, imaginative burgers and soups, shakes and espresso drinks. The only menu item over $9 is the 8-ounce New York steak and eggs at $11.95. Open 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Closed Mondays. 239 Boyes Blvd., Boyes Hot Springs.
Back at the corner of Hwy. 12, Sonoma Mission Inn’s Big 3 serves elegantly casual breakfast, lunch and dinner, including “spa cuisine” dishes such as a shrimp and vegetable wrap or grilled salmon ($13-$17).
Try the hearty chicken soup, cornmeal-fried calamari, Cobb salad, pizzas, and comfort food sandwiches from meatloaf and Painted Hills beef burgers to New York Steak and BLTs ($11-15). Fulton Valley organic roasted chicken and baby back ribs are also on the dinner menu ($15-$17).
Breakfast options range from Irish oatmeal and continental breakfasts to crab Benedict, breakfast burritos, scrambles and omelets and griddle specials such as lemon and cottage cheese pancakes, apple-oat cakes with toasted walnuts and crème fraîche, Belgian waffles and sourdough French toast ($6.50-$15.50). Excellent kids’ menu all day from pancakes to cheese pizza and fries. Full bar. Open daily, 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. 18140 Hwy. 12, Boyes Hot Springs.
And lastly, Thailand Thai Cuisine, where the menu features fish cakes and fresh rolls, deep-fried sweet potatoes dipped in coconut batter, papaya salad, calamari, soups, loads of curries, “drunk noodles” of flat rice noodles stir-fried with chili, onion, tomato and Thai basil with a choice of meat, prawns or veggies, and shiitake green curry noodles ($4-$13). Luncheon buffet on Fridays and Saturdays. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. 18350 Hwy. 12, Boyes Hot Springs. 707.939.8383.