Just as in Burgundy, Napa and other prominent wine regions of the world, California’s Salinas Valley is a patchwork of vineyards that spreads from the lowlands to the mountainsides, with a handful of small towns running down its spine. These are home to dozens of restaurants that nourish the wine industry’s many players, serving vineyard crews, winemakers and vintners alike from pre-dawn until far past dusk.
But instead of escargot, cassoulet and coq au vin, these establishments serve enchiladas, aguachiles and carnitas tacos, trading white tablecloths and mimosas for paper napkins, sides of salsa and micheladas. Mexican food rules the Salinas Valley, which, even compared to the rest of California, is home to a tremendous amount of these restaurants. About 50 Mexican eateries stretch from King City’s Broadway Street on the southern flanks to the strip malls of Gonzales about 30 miles north, and that’s not counting Salinas proper, a city even farther north that’s home to more than 160,000 people, 80% of whom are of Hispanic heritage.
This culinary concentration runs counter to the prevailing wine industry wisdom that there’s nowhere to eat in the Salinas Valley. To
