Food Stuff

Anyone who often dines out gets used to a standard litany of restaurant choices—from “Soup or salad?” to “Rice or baked potato?”—and generally has a predetermined answer to them all. At a Mexican place, the question is pretty likely to be “Flour or corn?” My usual instinct is to choose earthy, flavorful corn tortillas. But the excellent flour tortillas at Xochimilco not only make me change my answer; they also draw me to the restaurant all on their own. Owner Frank Leyva says the restaurant can go through 50 pounds of flour a day to keep up with demand for the cushy, thick, hand-cooked tortillas. The homey, family-run restaurant—which just opened a second location on Auburn Boulevard—serves up hearty, basic Cal-Mex fare. Just use one of those tortillas to sop up the extra sauce from your enchiladas verde, and you’ll be as hooked as I am. 1901 El Camino Avenue, (916) 923-1411; and 4904 Auburn Boulevard, (916) 349-9495.