You wouldn’t look at the old Cenex Gas Station in Walla Walla and think that there is a five-star restaurant inside making corn tortillas from scratch every morning before dawn. You wouldn’t think so, but you’d be wrong. Andrae’s Kitchen is soaking the heirloom corn (that comes from Oaxaca, Mexico), grinding it into masa, rolling it out, and pressing their tortillas every single day.
Nathan gets here by 5:30 am every morning to hand made these beautiful tortillas (and one day, I got up early to photograph the experience). It’s a skill that has been taught to him by Chef Andrae, who makes several trips a year to Oaxaca, Mexico to source ingredients and delve into their food culture.
First, the corn is soaked in water and run through a grinder to create this beautiful masa which Nathan then separates by hand.
It’ a beautiful labor of love that involves very careful work.
He puts the masa through the press and takes each perfect formed tortilla by hand and places it on the grill for a quick hit of heat on each side to finish them off.
Just a quick turn on the grill and these beauties are done!
Thank you Nathan for letting me capture this incredibly cool experience! Now you know just how much love goes into every single taco here!
Nathan makes it look easy! Not surprised, the best BBQ I’ve ever tried was at a gas station in Boerne, TX! I look forward to trying the tortillas at Andrae’s Kitchen.
You will love them! Thanks for reading Paul!