CITY GUIDES | THE WEST
Amano Restaurante in Caldwell Makes Tortillas Feel Like a Main Event
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By Jamie Dutton | Feb. 19, 2026
Amano is built on one clear idea: tortillas matter, and everything else follows. Chef Salvador Alamilla’s menu pulls from Southern California and Mexico, with Michoacán and Oaxaca showing up in the techniques and the flavors.
Start with the chips and salsa de molcajete, which tastes like it came from someone’s kitchen instead of a prep list. Then move into the tacos—birria and carne asada are the obvious entry points—before widening out to esquites dusted with cotija and tajín, enchiladas verdes with tomatillo and crema, and a carnitas Michoacán plate that arrives with the full supporting cast: pickled onions, radishes, tomatillo salsa, and warm tortillas.
The space leans modern without feeling sterile, and the bar gives mezcal and tequila the kind of attention a steakhouse reserves for cabernet. Amano works as a weeknight dinner spot that still feels like a destination, which is not a sentence I expected to write about Caldwell until I ate here.
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