CALIFORNIOS >

In his tiny, handsome restaurant, with just 24 seats and a single tasting menu, chef Val Cantu conjures up his own idiosyncratic world: Meso-American cuisine, both precolonial and postmodern. Cantu, who is originally from Texas and grew up in his family’s traditional Mexican restaurant, is like many who migrate to San Francisco: a free spirit. This is a restaurant where I’d take anyone from anywhere else, to have them taste what can only be tasted here, now.

Fish. Frijole. Caviar. Cacao. Doesn’t matter whether an ingredient is rare or humble. Each has many potentials, and Cantu ponders them all. The winter buri (a mature yellowtail) for the ceviche course comes from a vendor who overnights it from Tokyo; the dish is served with a sauce muddled in a mortar at the last minute, with jalapeno, lemon balm, shiso and lime. A tiny taco is wrapped in hoja santa, an ordinary Mexican herb, picked from a neighbor’s backyard a few doors away. The other cool thing: Cantu is a history geek. A recent menu includes various takes on heirloom corns, and he has researched the origins of each dish and variety. His version of the oblea, the ubiquitous Mexican wafer cookie, is made of paper-thin, dehydrated green apple slices sandwiching dulce de leche. He describes it as a sort of Communion wafer, and the Catholic reference is not casual. Corn and beans are at the center of this Michelin twostar restaurant, along with, perhaps, a trace of a culture’s holy spirit. Order: There’s one choice: the tasting menu of around 16 courses (currently $223). The pairings of wines, beers and spirits are as idiosyncratic as the menu.

3115 22nd St., San Francisco. 415-757-0994 or www.californiossf.com. Dinner Tues.-Sat. Reservations and credit cards accepted.

— Kitty Morgan