By Virginia Miller
I remember the early days when Canela was immediately a cozy, inviting neighborhood Spanish restaurant. Chef Mat Schuster opened the tapas and wine bar more than a decade ago on the ever-bustling Market Street in the heart of the Castro, offering an impressive array of small plates and also extensive offerings of sherry, vermut (Spanish vermouth), sidra (cider), and Spanish wines and beers.
Now 12 years on, Canela has become a communal Castro institution. You can feel it from the regulars and diners, from our gracious server and from Chef Mat’s nurturing cooking. The warmth almost rolled out onto Market Street with an “all are welcome here” vibe, and while there are more finessed and hip places, none are quite like Canela.
Mat’s partner Paco is from Spain and certainly a key inspiration behind Canela. I had a brilliant time eating around the region of Andalucia in Spain this summer, where Paco’s mother hails from. Pre-Canela, she shared some of her home recipes with Mat as they traveled around Spain gathering more regional knowledge. In this, the roots of Canela were born.
In the worst of pandemic, Schuster also got creative with at-home paella and brunch kits, bright spots in a dark time. They still sell an array of take-home kits, from gourmet popcorn to fondue. Canela leads cooking classes for team buyouts and also operates as full-on gourmet shop selling Spanish foods, cookware, knives, wines, vermut and beyond.
The restaurant goes heavy on tapas, or small shared plates, ideal with all the robust drink choices. But also with Schuster’s paella offerings large enough for multiple people, from a mushroom saffron vegetarian paella to seafood and chorizo-laden version.
Over Halloween week, Canela was a relaxed party, packed with people in costumes coming and going to parties, including a memorable guy in a hospital gown dragging a medical pole with faux blood bags hanging from it marked “whiskey” and “gin.” Canela’s sweet staff were likewise all dressed up with makeup and costumes, imparting good cheer in a space peppered with Halloween decorations, like fake ravens on branches.
The best parties offer excellent food and drink. So you’ve come to the right place here. Key Spain glories abound: jamon (ham) Iberico platters, boquerones (Spanish white anchovies), Spanish olives and olive oil flights. They serve coca flatbreads, classic croquetas oozing jamon and béchamel sauce, and tortilla Espanola, Spain’s ubiquitous cold potato and egg “pie.”
Some of the most beloved Spanish tapas are done right here: fried patatas bravas (potatoes) dipped in addictive almond romesco sauce, and uber-garlicky gambas (head-on shrimp), here in black garlic with plenty of lemon for bright contrast. But surprisingly, one of Canela’s very best dishes — which chef Mat teaches classes on — is setas. He sautees delicate oyster mushrooms heavily in garlic, olive oil and dry sherry, resulting in a light yet flavor-rich dish that could convert the mushroom hater, which I used to be. Don’t miss it.
A special of steampunk chicken wings brings back that killer almond romesco sauce for dipping, plus a salad in fermented black garlic vinaigrette. Hefty, pan-seared scallops are rich with corn, bacon and saffron aioli stacked atop toast and garnished with a plump piparra pepper. In general, the dishes run more rustic than fancified, and portions are typically generous, even for small shared plates. Read: I got full quick.
Schuster also serves special tasting menus throughout the year, like his fall and Halloween steal of a $66 five-course menu. Starting with vegetable crudité and toasted pumpernickel bread, a roasted pumpkin dip subtly laced with smoked goat cheese and black sesame tastes like the epitome of fall. Another standout on that menu was squid ink sauce over flaky, tender wild ling cod, accompanied by cockles and calamari, dusted in paprika.
Digging into the wine list, it’s clear why Canela is equally a wine bar. You can travel around regions of Spain sipping rosado (rosé) to orange wines, veering from rarities to easy drinking wines alike. I wove from the dandelion-floral, nutty notes of a 2017 Viura 1808 Blanco white Rioja, to the sour cherry-floral depth of a 2020 Altamente Monastrell Azul y Garanza red wine. Two surprising favorites? The strawberry pop of a 2020 Casa La Sierra Maximo Abete Garnacha rosé (rosado) and the grapefruit, berry, subtle funk of a 2016 La Llaona Tom Rimbau Xarel-Lo/Sur Lie natural orange wine.
In the end, I’m most crazy about sherry and vermut (vermouth), which is often what I drink “off work” at home when I’m not reviewing spirits, paired with popcorn for movie nights and the like. Canela’s collection includes by-the-glass $12 sherries, from dry, yeasty fino sherry to nutty, spiced oloroso sherry. They also pour fab vermuts, like one of my favorite producers I first discovered at Canela early in pandemic when it first was imported to the U.S.: BCN Mediterranean Amber dry vermouth with its beautifully bitter hit of savory herbs and orange zest. Per usual, I learned of another new vermut this return to Canela: Fot Li Rojo. From Tarragona, Spain, it unfolds with nicely integrated, herbaceous layers of anise, laurel, sage and fennel.
We tried two dessserts. Their version of ubiquitous churros are fuhgeddaboudit-good, dusted in cinnamon-sugar, dipped in chocolate, almost dissolving in the mouth with subtle exterior crisp and warm, soft dough inside. A fall dessert special was an earthy chocolate pumpkin crema Catalana, a Catalan-style custard under burnt sugar, not unlike cremé bruleé. Over Halloween, an accompanying “Tub ‘O Treats” held seasonal popcorn and candies like candy corn, a colorful, “feel like a kid again” dessert platter.
Schuster and team have created something very special over the years. Dare I say, a familial restaurant that embraces the community around it while quietly schooling them a bit of the glories of Spain.
// 2272 Market Street, https://canelasf.com
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
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