Canela- Mexico City Cuisine (El Cajon)

Canela has closed.  It will be missed.

mmm-yoso!!! a food blog written by friends Kirk, Ed (from Yuma) and Cathy.  Today, Cathy is writing. 

Kirk has been posting non-stop most of this year, all the while working a lot of overtime; he (and His Missus) need a vacation.  I've got plenty of places to write about and so does Ed (from Yuma), so we will be posting about some new places and foods we have consumed.

In an obscure mall, (anchored by Boot Barn) located South West of Parkway Plaza at Johnson and Arnele, there used to be a family-owned taco shop which had enough walk in business that they never advertised or offered coupons.  It was a great place that I never blogged about; a secret.  After almost 20 years, that family retired.  Around August, another family took over and opened Canela.Located at the corner of the buildings, it could be easily missed.  Inside is not too large, with about five barstool height tables and five booths.
 It is a walk up, order, pay and have a seat type of place.  It is a not a taco shop.  Yes, there are tacos and burritos on the menu, but look closely (the two thumbnails are of a current menu)..there are sopes, hurraches,  mole, soups (including pozole and mole de olla).  This is Mexico City cuisine, made to order and of high quality.  
 Eating in, a small order of chips and (house made) salsas are brought out while you wait. The first visit, a few months ago, had me only ordering a plain quesadilla ($4)...I had recently been to a taco shop that served a flour tortilla filled with slices of American cheese and was wary (no, I won't even post about it).  This was an excellent simple meal- the tortilla was fresh and the cheese was meltier than usual, in a good way. 
Returning with The Mister, I was eager to try an enchilada, along with each of the house-made sauces (which were completely different than the red and green sauces that are brought out with the chips-you already know I'm obsessive about sauces)($2.25 each). These cheese filled house made corn tortillas, topped with the mild green and perkier red sauces were excellent. (There is an enchilada combo plate I could have ordered, but they did not want to mix the sauces on the plate. I still don't know which sauce I liked more.) The Mister ordered a tostada bowl ($6.25), thinking it would be mostly salad, but it was mostly beef.  A nice, flavorful almost asada beef.  It was so good.
When we were leaving, there were no other customers and I remarked that I like sauces and was curious about the mole negro.  The nice ladies working gave us a sample to try. I could taste the sweetness of cinnamon, raisin and Mexican chocolate along with garlic and oregano.  There was also a distinctive nut flavor along with at least three different chiles - pasilla, ancho and smoky chipotle.
When we went back last week, the mole negro plate ($9.50) was ordered.  There was also mole pipian (green mole that is sort of tangy and with a spicy/heat flavor, opposed to the sweetness of negro) available.  The smooth, black mole was served over two chicken breast pieces with rice and refried beans.This  blended with the chicken and rice and was lovely just plain on a spoon.  The multiple flavors of of the mole were even more pronounced, probably because there was a good amount on the plate. 

Wanting to try a Mexico City Style quesadilla ($6), which is fried, there were a few choices of filling: mushroom, squash blossom or, as you can see above, huitlacoche. This was the most interesting version of a quesadilla because of the melted stringy Oaxaca cheese mixed with the delightful corn smut all in a perfectly fried fresh made corn and flour shell.
The light snack of a fresh made huarache ($6) was shared. This fresh thin and flat fried corn masa shell was topped with refried beans and the same marinated beef as we had with the tostada bowl.  That's a good Mexican crema on top of everything; much nicer than sour cream.

A great addition to the East County. 

Canela Mexico City Cuisine 795 Arnele Avenue El Cajon 92020 (619) 729-9952 opens at 9 a.m. daily (it is open on Sunday)

The beverages here, jamaica, horchata, atole and (above) champurrado are made from scratch.  As I mentioned, quality. 

Comments

[ken]

Thanks for the post! We love Mexico City style food, but would you say the cooking is better than Ranas?

[Nhbilly]

Oh wow, what a find. If only I could get some good corn smut in satx.

[Cathy]

Thank you for reading, Ken. We do like Rana but I think the food at Canela is a bit better; maybe because of the limited menu, maybe because it is new to us. The atmosphere of Rana is fancier- more for a date night (and that isn't of concern to us).

When it's out of season, I will buy huitlacoche (and squash blossoms) in a can- Goya makes both and I do love Goya products, Bill.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

That does look good - and different.

[Cathy]

Sometimes it is difficult to get the great flavors to translate via the photos, Ed. We've really liked the food here. Nice people too.

[LL]

Nice find! We had pozole and mole de olla along with a mushroom quesadilla for dinner last night. We liked all of our items especially the quesadilla. We will definitely be back to try some of those enchiladas!

[Cathy]

So happy to know you found -and liked- this little place, LL. The food is of such quality, we are trying to go through the whole menu by dropping in at least once a week, even if for a snack.