Page 38 - Ma 2023 Galveston Monthly

spiCY salsas
café canela
6105 Stewart Road, Suite C

When guests visit this family-run restaurant, they
should expect original, authentic, and spicy Mexican
food. Café Canela is owned and operated by husband-
and-wife duo Griselda Andrade and Carlos Chavez.
Andrade learned how to cook from her father who
assists in the day-to-day operations and keeps busy in
the kitchen—he makes all of the sauces and salsas from
scratch, using the freshest ingredients.
Originally located on 10 Street at the old Pearl Inn,
th
they moved to their current location in April 2022.
Andrade’s family hails from Mexico City, and she was
born and raised in California before moving to Texas. Her
husband was born in Guadalajara. The family now lives
in La Marque.
café canela’s salsas clockwise from bottom left: “I love Tex-Mex food, but this is not that,” Andrade said.
rojas; tomatillo, chile de arbol, and matcha. “All of our family recipes originated in Mexico City. We
serve only the most authentic Mexican cuisine.”
The salsas are available by request only: you must ask
your server for them. Each one has a different spice level
seafood sashimi salad with spicy kimchi which is ironic as Andrade doesn’t eat spicy foods.
Dressing at seawall cuisine. “My siblings tease me because I go light on the spice
on my own plates. They say I must be adopted,” she said
jokingly.
The chips are fried in-house and crispy and hearty
enough to stand up to any salsa or the house-made
guacamole that will cool your palette down.
Rojas salsa is pickled carrots and jalapeños with onions
and garlic and is “as spicy as the jalapeños are on a
particular day,” Andrade said. “Some days the rojas is
spicier than others.”
The tomatillo sauce is made from a small, round, and
green Mexican husked tomato-like fruit that is grilled
with garlic, onions and a special spice mix and then
blended. This salsa has a medium spice.
The chile de arbol is made from a specific Mexican
chile pepper that is small but packs a surprising amount
of heat into its small frame—they have a heat index
between 15,000 and 30,000 on the Scoville heat scale.
Size matters when choosing a chile pepper. “The smaller
they come, the hotter they can be,” Andrade said.
The matcha salsa is made from a fragrant blend of
toasted chiles, garlic, peanuts, sesame seeds, and olive
oil and is the spiciest of the four sauces.
The plates at Café Canela come in ample servings; often
enough for two. We suggest ordering the salsas on the
side along with an entrée. Try each salsa with a different
bite of food to find your favorite.

38 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | MAY 2023