Suck it, Tony Roma's

- Photo by Jenny Montgomery

Isn’t “Restaurant Row” an exciting marketing term? Specifically, “Old California Restaurant Row” in San Marcos? It brings to mind mission-style eateries with a patina of history. But the reality is, the biggest player on the Row’s welcoming sign is Tony Roma’s. (Seriously, those are still around?) However, venture back a bit into the strip of restaurants and parking lots along San Marcos Boulevard and you’ll find a few places worth seeking out when you’re dining in the upper reaches of North County.

Canapés is an exceptionally friendly eatery with a variety of tastes from around the world, designed to encourage sampling from the popular small-plates concept. Really, the “Tastes” that make up the lion’s share of the menu is a host of tasty appetizers. Considering the appetizer part of a menu usually has the most unique and experimental flavors in a restaurant, I like this idea.

But I wouldn’t call Canapés experimental. There’s no culinary ground being broken here—no foams or molecular gastronomy. The menu is filled with delicious and mostly familiar options that might seem uninspired in a hipster North Park eatery, but in the heart of San Marcos, it’s nice to find a place that’s stepping up the food game beyond pizza, ribs and French fries.

True to the restaurant’s name, there are a number of canapés on the menu, including crab covered in Irish cheddar with a Sriracha-cream sauce, as well as ones with Brie and booze-soaked raisins. I opted for a more traditional smoked-salmon canapé and was delighted by its homey freshness. The salmon was nicely dressed with dill and lemon zest that made the whole bite clean and meaty. The prosciutto-wrapped shrimp was another can’t-screw-up treat, with a garlic dill aioli that made a creamy complement for shrimp dipping.

One of the nights we visited, the staff was pulling double-duty—the chef had gone down with a serious illness—and the servers had spent part of their day prepping that evening’s dinner service. Sadly for us, this meant things like the Basque Green Beans (with bacon, hardboiled egg and red onion) and some of the creative non-sushi rolls were unavailable. But I had to give our servers points for their enthusiasm and pluck in the face of a severe dinner-hour challenge.

We regrouped and, instead of a roll, opted for a flatbread pizza. A lover of all things Iberian, I ordered the Spanish pizza, served with Spanish chorizo, Asiago cheese and red onion. I would have liked it a bit hotter when it arrived at my table, but it was flavorful, and knowing what was happening behind the line, the temperature was forgivable. Plus, anytime I can get chorizo in something other than my scrambled eggs, I’m a happy lady.

I loved the Hungarian paprika-mushroom soup, a warm and welcome change to most restaurant soup options. The mushrooms were gleefully doing the backstroke in a sour-cream bath, with splatters of warm paprika buoying the whole bowl. With crusty bread and a glass of punchy white, this was the best part of the meal.

I never turn down a stuffed mushroom, and the ones on Canapés menu were almost comically ugly on the plate. From stuffing to shell, they were a shiny, lacquered black color only a hobbit could love. There’s no real nuance to the stuffing, just parm, herbs and bread crumbs, but the taste going down was earthy, tender and creamy, and that’s enough to satisfy on a cool San Marcos night.

Canapés may be in a commercial strip that has seen flashier days, but the flavors are earnest and the service is attentive, and the welcoming environment gives the burgeoning North County food scene a belly-pleasing option.    

Write to jennym@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.