Spanish Kitchen with Latin Soul
A weekly dining dive into Iberian cuisine
If you’ve seen a festive party bus driving around the Gables, it most likely was coming from one of Arcano’s Noches de Raíces, where each month they spotlight a different country through live music, traditional cuisine, and specialty cocktails. Now, Arcano has been transitioning their monthly Noches de Raíces into a weekly Spanish Kitchen with Latin Soul, every Wednesday.
L to R: Corn fashioned & pasión y agave cocktails; bésame mucho in red lips
Juan Diego and Nicole Canahuati, proprietors of Arcano, explain their vision: “Our goal is to take guests on a true journey through Spain. Each region has its own soul – its wines, its traditions, its accents, its comfort foods. In Noches de Raíces, we bring those stories to the table in a way that feels authentic, vibrant, and approachable.”
This new experience offers a Spanish culinary journey with a weekly rotating menu, “Sabores y Alma,” along with live music and wines from specific regions. Guests will go on journeys from Galicia to Andalucía to Cataluña to Castilla y León, with more to come.
We had a sneak peek at some of the cocktails and dishes that will be featured in coming weeks. Their happy hour cocktails ($10) feature La Condesa, Mezcaloco, La Ultimate Palabra, and, my choice, Pasión y Agave, a mix of Tequila Joven, passionfruit nectar, lime, and cassis liqueur. From their main cocktail menu, my date sampled the Corn Fashioned ($17) – sweeter than a traditional Old Fashioned, made with Bulleit Bourbon, elote liqueur, roasted corn cocoa nibs, and saffron syrup.
To get some food in our system before continuing with the cocktails, we tried the Chicharrón con Tortilla ($15). Arranged as a tasting platter, they were crispy yet tender on the inside. We made small tacos with the tortillas, adding their smoked guacamole and pickled onions with a squeeze of lime. We also got a taste of their Montaditos (small sandwiches, $5-$7 based on protein), which vary based on the chef ’s creativity. We tried the spicy avocado cream and garlic shrimp, as well as diced tomato with salt-cured anchovy in olive oil, both excellent.
While reviewing the menu, I noticed the “Bésame Mucho” cocktail, made with Ketel One vodka, blackberry-thyme shrub, guava-coconut, and tamarind. The cocktail arrived in a sculptured red “lips” cup that was a little over the top, but fun. We also tried the giant avocado cocktail glass called “Baila Conmigo” ($16), featuring Amazonian gin, cilantro liqueur, elderflower, and pepino-poblano- spinach shrub. Between these two cocktails, I would lean toward the Bésame Mucho. While it is sweeter, it has a stronger taste than the Baila Conmigo, which is more on the fresh, herbal side.
After the cocktails and appetizers, we moved to the outdoor area and grabbed our seats just as Matia Espinosa kicked off his set with songs like “Despacito” and “Mientes Tan Bien.” Among other things, Arcano’s outdoor area – a dining veranda out front and a larger covered space to the side – is cigar-friendly, with outdoor TVs, Jeng games, card games, and a pool table. We played a competitive game of pool while Matia performed in the background, and after a couple of rounds, it was time for our entrée. Unlike the previous Noches de Raices format, which had a prescribed menu, “Sabores y Alma” is à la cart. We went with the Arroz Marinero ($35), which features seafood rice, shrimp, calamari, fish, and octopus – a seafood lover’s dream. By the end of the evening we were so full we couldn’t find room for dessert, but that just gives us another reason to return for more fun.