Nothing makes a neighborhood feel more like a neighborhood than a real tapas bar -- a place where you can drop in alone for a glass of wine and a bowl of olives or invite a crew to share a dozen plates.

Miami's rapidly gentrifying Upper Eastside has the real thing in the brand new Canela Café, a tiny 50-seater that's as cozy as a cup of hot chocolate. Cartoon-like paintings by Miami artist David ''Lebo'' LeBatard brighten walls painted a warm shade of the restaurant's namesake cinnamon. Folding wicker chairs and market umbrellas in the parking lot facing Biscayne Boulevard are an outdoor option if you don't mind all the traffic.

The young waiters wear crumpled T-shirts and jeans, but the service is right on, especially at night when Majorca-born manager Pepe Humbert takes charge.

Among the many hits on the 60-item menu are the perfectly fried, superbly creamy ham croquetas and the sensationally grilled asparagus -- fat spears studded with sea salt and glossed with olive oil. Garbanzos fritos, lusciously plump and nutty chickpeas sautéed with tiny triangles of spicy chorizo, onions and parsley, was another divinely simple and satisfying choice.

The cazuelita, a deep pan filled with tender chunks of shrimp, mussels, snapper and chicken breast, gets its punch from slabs of grilled blood sausage and pinkie-sized, hot-dog-like chistorra. The tostones, served with a heady garlic oil, are miraculously grease-free, and the octopus is tender and snappy without the slightest hint of rubber.

Even when there's no cooking involved, Canela does it right. Cold selections such as boquerones olives and a tapas sampler with squares of Manchego, jamon Serrano, cantimpalo and chorizo were fresh and plentiful.

The vegetarian tapas platter includes hearts of palm, roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, mozzarella, sautéed mushrooms, roasted eggplant and tortilla. Ensalada rusa, a snowy white potato salad with carrots, peas, onion and garlic, is exceptionally light and tasty.

The seafood paella with ringlets of calamari, shrimp and mussels and snapper was buttery and well-seasoned, though it should have come off the stove a bit sooner to preserve more bite in the grains of Valencia rice.

There is no real wine list, but waiters offer a dozen value-priced bottles ($20-$50) and glasses ($4-$7) from Argentina, Chile and Spain. We had a stunning 2004 Conde de Alba Albariño for $30 and a fantastic Rioja Riserva for $25. There's also sangria flavored with orange, cinnamon and guava, and a sparkling version with cava, strawberries and apples.

The food is markedly better at dinner, but the daytime offerings are for the most part competent and convincing. Exceptions included a chicken empanada with a dry filling and undercooked crust. A gorgeous slab of churrasco was stone cold when it hit the table, but divine after we sent it back for more cooking. It came with moist, light rice and deeply smoky black beans that were the best I've had in Miami.

When it comes to dessert, you may want to feign indecisiveness. When our table of four truly couldn't decide among six choices one evening, the waiter brought a sampling of them all. The flan, chocolate mousse cake and brazo gitano with whiskey and dulce de leche were fine; the almond torte was out of this world.

Even after two visits with lots of hungry friends, there's much more on the menu I'd like to try. I don't feel frustrated, though; this is the kind of place you know you'll return to again and again.