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301-251-1550, fax 301-251-1553

Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.

Style of cuisine: Peruvian

Dinner Entrees: $14-$21

Credit cards: All major cards

Accessible (some seats upstairs)

www.Lacanelarestaurant.com (under construction)

It’s a short drive down Route 355 from La Flor de la Canela in Gaithersburg to La Canela in Rockville Town Square. But for Lillian Clary and her family, it’s a big leap. For 11 years, La Flor has been a favorite for natives seeking a taste of their homeland. Its 2-month-old sibling seeks to keep old friends and appeal to a new audience.

With its Spanish Colonial look — fancy iron grillwork, elaborate hanging lamps, high-backed wooden chairs, wooden tables, patio tile and evocative street mural fronted by a real lamppost – La Canela’s ambiance holds its own with any of the new Town Square restaurants. The name means both cinnamon and appropriately, exquisite. Two-thirds of the 102 seats are on the main level, with the remainder in the wooden balcony area.

A cut above Clary’s still-open original restaurant, La Canela offers a more sophisticated presentation and choice of ingredients. Liberally sprinkled with Spanish, indicative of their loyal Latino following, the menu includes English translations. Some ingredients, however, elude translation. You’ll just have to ask your server.

A paragraph in Spanish talks about the diversity of Peruvian cuisine, calling it ‘‘a culinary melting pot of extraordinary quality” and ‘‘a mixture of flavors and aromas from different cultures that have come together through the centuries.” In that mixture are Incan (Quechuan), Spanish and modern influences.

From the hot appetizers, we savor calamarcitos (baby squid) grilled with cilantro and aji amarillo, a spicy yellow chilli oil. Crabmeat finds a tasty home in a crispy yuca shell of the yuquitas. The calamar appetizer — tender, fried calamari rings, golden crisp yuca fries and sarsa criolla (red onion and tomato marinated with cilantro, lime juice and olive oil) — is a meal in itself.

Three different ceviches (flounder, some other seasonal fish or mixed seafood ‘‘cooked” in lime juice and chili) have their place among the cold appetizers, where you also will find huancaina, the famous potato and cheese dish.

The cut above mentioned before could well refer to La Canela’s top of the line rib-eye steak selections: chuleton and bistec. Or, to the dish we tried, the adobo, a fork-tender stewed pork shank, bearing the characteristic red coloring. Peruvian canary beans and rice helped ameliorate the meat’s salty flavor.

Lomo is a popular entrée composed of beef rib-eye tips sautéed with red onions, tomatoes and hand-cut fries. One diner, unfamiliar with the traditional presentation of fries, lamented that they were soggy.

No worry about anything soggy in the jalea, a deft rendition of lightly breaded and fried mahi mahi bits, shrimp, scallops and squid served with yuca fries and sarsa criolla. (It was reminiscent of our appetizer. With all there is to explore, I should have chosen more diligently.)

For a satisfying Peruvian rendition of a Spanish standard, seafood paella, look no further than the mariscos.

You won’t find pollo a la brasa, the signature char-broiled chicken dish from the Gaithersburg restaurant, on the menu here. You will see the classic aji de gallina (chicken breast and potatoes bathed in a Peruvian aji pepper sauce) and the Peruvian take on Milanesa: breaded chicken served with Inca style lentils and rice, fried baby plantain and topped with an organic fried egg.

Service was so leisurely one evening that we declined dessert (tres leches cake, bread pudding and helado). ‘‘We’d be here until closing,” joked one friend. But in all fairness, we were too full for anything more than a good cup of coffee. We had nowhere to go, but if you have a movie to catch, speak up when you order. Also be aware that the restaurant adds an 18 percent gratuity on parties of four or more. The reason: Tipping is not customary in Peru.

Parking in Rockville Town Square is still free at this writing. The Maryland Avenue garages even have outside signs indicating the number of available spaces.