Cioppino's

thee perfect spot to wine and dine...

Food:

a taste of heaven:
 Pan Seared Foie Gras with a decadent, fruit jelly

Christmas dinner #2's locale was a solid pick from the very start.  As Vancouver Magazine's 2009 'restaurant of the year', and after seeing and hearing about the divine eats that popular local chef, Pino Posteraro delivers, I feel like I've oughed to try this place eons ago!

Beef Carpaccio

We started off with a wonderful Pan Seared Foie Gras appetizer (on special) as well as the Beef Carpaccio.  I must applaud myself for these two picks as they were both phenomenally appetizing.  I simply could not have passed up the foie gras, as it was pan seared (and only the best way of preparing foie gras).  It was perfectly seared, melt-in-your-mouth delicious, light, buttery tasting and simply delectable. (I wasn't able to take a picture of the Foie Gras appetizer as a whole because the server had separated a portion for us individually).  Paired with a piece of nicely, toasted, buttery-soaked french bread and topped with some kind of decadent jelly - what I would give to just have a taste of this again! Definitely one of the highlights of the night.  The Beef Carpaccio was to-die-for.  Thinly sliced, beautifully-presented with a nice, light mustard dressing and topped with parmigiano-reggiano and arugula.  I couldn't ask for a better start.

Pappardelle
with 4-hour braised veal cheeks and porcini mushrooms

 For my main, I had the Pappardelle with the 4-hour braised veal cheeks and porcini mushrooms.  The flavour was bang-on, and the veal cheeks were super tender and flavourful.  The one complaint I had was that the pasta was a little undercooked (not al dente) and tasted quite hard, I must say! The other entrees I sampled were the Garganelli "alla Norcina" with boar sausage and preserved Winter truffles (best entree of the night), the Veal Medallions (yum) and the Potato Gnocchi "alla Napoletana" in tomato sauce and mozarella di bufala (mmm...)

Garganelli "alla Norcina"
(topped with a copious amount of Parmigiano-Regiano goodness)

  To end our lovely meal, we decided on the Warm "soft heart" Chocolate Cake with vanilla custard and ice cream, as well as Pino's version of the Mascarpone made with tiramisu, coffee macaroon and a really dark, rich chocolate sorbet.  The desserts were nicely-presented, very light and satisfying.

A lovely end to a lovely meal

Service:

Fine service - Pino also wanders throughout the dining room ensuring patrons are enjoying themselves - seems like a nice man!

Value:

Definitely a place for celebrations and what not - although I thought the pricing of the pasta was fair

Ambience:

Nice, elegant looking dining room with red-bricked walls, oiled paintings and an open kitchen, noise level was a big louder than what I expected, which I preferred :)

Overall: 8.3/10

Yay: Fine, wonderfully-executed Italian (and Mediterranean) cuisine, come here for the delicious pasta, their wine encyclopedia (!) and the romantic ambience

Nay: Yaletown - parking, $$$

***Interesting fact: Cioppino's has attracted some big celebrity names, like Jennifer Aniston, Bill Clinton...







Posted by: J

Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.

After watching the pizza episode on the Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate, my dining companion and I had the immediate urge to go and grab ourselves some delicious pies of our own!  Looking to fill this instant craving of ours (oh, the effects of TV!), we wound up at one of the better places in town for pizza - Rocky Mountain!

Food:

We ended ordering a reg. size of the 'Classic' and the 'BBQ Pulled Pork' pizza.  In reality, one pizza would've been sufficient because we weren't particularly hungry at the time.  Needless to say, I love variety and have really been loving bbq pulled pork lately :)

Rocky Mountain prides themselves on offering homemade, hand-crafted flatbread pizzas whilst using local and organic ingredients.  Both pies were very tasty with an ample amount of a nice, sweet organic tomato sauce.  Toppings were sufficient.  The pulled pork pie arrived adorned with sliced green peppers, red onions and asiago cheese.  I enjoyed the taste of it, with my only complaint being that the pulled pork wasn't spread out evenly across the pizza.  The 'classic' pizza was bang on - topped with marinated cherry tomatoes, mozarella, asiago, Capriny's goat cheese and parmesan. 

The flatbread crust is a combination of whole wheat and unbleached white flour.  A little bland tasting, but expected.  It's not too big of a deal, but I think I've had better tasting flatbread crusts.  I originally had asked for the pizzas to be on a thin crust they have, but the request was denied.  Not sure why this was an issue, but I'm curious as to how that would taste.  Overall, the pizzas were really good and the quality was consistent to what I experienced, on my previous visits.

** Bonus: Everybody knows we are sauce freaks.  Rocky Mountain offers lovely dipping sauces perfect for the crusts and if you are me, to dip every bite of your pizza in :)  On this night, my d.c opted for the Sundried Tomato Hummus while I had the Roasted Garlic & Onion.  Who doesn't love a bonus? :)

For dessert, we chose one of the daily specials, the 'Banana Caramel Creme Brulee'.  On any given day, I would've chosen anything chocolatey, especially their homemade Chocolate Brownie, which is to-die-for.  But on this night, upon hearing the words - 'banana' and 'creme brulee', I couldn't resist.

Though, it could've been warmer and more creamier in texture, there was an abundance of banana present and satisfied my sweet craving.  Though, I think the next time I come here, I would stick to my default 'chocolate' choice :)

Service:

"Eh" - I had a coupon for a free dessert and somehow had a gut feeling that our server would forget to take it off the bill.  Needless to say, this was indeed the case.  He wasn't particularly friendly nor super attentive, but it was passable.

Value:

The 'Classic' pizza was $13.95 while the 'Pulled Pork' one was $15.95 (for a regular (10"?) size, I believe. A little pricier than average

Ambience:

From what I can recall - hardwood floors, relatively spacious patio, open 'artisan' pizza oven situated in the dining area.  They have a nice play area for the kiddies by the washrooms, and offers 'pizza making' birthday parties!

Overall:  7.8/10

Yay: Come here if you're looking for a 'healthy' tasting artisan pizza made with fresh, organic ingredients.  They also offer 'pizza making' birthday parties and are openly accepting of kiddie diners :)


Nay: Pizzas are a lil' pricier than average...

La Buca

                                                    A fantabolous little Italian gem ...(is hard to find!)

Food:

Immaculate and very very well-executed in both presentation and taste.  I rarely order pasta when I'm out, but I do know when I come across a good (great) pasta dish! We ordered 3 appies to share between the 5 of us, and each had an entree.  All were so delicious and plentiful! There were no complaints of any sort!

We started off with their Carpaccio of scallops, grilled pork bacon, roasted tomato, garlic and parsley vinaigrette.  Scallop carpaccio is one of the best tasting things to have, carpaccio-styled, on this planet! Thinly sliced with the tasting texture as smooth as silk...combined with the bacon, tomato, garlic and a parsley vinaigrette - this appy was definitely a combination of a palate cleanser and appetite satisfier :)

We also had the Garlic Butter (Tiger) Prawns - which were wonderfully seared, topped with fresh arugula, atop a fine piece of crispy Italian bread.  The Cauliflower Soup with Truffle (one of the (daily?) specials) was equally as amazing - fresh, creamy with a hint of truffles and (be)dazzled with truffle oil and a hint of cilantro.

For my entree, I opted for the Tagliatelle Chicken Cacciatore.  The chicken was tender and well-seasoned, hidden under a wonderful bed of tomato stew, or sauce.  Other entrees sampled were the: Seared Perch, Risotto, and Crab Bisque, Ravioli filled with eggplant and taleggio, and the Osso Bucco with Mushroom Risotto.  The portion of every entree was generally given, all flavours were excellent with the Osso Bucco dish being the favourite of the night.

Service:

Our server was very knowledgeable, attentive and polite.  (I guess it's not so hard waving down your server when there are only 6-7 tables in the whole restaurant :) )

Value:

Very good, imho. 

Ambience:

Very small (only 32 seats), walk-through kitchen to the single dual-sex bathroom (which I wasn't a big fan of), very modern looking dining space with black & white tile floors

Overall: 8.5/10

Yay: Wonderfully-executed classic Italian fare, Lots of parking available

Nay: Super small dining room, Walk-through kitchen (to get to the washroom)

Provence Mediterranean Grill

"fratalian" (french & italian, keke) cuisine done right...

Location: Vancouver (Point Grey)

Food:
We started off with a wonderful Antipasto Di Mare which consisted of "scallops, prawns, clams, and mussels steamed in white wine, garlic, lemon, herbs and tomatoes". 'Twas excellent The fabolous brothy concoction was perfect and perfectly suitable for my palate - with just the right amount of garlic flavour and esp. when you dip and smother bread into it...oh my. Now, if you didn't know, I'm a saucy kinda girl (haha). (Well, we're both very saucy people - literally - we LOVE sauce). All in all, a lovely start indeed.

My main entree was the Wild Mushroom Ravioli (in the very same praise-worthy brothy sauce noted above) and it did not disappoint...at all. It arrived hot and the portion size was very generous (I couldn't help but compare the portion size to what you would get at, say, Cactus Club, or Joeys). This dish had at least a good 12-14 pieces of ravioli (vs. the 6-8 range of ravioli you would get at CC or Joeys), without skimping on the quality. Couldn't quite complain about the wonderful shavings of asiago, either ;)
My dining companion had the Eggplant and Boccocini Lasagna and as expected, quality of the flavours were very consistent with the other entree and appy, as well. Although the portion was not as generous as the ravioli, the flavour and wonderful tomato sauce made up for it.

Service:
Nice, prompt and genuine service.

Value:
At $18 for the ravioli entree and $15 for the lasagna, I wouldn't complain!

Ambience:
Nice and cozy. Great little "gem" of a place if you're in the neighbourhood.

Overall: 8/10

Yay: Great place for french and italian flare if you're wanting a nice, quiet bistro-like setting.

Nay: Perhaps it's not exactly the best place to hold parties for large groups?
** Interesting note: I thought this location was better than the (Provence) Marinaside one. Quality of food is a tad better, perhaps given the size of the restaurant, and thus, more focus is placed on the execution in the quality of the food?

Posted by: J