Italian Kitchen by Glowbal Group Fall Menu

There's no little old Italian lady in the back of this restaurant!

It's not that grandma's recipes aren't delicious and comforting, but they have a time and place and a trendy dinner on Alberni Street is neither of those things.  The stylish setting starts right from when you walk in the double glass doors and the hostess offers to take your coat.

The dim lighting is modern and a creates a romantic balance amongst the greys and metallics found in the remaining decor.  It's the perfect setting for an intimate date or birthday dinner with a group of friends.

Travel upstairs and you're transported to a slightly brighter setting with red walls and a central bar.  Great for business meetings or dinner with the folks.

Our meal started early on a Wednesday night to accommodate my newly adopted older lifestyle.  We sat near the floor to ceiling windows on the second floor where we could view neighbouring restaurants and the now famous Alberni Street and it's must see clientele.

First things first, you don't go for Italian food and get out of there without having a bomb ass red wine, which is exactly where we started.  We shared more than a few glasses of the Campofiorin (the 50 year celebration bottle) as recommended by our lovely waitress.   I've been a red wino for a while now and it's always nice to find a good bottle, with a fresh palette, and a fair price tag to boot!

Our first course was a delicious arancini with a spicy sauce.  The amuse bouche was amousing.  If you aren't interested in puns I'll do my best to keep them to a minimum but can't make any promises.

 

Amuse Bouche - Deep Fried Risotto Ball

Masi Campofiorin

Round 2 of 4 was carpaccio.   The complexity of flavours created a depth you don't anticipate from/thinly shaved beef.  In my view the unique aspect of this dish was escalated with the crispy polenta,  pickled onions, and Dijon sauce that accompanied some more standard elements of a good carpaccio.  The true star of this dish was its ingenuity, too often carpaccio is served with day old crostini's which leaves a desire for creativity at the beginning of your evening.  Polenta with carpaccio!  It doesn't matter how fleet your resident Italian grandmother is, the only way she's serving your carpaccio with crispy fried Polenta is if the polenta's taking up space in her fridge.

 

Beef Carpaccio

Round 3.  We shared two mains the Wild Salmon and a Truffled Spaghetti & Signature Meatballs.  Did I mention the truffles?  Not just truffle oil, but real, fresh shaved truffles!!!  Topped of course with fresh shaved parmesan.  Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had your waitress ask you to "say when" while referring to fresh Parmesan?  On this occasion we definitely pushed the limit!  Cheese like snow on top of our perfectly cooked pasta.  Typically meatballs aren't my go to but these had such flavour and played perfectly with the marinara that I would definitely order it again.

I don't want to leave the salmon as second place because it deserves better than that.  Served with crispy skin and accompanied by golden beats, grilled onions, and olives with a agrodolce (Italian sweet and sour) sauce. The salmon skin was perfectly executed and not oily, the onions were sweet and tasteful but not overbearing.   You wouldn't think by glancing at the menu that this would be a full entree but it holds true.  The portion of fish was sizeable and at the end of the shared two entrees we were full (even took some to go).

 

Truffle Spaghetti & Signature Meatballs | truffle cream, herbed ricotta

Wild Salmon | grilled onions, olives, golden beet, agrodolce, salmon caviar

Dessert!  Even on a bad day dessert has an opportunity to steal the show.  Perhaps it's just the kid in us knowing that we shouldn't indulge but that no one can stop us.  I'm happy no one stopped us this night and even happier that we didn't pick the dessert ourselves.  Selected for us by Freddie the restaurant manager was the Zeppole - homemade chocolate ganache filled "mini" doughnuts.  The not so miniature doughnuts were a delight to all of our senses.  They looked and smelt so good the table next to us ordered theirs before we even tasted ours.  The taste and fun of cutting open a powdered doughnut filled with rich chocolate ganache was far better than any cheesecake in town...I'm willing to run the comparison.

 

Zeppole al Cioccolato | italian style doughnuts, chocolate gianduja, vanilla crème anglaise

Whether you're looking for a dinner, business lunch, or a fun night our with friends Italian Kitchen has got you covered.  It's upscale dining in a price range that means you can celebrate life's little moments and still afford to pay rent.  I recommend a reservation and if you're going with a big group inquire about the platters.  If you decide to follow my recommendations and order the Zeppole for dessert make sure you get an extra seat because I may just show up to share it!
 

Words: Amanda Scott
Photos: Jenn Chan

Trattoria Kitchen by Glowbal Group Fall Menu

Have you ever been to a restaurant that had a great general manager? Adam Jeal at Trattoria is a gentleman and clearly passionate about hospitality. Young, vibrant and an obvious floor leader as smiling staff whirred around him serving equally smiling patrons discreetly loosening their belts under the table. We were greeted and sat at an initiate table by a window near the heated patio which was still bustling at night in late September.

In Italy a Trattoria is an eating establishment, less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. In Kitsilano, the beautiful West 4th to be exact, Trattoria is Vancouverite for upscale Italian dining lounge. Dark and sultry with red shimmering candles centring each table and backlight wine displays lining the walls. Romantic for a Valentine's Day celebration, which we've done, or casual for a couple drinks after work.

We started our culinary experience with a couple drinks because, you know, palate cleansing and all that. I went with the Fig Fashion, a take on the Old Fashion featuring the ancient Egyptian delight; the fig. Maker's Mark Bourbon, fig syrup and angostura bitters. This drink is very tart and may surprise the average patron in its composition. This is not your grandpa's Old Fashioned! I definitely appreciated the extra dilution once the ice started to melt a bit, but a very imaginative cocktails that hits its mark! The Italian Mule varies from its Russian cousin by way of grapefruit bitters which gives it an Aperol-esque Italian tinge. Stoli vodka, lime, the aforementioned grapefruit bitters, simple syrup and ginger beer. Extremely refreshing!

Italian Mule

Adam "the Real Deal" Jeal recommended for us the Feature Platter for 2 which Trattoria basically donates to its customers at $60!

• Veal or Chicken or Eggplant entree
• Classic pasta
• 4 Jumbo tiger prawns
• Brussels sprouts and potatoes
• Bottle of House red or white from 49th Parallel

For our entrée we went with the Veal Parmigiana;

breaded and topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. Let me preface those meal, as I'd be remiss if I didn't, by saying I am uncomfortable at the notion of killing baby anything: humans, dogs, dreams or cows. I'm sure I'm not the only one? I also hate the thought of full grown cows, shackled on conveyor belts, meeting their end by sledgehammer to the skull yet I devour the rarest of steaks viciously, primally, as though I landed the death blow myself. It's a tough tightrope to walk being a carnivore yet objecting to shark fin soup, for example, or the age at which age it's acceptable to harvest the subservient bovine's flesh. With that in mind I dove into the veal, perhaps only my second venture into the infant meat, though my mind balked at being asked to recall, and I enjoyed it. The Parmesan and tomato sauce bath it received gives it a distinctively Italian flavour, the meat was tender and tangy and it is quite delicious.

The Jumbo Tiger Prawns were plump and perfectly cooked. And we were still munching when our Short Rib Pappardella arrived looking all sexy. Braised short ribs, pine nuts, wild mushrooms in café au lait. Best. Pappardella. Of my semi-young life! Tender and beautifully seasoned short ribs swimming in a creamy, coffee sauce with fresh mushrooms and pine nuts. It would take a very cynical man, half a shell of one really, to find fault with this dish!

Because, in hindsight, he was trying to kill us by stuffing us until we ballooned into a giant blueberry, à la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Adam also suggested we also try the Risotto of the Day; Truffle Mushroom. Trust me when I tell you the platter is more than enough! The risotto was perfectly cooked, not too al dente and not too mushy; the perfect firmness! If you're a fan of the blog you know that I don't adore truffle now do I swoon for fungi, but this dish turned my head. Cheesy, creamy and rich and without the truffle overpowering it as it so often does. Well balanced, fresh and flavourful. If you read these words and decide to go and are disappointed I will eat my hat!

Truffle Mushroom Risotto

Feature Platter for 2 - $60

Short Rib Papparadelle

For dessert we had the Crème brûlée. I was once served crème brûlée, at a fairly upscale restaurant, that was little more than pudding, perhaps store bought, that had been blow torched on top to form a crust. The "crust" of this signature dish whose name literally translates to 'burnt creme', mooshed away as wedove our spoons in her. We were left with a dessert Bill Cosby might like, not because it was passed out, but because it was essentially a bowl of $2 Jello pudding. This ain't that! A hard crust that resisted my initial attempt to pierce its golden skin as though it was John Snow protecting the Wall. 'Thud' as my spoon feebly slid along the top like an ice fisherman failing to break all the way through to the water. When I finally penetrated its protective coating the light, smooth, lemony creme enveloped my mouth with a velvety brûlée decadence almost unrivalled outside of France. You need this dessert on your life, trust me! I'll often have a nice port or sweeter cocktail with my desert and we went with the Shaken Espresso which starts with Stoli vodka and Kahlua and adds in a beautiful espresso brown simple syrup. Don't let the martini glass or the name sway you this is an easy sipping cocktail that is both at home as an accompaniment to a dessert as it would be at a ski chalet!

Trattoria is a fantastic restaurant and the Glowbal Group is the best restaurant conglomerate in Vancouver. Period. They do casual seafood in the Fish Shack as well as they do mind blowing seafood at Coast. Glowbal Grill and its jaw dropping architecture, decor and ambience is the one of best restaurants in Vancouver and Black & Blue is right there with it. Give them a quick Google. There are happy hours and lunch specials and seasonal promotions to tempt even the most frugal diner and Adam's GM service is not the exception he is the rule. Franklin at the Glowbal Grill can make you feel like royalty, Mikey Moore at Black & Blue and Frenchy and crew at Coast delighting restaurant goers. Do yourself a favour and splurge! No one is promised tomorrow.

Words: Scott Allan
Photos: Jenn Chan