Last week before I went to see the Canucks game, Dee and I grabbed a quick dinner at Verace Pizzeria.

The restaurant is very conveniently located at stadium station, right beside the T&T supermarket. Honestly, I have walked by this pizzeria, and never knew it existed until now.

We both shared a Funghi Pizza and a Caprese salad.

The caprese salad was a traditional said with sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was a nice salad except I wish there was a bit more seasoning on the tomato and the mozzarella.

The funghi had a mix of crimini, portabella, oyster mushrooms, as well as some fresh oregano and olive oil on the top. This pizza had a nice thin, over baked crust which I really liked. The mushrooms were delicious however it didn’t seem like there was a lot of cheese and the extra olive oil made the pizza slightly greasy.

I wish I could’ve tried more pizzas, probably at the next Canucks game I go to since it’s literally 1 minute away from the stadium. It’s good place to get fresh pizzas in gastown.

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Verace Pizzeria Napoletana and Enoteca
189 Keefer Pl
Vancouver, BC V6B6L4

Italian Kitchen is one of the last few Glowbal Group restaurants that MePlusFood hasn’t been to yet. We just need to go to Coast and the newly opened Black and Blue. This is the more expensive version of their other Italian restaurant, Trattoria, on West 4th, with Pastas ranging from about $16 – 25.

When I saw the menu, there were quite a few things that I wanted to try. However, we settled on trying the Pasta Platter, to try to taste as much as we can, without spending tons of money. Our platter came with – (their famous) Spaghetti and spicy Kobe Meatballs with Truffle Cream, Braised Veal Cannelloni with Wild Mushroom Cream, Pappardelle with Lamb Sausage, Cabbage Potatoes, and Rigatoni Pomodoro.

Everyone that I know loves the Kobe meatballs at Glowbal Grill, but I’ve never actually tried a lot of it. My brother orders it almost every time he goes to Glowbal, and so does one of our other friends. They also serve the Rigatoni Pomodoro at Glowbal as well. Anyway, I definitely wasn’t disappointed with the Kobe Meatballs and Spaghetti. Meatballs were large, meaty, and airy. There was definitely some spice to it, but I wouldn’t call it spicy. I think the Spaghetti was amazing though. The truffle cream is to die for and is one of the best sauces I’ve ever tasted. It does come with a high price tag though, as it’s $25, the most expensive pasta on the menu. This was definitely my favourite.

My next favourite was the Pappardelle with Lamb Sausage. The pasta was wide, and cooked right to al dente. I really liked the sauce and enjoyed the lamb sausage. The noodles were cooked perfectly. Beipas really liked this pasta and sauce, but wasn’t a big fan of the lamb sausage. She’s not a big fan of lamb though. The Rigatoni Pomodoro was next. It’s basically just rigatoni with a simple tomato and basil sauce. I though the rigatoni could have been cooked a tiny bit longer, because it was still a bit firmer than I like. The tomato sauce was delicious and comforting. My least favourite was the Braised Veal Canenelloni. It was like pulled veal with mushroom cream sauce wrapped in a pasta sheet. The veal didn’t have enough flavour for me, and the mushroom cream didn’t add much to it. I prefer my cannelloni to be cheesier with lots of ricotta and spinach.

Sorry for the lack of quality pictures. It was so dark in there, my camera couldn’t even focus, so we were manual focussing in the dark. I probably should have turned my auto focus assist lamp on, but didn’t want to ruin the mood inside the restaurant. Our service was really good too. Next time there are a few appetizers that I want to try, especially the bone marrow beef tartare!

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Italian Kitchen
1037 Alberni St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 687-2858

theitaliankitchen.ca

There menu consists of appetizers, pastas, mains and flat breads. We got to try many of the appetizers. We were given Vongole in Brado, prosciutto melone, malanzane arrosto, insalata Sofia, calamari Livornese, caprese Napolean, and a funghi selvatico flatbread.

The prosciutto melone, insalata Sofia, and caprese Napolean were served together. My favourite of the bunch was the prosciutto melone, which was just cantaloupe wrapped with some prosciutto, some arugula, some shaved cheese, and balsamic vinegar. Nice balance of flavours.

Next would be the caprese Napolean which was just tomato and boconcini cheese stacked, hence making it a Napolean. The insalata Sofia, a marinated artichoke served whole (but of course with the outer leaves removed). This was actually my first time eating an artichoke like that. Pretty tasty. It was also served with some salad that had very nice crispy pancetta.

The vongole  in brado were clams in a garlic and white wine broth. The malanzane arrosto was basically an eggplant parmesan. It had some marinara sauce and smoked mozarella. I think it could’ve used a bit more cheese and maybe a crisper top. The calamari Livornese was served in a broth with tomatoes, olives, and garlic. The flatbread was one of the better dishes because I love mushrooms. The flatbread had just the right amount of cheese.

For our mains our group of 4 ordered the Duck Risotto, the Snapper with Linguini, Lamb Osso Buco, and I ordered the Pappardelle.

Pappardelle is a wider egg pasta, usually hand cut and more rustic. It came with a mushroom ragu, smoked mozzarella, and truffle oil. The sauce was really good. Rich and creamy with good meaty chunks of mushroom – just what I was looking for. The noodles however were well past done, and quite soft. The middle was actually very mushy and clumped.

Beipas’ snapper was seasoned well but quite salty. The linguini was just tossed in some olive oil, so it was a bit bland. Eating the fish and the noodles together balanced out the saltiness, but not when they’re own their own. The broccolini was a bitter.

The idea behind the duck risotto was nice, but wasn’t well executed. I liked how the duck had a crisp skin, but was cooked a bit too long. The risotto was a bit soggy, and not really creamy. It  had a strong acidic/bitter taste. It tasted like wine wasn’t cooked out long enough, but the others were saying it was too strong of an orangey flavour.

The Lamb Osso Bucco was huge. It was served with gnocchi. The lamb was easily taken off the bone. I liked it. The gnocchi was good too, but I prefer it to be pan fried and a bit crisp.

You can also order platters here where they give you a couple different mains, in smaller portions, on a single plate. If there are more of you, you can try out even more. They also seem to have specials each day that aren’t on the menu.

We were given three desserts to end off the night – a apple pie/cake, a chocolate torte, and the highly touted tirimisu.

The apple pie/cake was the one I was most excited for, but I didn’t enjoy it. The dough in the pie/cake seemed a bit raw, and not flakey like I’m used to in a pie. But then it was also a cake, so, I’m not sure what I was supposed to expect. I didn’t like the texture. The torte, well, I’m not that into really rich chocolate. This one was a bit firmer, but it also had a cherry sauce that I wasn’t very fond of.

The tiramisu was good though as Ronald guaranteed it as the best on the continent! Again, not that big of a tirmisu fan, but it was quite light and airy. The coffee flavour wasn’t too strong, so it would definitely go well with a nice cup of coffee to end the meal.

In the end, there are a lot of dishes I would try on the menu. Lots of good ideas, however, it seemed like the execution of many of the dishes weren’t up to par. The owners and hosts are kind and welcoming, so I hope they can improve, and be more consistent in their dishes.

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Cosca
1118 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 683-8485

What’s the first place in Vancouver when you want a butt-load of pasta at a very reasonable price? Most of you probably think Anton’s. What else do you think about when you think about Anton’s? Usually long lines.

Well, I’ve finally went back since we started this blog thanks to a Group coupon that I had.Believe it or not, I’ve only been to Anton’s twice (including this trip). This time we made it there right before the lunch rush on a Saturday. And only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table to clear out. We started with a Large Caesar salad ($8.95). I was craving a rich pasta for a while, which was not satisfied at Trattoria. I ordered the Fusilli Alla Toscana, and Beipas ordered the Penne Antonio. Yup, these are pretty much the same pastas, except hers had a bit more ingredients. Our pastas were only a little less than $12 each.

I didn’t really like the bread we were given, it’s just a bun that didn’t seem very fresh and the crust was quite tough. Our salad was actually pretty good, but we should’ve ordered just the regular size for two people. What I liked the most about the Caesar salad were the croutons. They were freshly toasted, and quite light and airy. They were also very buttery.

My pasta was Fusilli with chicken, mushrooms in a savoury white wine pesto cream sauce. This has my favourite things in a pasta – chicken, mushrooms, and pesto. Fusilli is a pasta similar to Rotini or corkscrews, but it’s a little bit thicker, at least that’s what it seemed like. I liked it because I really wanted a creamy starchy pasta dish. First of all, the pasta was good. It was a little overcooked and didn’t have much bite left to it. It was kind of starchy but I didn’t mind that. I really liked the sauce too. It coated the pasta nicely, it was creamy with a nice basil flavour. Now the one bad thing was that the chicken was way over cooked and pretty tough and dry.

The Penne Antonio came with chicken, mushroom, fresh tomatoes, feta, in a dill pesto cream sauce. Pretty much the same thing but it had chunks of feta cheese, and tomatoes. It also had a dill pesto sauce, but I didn’t get that dill flavour from the few bites that I had. Her chicken was overcooked and dry too. But overall she was pleased with her meal.

Overall, my pasta craving was satisfied and it really filled me up for a really good price. The dinner portions are even bigger, and only a few bucks more. It’s no wonder that Anton’s is such a popular placee. Pretty good pasta, for a good price, and huge quantity. I don’t think I’d ever win a pen from this place, because usually I have enough left overs for a few decent sized meals. We didn’t even finish our lunch pastas.

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Anton’s Pasta Bar
4260 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC

(604) 299-1610

www.antonspastabar.com

Trattoria Italian Kitchen has $10 pastas every Tuesday! Yes, every Tuesday Trattoria has $10 pasta specials, so my friends and I took advantage of this deal and went to try out this Italian kitchen.

After we sat down, the waitress told us that every single pasta on the menu were $10 dollars except the one with lobsters. I decided to get something off the menu and got the pasta special of the day: Fettuccine with Pancetta & artichoke hearts. My friends got the Garganelli, Orecchiette, and the Gnocchi Aglio e Olio.

The pastas came really fast. It was probably because we were there quit early. My fetticcine pasta with pancetta and artichoke hearts was pretty good. The pasta was cooked perfectly, it had a lot of pancetta and artichoke hearts. It was a tiny bit spicy, which was really nice. I did find it to be a little bit oily, but overall it was a good pasta.

I enjoyed my pasta a lot but the Gnocchi Aglio e Olio was a even better pasta. It was really yummy. The gnocchi were really soft, and they have really awesome fried and crispy ends from cooking in the pan. It had really simple ingredients (garlic, peperoncino, olive oil), but it was very very flavorful. I’ve only had gnocchi a hand full of times, and this was probably the best one I’ve had. This was the pasta I’d get on my next visit to Trattoria.

Dee ordered the Garganelli, which had roasted chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and peas. And once again, his choice of dish was our least favorite. It’s not because the pasta wasn’t good, it just wasn’t as flavorful as the rest of ours.

Each of us also got desserts. My choice of dessert was the Zeppole, deep fried mini donut with dark chocolate filling inside. I imagined they’d be these soft donut balls, but the crust was harder than I expected. However, this was really fun to eat, and the dark chocolate inside was so yummy.

The Torta Cioccolata was a really really dense chocolate cake. It was very chocolaty, very good, but really really dense, it’s something you can consider sharing with another person.

If you ever want to try Trattoria, $10 Tuesdays is an excellent day to go, it’s like getting a deal without buying any coupons. It was a nice place to dine in, and the staff were really nice. I’d definitely go back to get those gnocchi.

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Trattoria Italian Kitchen
1850 W 4th Ave
Vancouver, BC V6J
(604) 732-1441
www.trattoriakitchen.ca

My brother and his wife took me out for my birthday (a month overdue!), and I chose Cioppino’s because I was craving pasta for the past few days. We didn’t make any reservations, and arrived at Cioppino’s at about 6:30PM. Although only a few tables were filled at the time, all of them were reserved. We had to sit at the bar. Felt a bit weird with so many open tables, but it did fill up as we ate dinner.

We were served bread with a strange garlic butter, along with glazed, roasted almonds when we were seated. The bread’s crust was way too tough for me, and the butter had a strange grainy texture. The roasted almonds were really good though.

We started with the Zucchini Blossoms with buffalo mozzarella which was a chef’s special of the day. The zucchini blossoms were stuffed with mozzarella, then battered and fried. It was served with some zucchini slices, and I think a balsamic reduction. The blossoms were really delicate. Crisp and light batter, with the blossom and an equally light cheese inside. I ordered this because I remember seeing Mario Batali cook these on Iron Chef and his TV show, and I wanted to try it. Our server had some crazy one-handed spoon and fork skills to serve us the dish. It’s nice that they have specials each day, but they usually don’t disclose the price up front when you ask for it, and it doesn’t seem like the restaurant where you ask about prices. Our 3 small pieces turned out to be $25. We thought it would be closer to about $18, like most of the other appetizers.

For my main, I ordered the Garganelli ($25). My brother ordered the Risotto ($32), and my sister-in-law ordered the Gnocchi ($25). I wasn’t sure what type of pasta my Garganelli was when I ordered it, but it was very similar to penne. It was served with a rich and cheesy cream sauce with porcini mushrooms, zucchini, and ricotta cheese. The mushrooms added a nice meatiness to the pasta, and there was plenty of it. The pasta had a lot of bite left to it, and I think I would’ve preferred it to be a little bit more tender. The portion size wasn’t a lot, but it was decent, and the bowl is pretty deep. This was truly one of the first times that we really savoured our food, and ate really slowly. Each bite was delicious. The pasta wasn’t “uber” expensive or anything, and quite reasonable considering the price of everything else. My brother said it was the best risotto he’s had, and my sister-in-law enjoyed her gnocchi too.

For dessert we ordered the Banana, Chocolate, and Caramel, which is wrapped in phyllo and served with a banana ice cream. This was just OK. Caramel, and crispy, flakey phyllo get me everytime. I think we only got half a banana and it was $12.

The service was very good. They paid close attention to us, and were quick to refill our water and wine glasses, as well as switch plates and utensils after each course. While we waited for our dessert, they even gave us more almonds to munch on, even though we weren’t finished the previous plate. We didn’t really want anymore, but felt obligated to eat the new ones. By the end of my meal my stomach was very satisfied. I’d come here again for another special occasion, and only for special occasions unless I get a lot richer. They also have a huge multi-million dollar wine list which made my eyes open wide when I saw all the prices.

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Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill
1133 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 688-7466

http://www.cioppinosyaletown.com/

If you’re looking for a place for a quick drink and a quick bite, Goldies Rustic Pizza is one of those places for you. Goldies Rustic Pizza is a bar type pizza joint with a take out window on Pender street.

The take out window is for pizza by the slice. If you are dining in, you could order a whole pie, or get one slice of pizza with a pint of beer for $8 dollars. Pizza and beer deal, how can you pass that up?

There were about 8 different types of pizzas. I got the Roasted Chicken, and Mushroom pizzas. Yes, I got the pizza and beer deal, twice.

I guess I could understand the ‘Rustic’ part of the restaurant name. Pizzas here had super thin crusts, and with nicely charred bottom for ‘Artisan feel’. They used both white wheat and whole wheat crusts. There were fairly generous on the portions of chicken on the the chicken pizza. Both the Roasted Chicken, and the Mushroom pizzas were nice considering they were already made and just got re-heated to order. I preferred the chicken pizza over the mushrooms and also a little bit more cheese on the pizzas would have been nicer.

Michael, the bartender/waiter was very energetic and friendly. This was a super casual place and a nice little dive to go and have a chat, drink and eat.

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Goldies Rustic Pizza
605 West Pender Street,
Vancouver, BC V6B
(604) 681-0650

After a long crowded Sunday at Eat Vancouver, and a meeting, and walking all around Gas Town trying to find a place to eat, we finally found Al Porto. It was really a last resort, as Judas Goat was closed, Alibi Room was closed, and Guu had a 45 minute wait. I was semi excited because I would finally get to use my Entertainment Book to save some money and make our book worth it. By the time we got here, we were really hungry, and some of us were a bit grumpy.

The dining room wasn’t that busy, but our waiter, who I think was also a manager said that they were short staffed, and that he may have to help out the kitchen occasionally. After we placed our order, they served us two kinds of bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I had the Veal Lasagna which was mediocre at best. I’d say it was a bit better than a frozen lasagna. I think it needed more meat, and had a more creaminess to it from ether more cheese or a better beschamel. I guess I may have been spoiled by a lasagna that my friend makes which is the best I’ve ever had. This doesn’t come close.

One friend ordered the Lobster Bisque, and Mussels. And my other friends ordered an Italian Sausage Penne, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Linguine Carbonara, and a Seafood Canneloni. The Lobster Bisque was good, and the mussels were pretty good too, though not nearly the best she’s ever had (she’s a hard marker!). The Linguine Carbonara was too salty. I took a tally of what my friends had to say and they all said either 2.5 to 3 out of 5.

By the end of our service, it seemed like our waiter was a bit irritated. We did have an coupon which gave us one free entree, but sadl it was placed on the lowest price one, which was actually an appetizer. Overall, there was nothing “wow” about this restaurant. If you are in the area, and you have an Entertainment Book card, you can get one of your entrees for free. I wouldn’t say stay away, but honestly, it’s just another restaurant out there.

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Al Porto
321 Water St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 683-8376

http://www.alporto.ca

We visited Cardero Bottega after an hour of rollerblading around the seawall at Stanley Park. I was pretty excited to get to visit this place because I love a good sandwich, and this place has pretty high ratings for its food.

The location of this deli is a little odd. It is embedded in the residential area on the west end of Vancouver. In a way it’s hard to find because there was nothing else beside it. In a way it was easy to find because it was the only non-residential building in that area.

There were 9 cold sandwiches on the menu with $7.50 dollars each. There was another reason for us to come here because Dee had a coupon. We were able to get 2 sandwiches for $9 dollars, it was a deal.

I ordered The Lord Stanley sandwich. The sandwich had rosemary ham, roasted turkey, marinated peppers, havarti, and lemon mayo. And Dee ordered the Monte Twisto, which was turkey, swiss cheese, prosciutto cotto, Dijon and lemon pepper mayo. On top of the sandwich, we also got some Feta stuffed peppers, and Roasted Eggpant with Cheese on the side to snack on.

The Lord Stanley sandwich didn’t look or taste as epic as it sounds. I was a little bit surprised by how simple this sandwich was. Although the bread was soft, but it was too thick for my liking. There was a good amount of meat, and the marinated peppers gave it a pretty good taste. However the whole sandwich all together was pretty bland, and a little dry. Maybe there was too much bread. I could have used a little bit more mayo, or marinated peppers.

Half way through my first half of the sandwich I was already getting full. Looking over at Dee, he didn’t seem to be enjoying his too much either. Actually his sandwich looked plainer than mine because he didn’t have the marinated peppers. I tried a quarter of his Monte Twisto, the Dijon mustard was the most distinctive taste to the sandwich, and it tasted even more bland than mine. Luckily we picked up those Feta Stuff peppers and Egg Plants, those side dishes were flavorful enough to get me finish the quarter of Dee’s sandwich.

Best sandwiches in town? No. In retrospect, I should have picked a sandwich with meats that had more tastes, such as capacollo, or salami. The sandwiches we had looked a lot like the pre-packaged sandwiches at Safeway. I should have asked for their most popular/famous sandwich.

I’m not saying the sandwich was terrible, it was not. It just didn’t live up to the regular price of $7.50 dollars.

Note: The owners were super friendly, don’t be afraid to talk to them.

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Cardero Bottega
1016 Cardero St
Vancouver, BC V6G
(604) 689-0450
www.carderobottega.com

..and ouch that hurt the wallet.. haha. I went here about 3 years ago for a company dinner and we had a 5 or 6 course meal and from what I remember most of the dishes were really good. I had no clue how expensive it was since the company paid for it all, and we didn’t even get to see the menu.

Fast forward to today, I went to treat my sister-in-law for her birthday. I called in advance to see if I could bring my nephew, and they said yup they had high chairs. Great, I made a reservation immediately, though I really didn’t need to. We got to the restaurant and it was pretty dead. My brother said it was normal for a weeknight thought. They’ve been there 4-5 times on a weekday and there’s only 2-3 tables filled.

We were seated and put baby in the highchair. Honestly, we felt a bit out of place as it was very quiet and dim in there, and my nephew would yell here and there because he wanted a baby cracker, attention, or an electronic to play with and drop on the floor.

After we ordered we were given some bread that was similar in size and texture to a baguette, and sliced into 1/2 pieces and a olive oil and some-type-of-salt dip. It was pretty good, definitely different from your regular oil and vinegar. The bread was warm, and had a nice crust, and soft on the inside.

To start we ordered the PORTABELLO IN FILO, which is sautéed portabello mushrooms wrapped in phyllo, white, crushed truffle , quattro formaggi – tomato coulis  for $15.88. I personally didn’t like the dish very much. You could definitely tell it was Portabello as it had a “meaty”-mushroom taste. I guess the quattro formaggi was just the cheese sauce which didn’t add much to the flavour, neither did the tomato coulis. The phyllo was crunchy and light. It was also was accompanied with a couple sundried tomatoes. Worth $15.88? Not for me – I guess the truffle raises the price a lot. I wish I ordered the Carpaccio for the same price.

For my main I had the VITELLO PICCATA scallopine of veal, minced garlic, parsely, capers, white wine, lemon, mascarpone – polenta, roasted bell pepper for $32.88. This dish got better the more I ate it. On my dish were 3 tender veal cutlets with a wonderful sauce.  It was really good and cooked perfectly. Originally I ordered this for the polenta, which was fried and crispy, topped with roasted red pepper. This left me a bit unimpressed as it wasn’t that flavourful. You could tell that it was polenta, as it had a corn flavour to it. The veal did make up for it though. I mean as a side it wasn’t bad, it was an OK accompaniment to the main dish, but it didn’t have a strong flavour. I think I’m overhyping polenta to myself because seeing fried polenta on FoodTV made it look so good. Oh well, the 2-3 times I’ve had it, I’ve been disappointed – I guess kind of like Mac and Cheese. I think I’ll stick to mashed potatoes or other sides. It also came with some green beans. My dish was garnished with a charred lemon. What was I supposed to do with it?

The Birthday girl ordered the ANATRA pan seared Fraser Valley duck breast, braised duck leg, pineau des charentes - orange emulsion, caramelized shallot – ricotta cheese tart  for  $28.88. I had a little bite of the breast and it was pretty good and tender too. My brother ordered the MERLUZZO pan seared sable fish, encrusted in panko flakes, lemon vinaigrette and white truffle oil, asparagus and wild mushroom rice cake for $31.88. I also tried this a bit, and found out I’m still allergic to seafood. Damnit! He loves it though, and he always orders this dish here.

For dessert we ordered the TIRAMISU  Kahlua, Gran Marnier flavoured cream of mascarpone, layered with espresso soaked ladyfingers, topped with curls of bitter chocolate. My brother has to order this, but this time was a bit different. It wasn’t served like a slice of cake. It was served in a dish (please look at the picture because my description sucks). Kind of strange. My first bite was unimpressive, as I got mostly the cream. Second bite was a lot better since I got some of the espresso soaked lady fingers which had a light cake like consistency. The tirimisu was very light and delicate. There were crunchy chocolate balls placed on top too. I’m not much of a coffee lover, so I probably don’t like this as much as some.

We also ordered the LA CREAZIONE – warm white chocolate cheesecake, wrapped in layers of phyllo, topped with sour cherries. I loved this one after the first bite. This was definitely better than the deep fried cheese cake at Galini. The warm cheesecake was a lot dense, heavier, and richer than the tirimisu, and the crispy and light phyllo added a nice texture.  The white chocolate cheesecake would probably be already awesome by itself. When you cut into the dessert, the warm cheesecake would slowly kind of ooze out a bit because it was really soft – though it was not runny at all. The strawberry coulis was also a really good sauce and light strawberry flavour to the cheese cake. The thing I could’ve done without though were the cherries. I liked this one more than the tirimisu, maybe because I am cheese cake lover. Each of the desserts were $11.88 or $12.88 a bit expensive, but not really considering the price of everything else. I’d definitely order the cheesecake again. We also ordered some Pinot Noir which was very good. Fruity and not full bodied. The way I like it.

Our waiter came by very often. We got new plates and utensils as we finished each course. He was very attentive, and came by to refill our water when we needed, and refill our wine glasses when we drank some.

Overall, this isn’t somewhere you can go to every week unless you are a baller. I guess splurging and treating family and friends every few months is OK, at least for me. Most of the food was good, and I enjoyed an evening out with my brother and his family, but having such a quiet ambiance (with Andrea Bocelli in the background), I’m not sure if bringing baby along is such a good idea.

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La Terrazza
1088 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 899-4449

http://www.laterrazza.ca

Wow what a huge disappointment. But maybe I set myself up for it, because the ratings on Urban Spoon weren’t very good either. But, I’ve been wanting to go to Capone’s in Yaletown for a while now. Mainly because they had beef wellington on the menu (though as an appetizer), and because they have live Jazz music. I finally got to go this past weekend, during the crazy Olympics.

We were all very disappointed. We made our reservation in advance for 10PM. It wasn’t until close to 10:40 that we got seated. The restaurant was also burning hot. Even after just wearing a t-shirt I was still pretty hot. Aside from that everything was slow. We got our menus, and to my surprise…NO BEEF WELLINGTON! Damnit, the one thing I wanted to try on their menu is not even there. Why? Because “it’s the Olympics and we changed our menu so we can push out food as fast as we can.” Well that’s a fail, because this was some of the slowest service I’ve ever had. Even the drinks took forever to make. Our waitress took just half of our orders because she knew the bar was backed up, but still. Don’t take half of the table, then leave, then take ther rest of our orders 10 minutes later. Not cool. Especially with the crappy temperature in the restaurant. We were all very thirsty. We probably got our drinks 30 minutes after the first orders were placed. These drinks were $10 and over. Yah, they are doubles, but not worth it…I ordered a Fresh Berry White Wine Spritzer ~ White Wine/Fresh Seasonal Berries/Sprite $12. Uh, problem here, I didn’t see any berries, except for a red liquid and ice in my cup. It was good, but missing one of the 3 ingredients!

Next, we ordered some food. I had eaten at Amarcord just a few minutes before getting to Capone’s so I wasn’t very hungry, but I wanted to try something. This place is not cheap. It’s actually way over priced for what we’re getting. Since my Wellington was gone, I decided to just get the Beef Carpaccio ($15) which was served with some mustard and greens and toast. The rest of MePlusFood just ordered some desserts – blue berry cheesecake, and strawberry mousse. Well this was another long wait. I got a beef carpaccio, and the waitress came a few minutes later with my toast. I didn’t even know it came with toast, but guess what. The toast was rock hard and obviously burnt. Yet it was still served to me. Awesome. The carpaccio was OK, though a bit warmer than I would like, and served with mustard aioli (which I swear was JUST grainy mustard. No mayo here), and warmed arugula salad, which was just 3-4 leaves of arugula on top. Not impressed.

As for the desserts. Does it really take 45 minutes to get these frozen pre-prepped desserts on a plate and out? At Capone’s it does. I guess the wait took so long because everything was still frozen and they were trying to thaw it. Fail. Cheesecake was frozen, and the mousse didn’t even have a mousse-like texture. The whip cream was also disgusting and melted.

I also got to try a taste of the Chicago Pizza, and that was like eating salt. I just took one bite.

We didn’t have a good time at all. Which is a shame. Service really is important. They had a band playing and they were OK, but way too loud when they were playing. And the decor and ambiance were nice. Just everything was ruined by the temperature in the restaurant, the slowness of everything, the crappy food, and the cost. They changed the menu for the Olympics, to push out fast, but if this is “pushing out fast”, then what the hell would a normal service be like? Would we wait 2 hours for our food? Don’t go to this place unless you just want to hang out and listen to Jazz and have a drink. Wear a T-shirt, and bring your patience.

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Capone’s Restaurant & Live Jazz Club
1141 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

604-684-7900
http://www.caponesrestaurant.net

FYI: The 1/2 star they got is for our Waitresses nice arms, and for the live Jazz and atmosphere.

Amarcord Ristorante Italiano is an upscale Italian restaurant in Yaletown. We walked into the restaurant at around 8:30pm on a Saturday without reservations. Like the rest of the restaurants in Yaletown during the Olympics, it was packed. We got really lucky, because a table had just paid right when we walked in, so we were able to get a table in 20mins. The couple that walked in right after us were not so lucky, they were told there was an hour and a half wait.

I ordered the Gnocchi alla Reggiana which is gnocchi with Italian sausage, fresh tomatoes, basil and white wine. It was my first time having gnocchi, and it was pretty good. The portion was good, and it came with 8 Italian meat balls. The meat balls added a nice strong flavor in the dish because the rest of the dish had a really mild taste.

My friends got their Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi and Gnocchi Cardinale (we tried all their gnocchi entrées). Out of the 3, I liked mine the best. The Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi was gnocchi with 4 cheese, it didn’t have a lot of flavors but cheese.

The ambiance of this restaurant was nice. It’s a nice place to take your dates to as I saw there were quite a few couples out for dinner here. The service was good, however the food wasn’t exceptional for an upscale restaurant.

Note: Make reservations! No coupons in the month of February 2010 because of the Olympics.

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Amarcord Ristorante Italiano
1168 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 2S2
(604) 681-6500
www.amarcord.ca

“This place is good! And I don’t even work for them.” – a woman walked up and said it to me while I was standing outside of Zefferelli’s, reading their menus.

I was craving for pasta that night, and Zefferelli’s didn’t let me down. This place has really nice ambiance, with dark wood furniture, wine, and pellegrino bottles stacked a long the walls. I got seated right at the window where I could look down on Robson street, that was a really nice spot to sit at.

The menu isn’t big, mostly pastas. I decided on Spaghetti con Vongole ($17.95) with a glass of Kettle valley Gewurztraminer ($9). The dinner started with house bread with marinara sauce. The bread has a nice crust, and really soft on the inside. The marinara sauce tasted really fresh, and had a really intense flavor, with a hint of spicy. It was really nice.

My Spaghetti con Vongole was spaghetti with clams, white wine and olive oil. It smelt really nice when it hit my table, and it tasted good too. It was a nice light pasta, the clams were nicely seasoned, the pasta was cooked Al-dente. The portion was nice too, not too big, and not too little, they didn’t skimp out on the clams.

I really really liked the Kettle valley Gewurztraminer wine. It was sooo good. It had grapefruit and lychee notes, very very nice by itself, and very good paired with my pasta. It was worth the $9 dollars. I really recommend it if you like white wine.

Customer service wise, the waitress could use some improvements. She didn’t seem really detail oriented, and it felt like she was always rushed. For example, when she was grinding the pepper on my pasta, she stopped and left before I could say ‘Ok, that’s enough’. What if I wanted more?  She definitely needed to pay attention to more details.

Their restroom was a big let down. With how the restaurant looked, I expected the restroom to be just as nice too. The restroom looked like a restroom in a mall, kind of embarrassing.

This place was family friendly. There were a couple families there, as I heard a couple baby cries during my dinner. It is also a good place for to take your dates, or parents to.

It’s a very nice place with decent pasta. Would I come back? Yes I would.

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Zefferelli’s
1136 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6E 1B2
(604) 687-0655
www.zefferellis.com/