Frequent business trips to Seattle this year have padded my Seattle Dining Notes list, to the point where I have several eating and drinking favorites marked out in different areas of town. So when a coworker suggested we go for Italian at a place close to the Westin Hotel, downtown I was eager to add a new neighbourhood and new cuisine to the collection. That said, I wasn’t expecting to be utterly blown away by the place. Barolo Ristorante is a gem.

My coworker and I had an antipasto misto and a couple of glasses of pinot grigio to start (should have been a barolo, I know!).  Slices of prosciutto and salami wrapped around pieces of roasted garlic, mozzarella and etc. disappeared between sips of wine and chit chat.

Before long our mains arrived. I had ordered the pheasant gnocchi, offered with a warning from our server to “please not order them if we ever wanted to enjoy gnocchi anywhere else” and my coworker chose some kind of decadent ravioli dish. Both were heavenly in the extreme, the dark richness of my pheasant anchoring the pillowy soft gnocchi to the plate while her oversize shells floated languidly in a cream sauce.

There was no way we had room for dessert but then somehow there was a lovely summery panna cotta with fresh berries and a cafe corretto – espresso with a side of grappa – to finish off the evening.

The service was somewhat unpolished in contrast to the food and the clean, modern room but the staff was kind and it didn’t detract from the experience all that much. Next time I’m state-side, I’m going to be back – this time with a reservation since even on a Wednesday night they were full up, proving that Italian food done right is one of the greatest pleasures.

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Barolo Ristorante
1940 Westlake Avenue  (in the Metropolitan Tower), Seattle.

Today I was admonished that one should never order pasta in restaurants and while I see the sense of that economically, I can guarantee that there is better pasta in some of the restaurants around town than you’ll ever get in most people’s restaurants. Take Campagnolo for instance. They only have 3 pastas on the menu, but done perfectly in the Northern Italian regional style.  Simple, rustic and hearty, they are: tagliarini with pork ragu, basil and pecorino; ravioli with potato, sage and brodo, and arlecchino with fennel sausage, kale and green onion.

The tagliarini is my favorite and goes quite well with a negroni, as you can see from the picture.

What to have with your pasta? The crispy ceci pictured top is one of my favorite things to eat in this city, hands down and once we had fried pig’s feet in pesto that was sumptuous in the extreme. The pizza is also delicious here.

Also see my review of Campagnolo on Foodists, and a post on pasta in Vancouver.

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Campagnolo
1020 Main Street, Vancouver

Photo Credit: ecstaticist.

So I’ve dedicded to start a new project for dining in 2010. The tagline of this site is “Sampling the World’s Cuisine Without Leaving Vancouver” and so instead of of traipsing around Vancouver’s culinary delights in the random way I have been for the last (almost) 2 years, I am going to present my finds country by country.

I still have a bit of a backlog of reviews, so I may post those interspersed with the project and if I feel really keen, I may even post some recipes.

First stop on the grand tour: North America. Got any favorites you’d like to recommend?

My beef with restaurants that don’t take reservations is that it doesn’t make sense to the customer (me, at least) to stand around and wait when I know where and when I want to eat. But what if it makes sense for the restaurant? If you could be outrageously successful working 20 hours a week, wouldn’t you do it?

I sure would, which is why I was trying to be patient with Salumi.

The charcuterie shop in Pioneer Square is the retirement project of Mario Batali’s father, Armandino Batali, and for a while I tried to pretend that its popularity was celebrity-induced. But then Owen took a roadtrip for the express purpose of eating the specialty cured meat and it moved to the top of the list.

The trouble is that even at the top of the list, it took me months and 3 trips to Seattle to actually get there. Did I mention they are only open 20 hours a week? 20 weekday hours. This is great for people who work in Pioneer Square and want an awesome lunch. It’s less helpful for the rest of us and after I made it to the door a couple of times – getting there early enough to stare longingly at the greasy fingerprints still on the window, but too late to make any myself – I started to sulk. I had all but given up when my last trip took me down midday to an office only a couple of blocks away. I was twitching with excitement, then worry as meetings went longer and got delayed and when my client asked if there was anything else we needed to do in Seattle, I managed to yell I HAVE TO GET SOME SALAMI before running out the door.

There was no line, which was worrisome, because from all reports there is always a line. But no, it was open and I managed to order a sample platter of select meats. I thought about ordering one of everything, but visions of chucking cured meat out the window in the border line forced restraint.

And so you know how sometimes food tastes amazing only because you’ve waited a long time for it? I sometimes think that’s the strategy of restaurants with long lines, but that was not the case here at all. Greasy good salami, in all different sizes and flavours and all were amazing; hot soppressata, fennel and even chocolate! I ate them all happily from the tinfoil with my fingers. I can’t even imagine how good the soups, sandwiches and pasta dishes must be. Maybe next year I’ll be able to sample something else.

Salumi is in Pioneer Square, 309 3rd Avenue South, in Seattle.

I’ve lived around the corner from the Libra Room for a long time and often peered in the windows on my way to or from somewhere, but it wasn’t until I moved away that I made it in to check it out.

A friend and I were looking for a place to get some cocktails and snacks and this turned out to be just the place. The Libra Room is known for their jazz, and the Zoe Trio was playing live so we settled into a booth and – my friend and I both being proud Aries – grabbed a couple of Aries cocktails. Yes, all of the cocktails are named for zodiac signs and you can even get your horoscope on their website.  A little gimmicky, but the drink was good so I went along with it. A mix of gin, triple sec, cranberry and grapefruit, it was a good start to an evening, but didn’t go with anything on the menu, so I switched to wine when we ordered a meze plate to share, followed by an order of penne alla vodka.

The meze plate was perfect for snacking on with grilled peppers, artichokes, mozzarella cheese and bread, but the penne was the real masterpiece and I admit it distracted me from the band for a few minutes. Flavourful, smooth vodka sauce with just a little bit of cheese and I was so happy.

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Libra Room
1608 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

10 best of the Drive:

1. Sausages and whisky at Falconetti’s, a dark, cavey little bar that is also open to the street. Excellent handmade sausages and fries accompany a decent bar selection and good people pouring. 1812 Commercial Drive.
2. Old-school Italian at Arriva Ristorante. The Drive was the original Little Italy and eventhough it’s much more diverse now, this is still the place for authentic carbonara or bucca alla amatriciana. 1537 Commercial Drive.
3. The Ravioli Store for fresh made pasta and Italian prosciutto. 1900 Commercial Drive.
4. South China Seas for spices, hard to find ethnic ingredients and cookbooks. 1904 Grant Street (at Victoria Drive).
5. Coffee from Calabria, Bump & Grind, Prado and Continental. No, sorry, I’m not picking one. They’re all favorites for different reasons; Calabria for making me laugh with its utter cheesiness – 1745 Commercial Drive, Bump & Grind for it’s bohemian furniture and comfy atmosphere – 916 Commercial Drive, Prado for its sleek minimalist decor – 1938 Commercial Drive, and Continental for the smell of roast beans and the undercurrent of revolution – 1806 Commercial Drive.
6. La Grotta del Formaggio for cheese and sandwiches. 1791 Commercial Drive.
7. Tandoori Palace, which is as close as I can get to having a regular haunt. I’ve only ever had their channa masala, but I’ve had it a LOT. Comfort food. 1439 Commercial Drive.
8. Bacon from JN&Z Deli. Enough said.
9. Havana. The food can be hit or miss but the deck, the décor and the pitchers of mojitos will sway you always. 1212 Commercial Drive.
10. Mediterranean Specialty Foods for amazing fresh hummus, spanikopitas, olives and assorted other Greek delicacies. 1824 Commercial Drive.

Not to mention the many fresh produce markets, bakeries and little ethnic eateries lined up for blocks. I’m looking forward to checking out my new neighbourhood, but I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll still be making some trips back to the Drive.

What are your favorites?

Raviolino’s (short for Raviolino Gourmet Pasta & Foods) is known about town for their delicious handmade pastas and sauces. When you walk into the Italian food shop there are cases and freezers full of different fresh pastas, sauces, entrees and pizza dough that you can purchase to take home for an easy dinner or most are available to eat in store as well. A family at the table next to us was having a spaghetti lunch that looked simple and hearty, but we were there for the sandwiches. 

Depending on who you talk to, the eggplant sandwich may or may not be on the menu. If you order “A Sandwich” from just the right person, you’ll get this eggplant deliciousness pictured above, replete with eggplant in a spiced tomato sauce, lettuce, tomato and cheese. Our particular sandwich-maker had just started so there was a bit of explaining but persistance paid off and soon enough we were tucking into our sandwiches.

I wrote recently about taking La Grotta del Formaggio’s sandwiches on a road trip and while it’s not really fair to compare such completely different sandwiches, I will say that the ones from Raviolino’s should definitely be eaten in. They’re messy with all that tomato sauce, but definitely worth it.

Our intrepid sandwich maker, making The Sandwich for her first time:

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Raviolino Gourmet Pasta and Foods
2822 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

Last night a friend and I went on a bit of adventure. We rented the Zipcar Mini and drove out to Langley to the Drive-In. It was a repeat of a thwarted summer adventure and turned out to be a spectacularly awesome evening, but you can’t have a proper adventure without snacks and that’s where La Grotta comes in.

An Italian deli, La Grotta del Formaggio is a central point on the Drive for all kinds of olives, pastas, spreads, imported dry goods and (of course) cheese, but possibly their best kept secret is that they also make kick-ass sandwiches.

The sandwiches are fully customizeable and can come Meat or Veggie, with your choice of bread: full foccacia (huge), half foccacia, Portuguese bun or baguette. The meat selection ranges from salami to turkey to prosciutto (for $1 extra) and cheeses vary but popular options are provolone, havarti and cheddar. Then you have to decide on the condiments, and this isn’t Subway, ok? The condiments are the best part. Hot pickled eggplant, marinated red bell peppers, artichokes, green olives, banana peppers, fresh onion, lettuce and tomato.

I don’t really like warm lettuce and tomato, so a typical sandwich for me is half-foccacia on white with prosciutto and provolone cheese, all the fixings minus the lettuce and tomato, and then grilled. It’s delicious. This one pictured here is a turkey and swiss cheese sandwich and I did actually get fresh tomatoes on it, just to try something different. Still delicious.

So after having decided in the late afternoon that we were planning a road trip to Langley, I rushed to La Grotta, hoping that they were still open and breathlessly ordered 2 sandwiches. In fact I still had half an hour before they closed (at 6 PM), but the staff is always so genial and friendly that I’m sure I would have still had dinner for the road even if I’d been later.

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La Grotta del Formaggio
1791 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

BibiCaffe

I was first intrigued by the size of the bottle (only 6 ounces) and then turned on to the idea of a caffeinated pop that I may actually like. I find most American pop to be either too sweet or too fizzy (or both), but the Europeans tend to be on the same wavelength as me on this one, so I had hope.

At first blush, the drink was tasty, like coffee for people who hate the taste, or maybe for those who can’t decide whether they want a coffee or a pop. The vanilla and caramel flavours vied well with the natural espresso taste and subtle carbonation.

I was about to give it a perfect score until about 10 minutes after drinking it, I realized that I was having a great deal of trouble sitting still, figeting around and coming close to actually twitching a couple of times! I have a pretty high tolerance for caffeine, so let me tell you that that 6 ounces sure packs a punch. I like this drink a lot, but I may need to save it for road trips.

All Natural ingredients: Water, Neapolitan espresso, Sugar, Caramel, Vanilla and Carbon dioxide.
Bought at: Marketplace IGA.

If BibiCaffe is bubbly espresso, then Karamalz is surely the German non-alcoholic dunkelbrau (dark beer). In fact, on the Wikipedia list of soft drinks by country, it is listed as a “beer for children without alcohol”. Interesting.

There are also apparently some vitamins and minerals included, but I don’t think I got very many in my three mouthfuls. This drink is seriously disgusting. It has a skunk, malty fermented smell as soon as you open the bottle and that taste follows through with slight flavours of sweet caramel. Like cotton candy stored in a dank basement, or old socks with butterscotch candies stuck to them.

Like the BibiCaffe, there is only a subtle carbonation, which I was grateful for because it allowed me to gulp down 3 mouthfuls before I was completely repulsed and there was thankfully no burping.

Ingredients: Water, barley malt, glucose Fructose syrup, carbonic acid, coloring material E 150c, hop excerpt.

Bought at: Mediterranean Specialty Foods (1824 Commercial Drive)

My final analysis is that I think I prefer my espresso hot and un-carbonated – although I will have this one again, maybe in summer – and I definitely prefer my beer with alcohol.