All Entries in the "Italian" Category

Il Nido on Thurlow and Robson, Vancouver

Weekend is getting more precious to me these days. Work had been building up with just a few months away from delivery. Lots of loose end to tie up and the team is beginning to feel the pressure. So work had been rather intense and I really look towards the weekends more than ever.

To unwind, Suanne and I decided to go downtown for dinner on Friday. I enjoy those time outs with Suanne — just she and I — and put work behind in the right way. We decided to check out Il Nido because we just got an email saying that they had just launched a new spring menu.

Il Nido is an Italian restaurant located in a quiet corner of Robson and Thurlow. The location is just perfect for Suanne and I as we wanted to have a quiet dinner away from the bustle of Robson and yet after dinner, we could go walk along Robson to soak in the excitement the street has to offer.

It seems like Il Nido is one of the oldest restaurants on Robson having been around for more than 20 years. It has the charm to this place compared to the many newer establishments around the Robson area.

Not knowing how busy Il Nido is, we had reservations made. When we arrived, they did not seem to have our reservation but I guess it was really not required at all. We were the only people there when they opened for dinner at 5:30PM.

Il Nido has a cozy atmosphere with simple decors. I do noticed that on every table is a bottle of wine. How does that work … does anyone know? Suanne and I had not had an entire bottle of wine for dinner before. Does a table of two normally finish off an entire bottle? What happens if it is half-finished?

We ordered Bellini for drinks instead since Bellini is a very Italian cocktail. Most of their cocktails is about $6 but the Bellini is $12. When I ordered this, they told me they serve the “real” Bellini, not like those popular frozen Bellinis you normally get at places like Cactus Club (I always had Bellinis at Cactus Club!). We were quite surprised that it came in just half a glass. It was crisp and comparatively light in alcohol which is just how we like our drinks.

What we like a lot about western dining is the bread. Suanne and I always look forward to the bread they serve and uses that as a yardstick of sorts of the restaurant. We appreciate it a lot if they make the bread themselves.

Il Nido’s serves homemade Italian bread and told us that they made them fresh. It is dense and on the dry’ish side. Like the ones we had at the Brix, they also serve this with multiple dips — olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt.

We asked a dumb question to the waitress … how does one normally take the dip? Dip one at a time, a sequence (olive first then balsamic vinegar) or what? Dumb question begats dumb answers … she told us she does it all three at a time.

We like it a lot and asked for more bread. Suanne ALWAYS dunk a lot of these sort of things and soaks everything up — and she wants ME to ask for more.

Il Nido’s menu is simple and limited to a couple of pages. We thought it might be a good idea to opt for the “Let the chef make your 3 course meal tonight”. We asked if the meal will just be an item on the menu or if they will make sometime outside of the menu. The waiter told us it will be something outside of the menu.

So we settled for an order of the $45 “Let the chef make your 3 course meal tonight” and a separate order of mains … to share.

Expecting to be surprised, I was not very impressed with “secondi” salmon to tell the truth. I mean, how Italian is salmon anyway? It is more west coast fare than Italian. LOL! More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Olive Garden in Bellingham, WA

Off late, I had been suffering from what I call the “fat wallet syndrome”.

You see, in the span of a week I found out that I have this wear in three of my pants at the same time. I have no idea how long I had been walking around like this. I soon found out that it’s because I carry my fat wallet in my back pocket. I stick all kinds of plastic cards in my wallet that it just got fatter and fatter over time that I did not really notice how fat it was.

I have a habit about my clothing. I had been buying them from the Washington State for the past few years. I just find that it is easier to find one that fit and looks good from the US than those in Vancouver. So Suanne and I took the opportunity over the weekend to drive down to Bellingham to buy new clothings while the boys were engaged in their activities.

After a round of shopping, we decided to stop by the Olive Garden for lunch. We had always seen their commercials on US TV channels and thought we should check it out. We went to the one on Meridian St.

Olive Garden is an American chain restaurant specializing in Italian food, particularly styled after the region of Tuscany.

Olive Garden does quite a good job styling their restaurant like old rustic Italian setting. Behind it all it’s really another American chain restaurant. Even the dining rooms were arranged in such a way that it’s separate dining rooms with different themes in each room.

I really like their chairs … with rollers. That to me is good old American efficiency at its best. It’s actually a great idea because I find it very easy to reposition my chair when I want to.

Service was great and prompt. With the menu being new to us, they were very helpful in getting our drink orders. We ended with a Strawberry Bellini and Frozen Tiramisu. Both drinks were about $6+ each. Suanne liked the Frozen Tiramisu especially which was really rich and creamy.

The breadstick were quite good. It was served warm, is soft and lightly salted. What I like best is that they were very quick to ask if we wanted more the moment the last piece was taken from the basket. The service is top notch — it was awesome.

We noticed that one common item on every table is the large bowl of fresh salad. They do make good salad with really fresh vegetables and a “say when” amount of grated cheese. He he he … when the wait staff came by and asked Suanne “say when”, Suanne did not quite hear what he said and replied “yes” … and he went on and on grating cheese into the salad until I realized there was a breakdown of communication and quickly said “stop!”. More on following page. Click here to continue reading

Washington DC: Sbarro Lunch in Union Station

By the time we got to the hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags it was already past 2PM. We were not too hungry but decided that we should just get something to eat since we only had cereals for breakfast. I guess it must have been the excitement that we’re not feeling that hungry. We asked the hotel’s front desk where we could find food and they pointed us to the Union Station.

The Union Station is an old station built at the turn of the 20th century. At that time, train travel is the main form of long distance travel. The city designed and built this station as a ceremonial station and as a grand entrance to the city of Washington DC. Today it is the main train hub in Washington DC. We started our day from this station everyday.

Considering this a building of over a hundred years old, it is amazing that it looked so new. I felt that this station is brighter and better maintained than the more famous Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Like many other buildings in Washington DC, the ceiling is designed with sunken panels.

Washington DC was unbelievably hot and humid in summer. We were more thirsty than anything. We walked around the level where there were a few places to eat and decided to stop by Sbarro. I saw a lot of Sbarro when I was in New York City and decided to try it. Sbarro is a fast food joint that serves Italian food.

It was not cheap, I recall. We just had this slice of pizza and …

… and a side pasta. This came to almost $10. We had a quick bite and then headed out to the US Capitol.

Cascade Pizza in Bellingham, WA

Ever since we had started blogging two years ago, we had never met up with any fellow bloggers. That is not until around the (US) Thanksgiving last year. We had been in contact with Jennifer from Pie Is The New Toast for some time and had agreed to meet up if we are in the Bellingham area. Actually, Jennifer had already blogged on our meet-up here.

Suanne and I went spent a day in the US during Black Friday for shopping. We had been there shopping almost every Black Friday but do find it is somewhat subdued this year. After 10 hours of walking around malls, our feet were killing us.

The Cascade Pizza is an Italian restaurant located on Meridian Street. If you know where Bellis Fair Mall is, you’ll easily find this place. Bellis Fair is on the intersection of I-5 and Meridian. So, you just drive south bound along Meridian for 1.5 miles after the I-5 intersection.

The Cascade Pizza is one of Jennifer’s favourite restaurant. What we like about this place is that the quality of the food is good and the price really reasonable. It was a great choice of restaurant, Jennifer.

The Garlic Bread looked absolutely delicious. We like it with lots of garlic spread and we can see how much the spread had soaked into the bread. And most important of all, it is toasted to a crunch.

The Lasagna and Ribs were some of the richest, creamiest lasagna we had tried. It was just excellent and the portions were generous. What I enjoyed most about this is the ribs … they were simply beyond great. For $8.95 and the portion we had, I really find this value for money.

One thing that Suanne and I find about the ribs in the US … they are much bigger than what we normally find in Canada. Every since, MammaViv raved about how she will make trips to the US to buy ribs, we had been comparing the ribs we find in Vancouver’s Safeway, Safe-On-Foods, Costco, Superstore, etc against what we find in the US. The ones we buy from the US is like twice the size of the puny ribs we have here. So, nowadays, we almost end up buying ribs back from our shopping trips to the US.

The Garlic Chicken Pizza with white sauce was great stuff. We ordered that pizza because it had uncommon ingredients for a pizza. The small pizza costs $10.95 and still it was way too much for us.

It was great being able to meet up with fellow bloggers and to be able to put a face to a name. Jennifer, it was a great choice of restaurant. Suanne and I really enjoyed this place — we would not have found this on our own. So, where will you show us the next time meet up again?

New York: Lombardi’s Pizzeria Nepoletana

New York is considered the birth place of the American Pizza. It is so much so that many of existing Neapolitan pizzas are also known as New York-style pizza. I made it one of my quest to seek out the grand daddy of pizzeria when I was in New York … and that is the Lombardi’s Pizzeria Nepoletana.

There had always been a dispute whether if Lombardi’s is really the first pizzeria in America but at least they have the proof that no one ever had. Lombardi was licensed by the City of New York in 1905 and no one else had ever had proof that they are opened earlier.

I am not sure what Zagat Survey is but I guess it must have been a big deal to be voted as “Best on the Planet” for pizzas. They claimed to have started the pizza culture in the US and is still at the top even after 100 years.

I guess they know that I am a tourist. It’s because they brought me on a little tour through their kitchen. I can see that their coal fired oven is emblazoned with the words “1906 Lombardi’s”. It looked really old … I do wonder if this is the same oven that they had used for the past 102 years.

I was shown a quiet corner of the restaurant. As a matter of fact, I was the only one there.

I ordered their house made Sangria, which is a Spanish wine punch of sorts. It was sweet and fruity.

I tried to be a bit adventurous and ordered from their specialty pizza section of the menu. I ordered the Clam Pie. I reckon that for $26 for a 6-slice, 14″ pizza, it had to be somewhat special. It is described as follows … “more than 2 dozen hand shicked clams, oregano, garlic infused oil, Pecorino Romano cheese, virgin olive oil and black pepper, topped with fresh parsley, served with fresh lemon on the side … and does NOT come with tomato sauce”.

On hindsight, I should have just stayed with their “Gennaros original Margarita Pizza”. This one, well, is too dry for my liking. It is not bad and I like the thin crusted bread but I guess I had already tuned myself for a New York-style pizza … and this is not NY-style pizza. Shoot! I came all the way here and wanted to try NY-style Pizza and I ended up with a specialty pizza.

The 6 slices were too much for me. They don’t have anything smaller. I had only three slices and then asked them to pack the remaining to go.

The entire bill came up to $41 including tips and taxes. Kind of expensive for pizzas, huh? Well, the Sangria is $7 and the Clam Pie is $26. One thing … they only accept CASH. For an establishment like this, I find it strange that they only accept cash.

Sigh … I guess I cannot scratch off “New York-Style Pizza” from my list of “Food to Eat Before I Die”. Note to self: Stick to the basics … don’t try to be fancy.

Atlanta Trip: Locanda D’Amico at Minneapolis Airport

I flew for the first time on Northwest Airlines. Since NWA is headquartered out of Minneapolis, I had a stopover at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. You know what’s the greatest attraction at this airport? For American, they’ll know that it’s the washrooms!!

For those who do not know, Senator Larry Craig was arrested at this airport for “disorderly conduct”. Apparently what he did was he tapped his feet in the washroom. This is so new to me … tapping of the feet is a signal for people who wants to engage in well, “disorderly conduct”.

Well, I made very sure I did NOT tap my feet when I used the washroom. I have half a mind of taking pictures but there are so many people going in and out that I am sure I would get arrested for taking pictures in the washroom. :-) … Enough of that.

Anyway, we had lunch at a casual-Italian restaurant called the Locanda D’Amico.

They served sliced bread … nothing to shout about.

I had the Chicken Scallopini with Prosciutto, served with Linguine with Fontina Sauce. The scallopini was exceptionally good with the cheese sauce.

Brussels Series: Lunch Snack at the Atomium and Brupark

The highlight of the day is to visit the Atomium. This monument is a national icon of Belgium and is as iconic as the Eiffel to Paris. I have seen pictures of the Atomium but had no idea what is was like up close. More about the Atomium later …

I went to Brussel Centraal railway station to catch a train to Heysel Park.

I was still hungry after that little breakfast of Waffle. I stopped at a food stall at the train station called Maciotto. I had seen Maciotto in several stations before and thought I should check this out. They sell traditional Italian snacks. Since I thought that there would be nothing much for lunch at the Atomium, I got myself a snack as brunch.

I got something called the Diavoletto Pollo (I think the word diavoletto means devil in Italian). This 3 Euros snack contains tomato, chicken and olives. Anyone can tell me more about Diavoletto? I had never come across this before.

For travelling, I used a 1-day Transit Pass which costs 4 Euros. Can’t complain about the price — London and Paris is much more expensive.

Next to the Atomium is the Mini-Europe. Mini-Europe is a park which contains replicas of famous buildings in the Europea Union. Shoot … I missed the opening by a mere two days! It was still closed for “winter”.

Before I walked over to the Atomium, I stopped by the picnic benches to eat the diavoletto. It was good with lots of meat balls in it. For just 3 Euros, this is one of the better value for money snacks I had. Simply delicious and it was still warm too.

The Atomium was built in the year 1958 as a show case monument for the Brussels World Fair. This structure was supposed to last only six months — it’s still standing today. The structure consists of nine spheres, each connect with escalators in tubes. The shape is based on a unit cell of an iron crystal.

The Atomium had just been renovated and is now sporting a new shiny reflective skin. In each sphere there are exhibits, and viewing platform which provides a panaromic view of Brussels.

The entrance fee was 9.00 Euros. I was surprised that there were not many people around. I find that the most interesting exhibit is the video about the construction of this monument. Other than that, there was nothing much to see. Many of the exhibits are catered for children mostly.

The Sphere are joined by escalators. This is one of the longest in Europe.

One gets to the top via a lift. This is where the observation deck is.

Brussels is kind of flat and you can’t see much in term of interesting landmarks. Below is the view of the Mini-Europe from the top of Atomium. The park consists of about 100 buildings of cultural importance from all over Europe. That would have been a great place to take pictures.

Well, in Brussels you got to at least go see the Atomium but really, you can cover this whole place in 30 minutes.