For breakfast, coffee, or lunch with wine, Italian cafe offers comfort food in a homey setting
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Epicurean Deli owner Christian Cocco (centre) talks with diners Andy and Shirley Wolodko in the Kitsilano restaurant. The deli specializes in home-cooked Italian food, and has an intimate atmosphere. Photograph by : Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
It’s my job to love ’em and leave ’em. Many restaurants see me a couple of times within quick succession and then poof! I’m gone, never to return.
Epicurean Deli is not such a place. I like its intimacy, its modern Italianness, the swish white Carrera marble tabletops and the insular neighbourhood feel — people catching up on newspapers, sitting at computers, chatting with friends or feeling quite at home on their own, throwing back an espresso and pastry.
The Cocco family (father Dario, mom Renata and son Christian) who run the place are always there, extending a family feel. Renata cooks what she’s always cooked for the family.
You can just have a cappuccino and pastry and chill out. Or sip a glass of wine in the middle of the afternoon. (Yes, they’re licensed.)
A couple of years ago, they added breakfast to their largely lunch or early dinner deli-style menu. That’s breakfast (or brunch) in the form of frittata, prawns benedict on toasted foccacia, eggs and pancetta or the Earthy Breakfast of poached eggs, sausages, roasted potatoes, eggplant, pancetta with onion sauce.
For lunch or early dinner, you turn to the various grilled panini or family-style Italian meals from the deli counter — pastas like sacchetti (“sacks” with feta and spinach), carbonara, ricotta and spinach ravioli with butter and sage sauce; polpetta (meatballs), lasagne, pappardelle and soups.
As well as the deli, there’s another neighbourhood Italian restaurant upstairs — Epic, run by Christian, is more restaurant than deli and features Roman and Tuscan cuisine.
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EPICUREAN DELI
1898 West First Ave., 604-731-5370. Open for meals from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday and Monday. Coffee bar only is open to 11 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
