TS Fourth restaurant from the people behind Glowbal, Coast and Sanafir, Italian Kitchen has some seductive offerings
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Chefs and staff prepare and admire dishes at downtown’s new Italian Kitchen, where share platters are among the most popular items on the menu. Photograph by : Mark Van Manen. Vancouver Sun
All of a sudden, I’m liking Italian food again. Like most spoiled-rotten Vancouver diners, I’m shamelessly promiscuous, and lately, I’ve been having dalliances with Japanese izakaya, rekindled torrid affairs with French bistro and been infatuated by restaurants with great small-plate dining. I’m easily seduced by delectable comfort food, too.
But when presented with a dish like spaghetti with truffle cream and Kobe meatballs, tomato garlic confit and ricotta, how could I resist and how could I not want more of the country where it came from? The new Italian Kitchen is one sexy seducer.
It’s project numero quattro by the folks who run Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar, Coast and Sanafir restaurants — they’re pros and their restaurants figure large in the hipster scene.
Italian Kitchen widens the net a bit. On my visits, yes, there were hipsters displayed prominently in the loud and loungey downstairs area; upstairs, it’s more real people — the middle-aged, families, single diners.
Nonetheless, the place is lively from top to bottom, including the wide-open kitchen downstairs counter. Bulging bowls of bright red tomatoes, roasted potatoes and other foods on the counter stimulate the appetite as you walk in.
The owners brought over lynchpins from Beachhouse at Dundarave Pier in West Van — chef Ryan Gauthier and general manager Robert Byford. Gauthier’s spaghetti dish was thrilling and others are scrumptious to middling. Another dish I really enjoyed was the lamb sausage and chanterelle pizza which came with a surprise last-minute egg on the topping; pierce the yolk and orange spills out (sign of a great egg) like sauce over the pizza. Yu-mmee!
Gnocchi were light puffballs, strewn with wild mushrooms, pinenuts, porcini mushrooms and goat cheese. Another yum. Gorgonzola polenta, a side dish to be ordered as an extra, was light, mousse-y and very enjoyable. An appetizer of zucchini blossoms filled with burrata cheese, drizzled with arugula pesto could have been oily and heavy, but wasn’t.
Most popular, apparently, are the share dishes — the pasta platter ($15 per person); the met platter ($30 per person) and the fish platter ($27 per person).
Some dishes didn’t enthrall: the braised calamari with chorizo, garlic confit and risotto wasn’t memorable; risotto of smoked trout, mascarpone, peas and shaved blue marlin didn’t work at all, the delicate smoked trout buried and suffocating under a mound of risotto and blue marlin braesola topper not quite resonating with it.
Desserts (I tried the tira misu and chocolate ravioli with mascarpone) seemed more like valiant attempts rather than the work of a competent pastry chef.
The service aspect is to be commended. They don’t stint on staff and they’re welcoming and friendly, albeit not entirely competent. Again and again, they served dishes to the wrong side of the table. And of note, salt has now joined the pepper mill march to the table.
“Himalayan salt?” they ask holding a pink rock and grinder. My feeling has always been, it’s the chef’s job to season the dish with salt and pepper. Salting is one of the most important and difficult aspects of cooking and can make or break a dish.
The wine list is big on Italy, especially the reds; if you want to match by the course, there’s a generous selection by the glass and carafe.
One thing, though. What’s the urinal doing in the women’s washroom? I spun around and left only to see the figure with the pointy dress on the door. Is it perhaps a tranny-friendly zone?
ITALIAN KITCHEN
Overall Rating 4
Food Rating 4
Ambience Rating 4
Service Rating 4
Price $$
1037 Alberni St., 604-687-2859, www.theitaliankitchen.ca
Open for lunch and dinner, Monday to Friday; dinner only, Saturday and Sunday.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
