mix of hits and misses results from transformation to more casual dining fare
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Diners enjoy the warm atmosphere inside L’Altro Buca restaurant. Photograph by: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun
L’ALTRO BUCA
1906 Haro St., 604-683-6912. www.altrobuca.ca. Open for dinner daily from 5 p.m.
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: 3 1/2
Ambience: 4
Service: 3 1/2
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
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Parkside was cruising along quite happily until the economy drove off a cliff. That’s the simple explanation why the restaurant went downmarket, transforming itself into L’Altro Buca last month.
The name means the “other” buca. (The first is La Buca on MacDonald Street.) In shorthand Italian, it means hole-in-the-wall — a hyperbole, especially in the case of L’Altro Buca. In looks, it hasn’t changed much from the refined Parkside. The executive chef is Andrey Durbach, who runs both restaurants as well as Pied a Terre, a French bistro, with Chris Stewart, the wine guy.
From the diner’s point of view, what could be more welcome than comfort and affordability in trying circumstances? It’s like huddling in warm clothes in stormy weather.
If there’s a silver lining in this frightful economic situation, it forces restaurateurs to offer good value and, in this competitive market, it has to be great casual food supported by good service. France experienced a boomlet of “baby bistros” after the 1990s recession when three-star Michelin chefs opened up affordable neighbourhood bistros.
The menu at La Buca and L’Altro Buca offers a tight lineup of regional Italian food — six starters, six pastas and seven main courses. That menu changes every couple of months, but the specials, offerings of the chefs, are the daily surprises.
The food on the regular menu, Durbach says, is “colour-inside-the-line” classics. “There’s no Franco-Japanese or Italian fusion. But the guys installed in the restaurants have some leeway, some outlet for expression,” he says.
Starters are $8 to $11.50; pastas (which you can order in half-size), $14.50 to $18.50; and mains, $19.50 to $26.50 — in other words, prices can adjust to the bulge of the wallet.
My experience was mixed. From the regular menu, a blunt-tasting radicchio Caesar did not impress; scallop carpaccio with truffled lemon vinaigrette and a grilled bacon and radish salad worked really well. A couple of appies on special one evening were successful — a rustic meatball dish and crostini with chicken liver/rabbit terrine.
For pastas, I always prefer handmade so I tried the truffled potato gnocchi with hunter-style braised chicken. The gnocchi was lightly handled, but the chicken, while moist, lacked flavour. Bucatini with house-made fennel sausage, tomato sauce, spinach and ricotta needed more oomph, too. The dried bucatini noodles seemed of average quality.
A dry-aged Tuscan-style steak hit the mark; it came with onion rings and an arugula parmesan salad. The best main was a special — four pieces of local sole with smoked salmon agnolotti (with pasta loosely folded, not sealed). The horseradish sauce napping the pasta sounded extreme, but it was muted and only hinted of horseradish.
I wasn’t impressed with the breads — neither the grissini (breadsticks), which arrive gratis, nor the focaccia, which you pay for (I like it spongier).
Desserts are Italian classics. I tried a yummy panna cotta with brandied cherries and a tidy square of tiramisu. The wines are all Italian and priced to go with the meal. Some are sold in eight-ounce quartinos, good for about two glasses of wine.
Not a perfect 10, but L’Altro Buca is still a great neighbourhood spot. It’s wonderfully located on a tree-lined residential street and the patio should be open soon.
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