December 2017

After our big night out at Canlis, it was a certain kind of relief to enjoy this informal and very reasonably-priced Italian trattoria. It’s almost unmarked, with a small sign on the window, and as soon as you open the door there is this big reassuring pasta, garlic, and beef aroma. We sat in the main room and enjoyed chatting with the attractive mature server who was enthusiastic about the food and had a sense of humour.

We went for small servings of two of the pastas, the basis for which we could see being prepared in sheets not far away on the edge of the kitchen. We inhaled a tasty crisp toast with compound butter and an anchovie. We then tucked into small servings of a sage and butter, and also a pork and beef pasta served as a very fine angel hair. Both absolutely delicious, fresh, and satisfying.

The main which we shared was a rabbit meatball with polenta. The meatball could have been just a shade more moist, but the flavours were terrific and the polenta beautifully smooth.

A very nice fragrant and substantial US$90 non-barolo nebbiolo washed it all down. The economics worked out to just under C$200. Not much to complain about. A pretty good bet for Italian food in our nearest big US city of Seattle.

Food 9.1, service 9.2, ambience 8.9, peace and quiet 7.2, value 9.0.