I thought the special sounded good. A lobster/crab ravioli.

Served with a Limoncello sauce, fennel, arugula and paprika oil.The sauce was light and creamy with the fennel adding a nice subtle, licorice flavour. The filling was a bit on the rich side with the crab overpowering the lobster. The balance in the fillimg was just a bit off.

Merilynn had the Spaghetti Bolognese.

We’ve had this before, and always enjoyed it. I just wish we could get it without the fungus. The Ragu is a rich, meaty sauce with lots of Italian sausage, veal and beef, (and the shrooms) with tons of flavour. You can tell this is a proper Ragu.

Two very good pasta dishes, though both could be improved slightly. Still, I won’t complain. I didn’t have to cook today.

The post Piva Modern Italian appeared first on Gregs Food Blog.

Well it’s pizza night and Merilynn wants something different than the usual Pepperoni or Hawaiian that I love.

Honestly when it comes to pizza we are not a good match. She doesn’t like pepperoni, I won’t eat mushrooms. Two of the most commonly found pizza toppings there are.

So it was with some despair I hopped online to look at delivery options, knowing I was unlikely to find anything that w.e both would like.

Consider some of these options that I found.

I saw one with a white sauce, Italian sausage and broccoli. You read that right. Broccoli. Vile weed. Quick, pass me the honey mustard.

Another shop offers a white sauce pizza with brisket, pickles and mustard seeds. Do I look pregnant or something?

And the worst yet, a pizza with whipped potatoes, prosciutto and black pepper. Whipped potatoes on a pizza? Seriously, I’m being Punk’d right? Is that Ashton Kutcher sitting at the other end of the bar…

I finally tossed the phone down, threw my hands in the air and suggested we just walk across the street to Piva. We have had a decent pizza there before. (Just don’t get the duck and fig one.) Merilynn will be making the decision, no fungus being my only stipulation.

She ended up going with the Modern Italian.

Roastd game hen, onions, garlic, capicollo, pesto sauce and topped with freshly grated parm.

I will start with the good. The crust was fantastic. Great undercarriage and a chew that would make any Napoletani proud. All the components ingredients were actually very good. My favorite ham, though could have been spicier. Nicely cooked poultry, whole garlic cloves with a mild, beautiful flavour. The onion basil pesto was delicious. Parm is Parm right? My favorite cheese.

So with a plethora of fantastic ingredients thus pizza should be a home run right? (I’m struggling to think of an appropriate Italian analogy. An easy slot in from the penalty spot maybe?).

Somehow though all those great ingredients didn’t coalesce into a fantastic pie.

The crust was the best part of the pizza. I even found myself picking up Merilynn’s uneaten crusts, that’s how much I loved that pizza dough.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad. Underwhelming is the word.

But it was different. And it didn’t have potatoes.

I’m already looking forward to my Hawaiian next pizza night.

One bite, everyone knows the rules…

6.5

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Located along the boardwalk at New Westminster Quay there is now a Tiki bar where the Paddlewheeler pub used to be. After the Paddlewheeler closed a restaurant called Italia Kitchen popped up. It was probably doomed from the start though, what with Piva essentially across the street. The city already has two good Italian restaurants, it doesn’t need a mediocre one.

So it being a Saturday night we decided to pop over and give it a try.

First impressions?

1.That sign is all wrong.

2. Looks like they decided to take the minimal amount of capital to make the place look different and called it a day. It appears they slapped some thatch around the room, put some bamboo along the walls and hung a few bamboo fronds from the existing lights. That’s the only difference I can tell from the previous decor.

3. At least they got some proper glasses though.

That first drink is the Typhoon Tiki. Orange liqueur, lemon juice, dark rum and an in-house made ginger syrup.

The second is a Gin Ginger Mai Tai. Gin, orange liqueur, lime juice, lemon juice, mint, bitters and the same in-house made ginger syrup.

While we both enjoyed the first few sips of our drinks, as we drink more and more we found the ginger syrup to be too much. It was actually causing me discomfort in my esophagus, almost like heartburn. Since both of us preferred the others choice we ended up switching drinks. And while I preferred the Gin Ginger Mai Tai’s flavour, by the time I was reaching the bottom of the glass I was struggling to finish. Merilynn had the same issue with the Typhoon Tiki. The ginger flavour was not as pronounced but still was overpowering.

What with the unbalanced drinks, the minimal redecorating effort and slow service, (it was pretty full but there were three tenders behind the bar) my first visit to the Tiki Bar wasn’t exactly fantastic.

We have heard some good things about the food and entertainment from other online, so to be fair I will come back for another try.

The Quayside Tiki Bar will have to be much more impressive next time around though.

4/10

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I’m preparing myself to embark on a journey making what is widely considered to be one of the most difficult pastries in the world to make.

I have been working tirelessly perfecting my croissant dough with some amazing results.

I have successfully made the Canalé from Bordeau on more than a few occasions.

I have even undertaken the precise and finicky French macaron successfully, though I do need to make some improvements. The macaronage is still my nemesis.

Even the daunting puff pastry is just another walk in the park for me now.

One pastry though scares me to the point of nah, it’s just easier to buy one. But if I hope to be an instructor in the art of baking when I retire from my current job I must improve my skills. I can do that with the challenge of the sfogliatelle.

This is a “lobster tail” from Gastromia Italia here in New Westminster.

It’s a great little shop selling Italian products. The selection isn’t as big or as varied as Ciofi’s or Bosa but it’s only a 5 minute walk down the street for me so I go there when I know they have something I need.

It’s a good opportunity to start my research before I attempt to make sfogliatelle myself. I’ll be in Italy in a few weeks and will do lots more research there.

I’m not sure if they make them here from scratch. But based on the crispiness of the layers I am pretty sure they bake them here. They put different fillings in, today it’s a chocolate cream. It sure was tasty.

However that’s not the traditional filling you’ll find in Italy. That’s a semolina/ricotta filling flavored with citrus. I’ll have an opportunity to try that in Italy I’m sure.

And then when we return I’m going to give making them a go.

Unitl I am more familiar with the Sfogliatelle though I am sure happy with this version.

Hopefully the ones in Italy don’t spoil it for me.

8/10

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I’ve come close to ordering take out from Wild Thyme a few times over the last couple years but when perusing the menu I did not find myself all that excited about what I saw.

Don’t get me wrong. I really like middle eastern food. It is full of bold and aromatic flavours and is as varied as the people that make it. But whenever I considered it it I had some other ethnic cuisine on my mind.

But as we were returning from a Costco run in Bellingham Sunday Merilynn mentioned she wanted to try it this weekend as she had heard good things. And as it happened they are open for lunch so we decided today was the day.

Unfortunately I did not realize she had no idea this was Lebanese food.

The restaurant has an interesting atmosphere. Spread over three units in an older building, the interior is terraced over three levels. Its larger than it looks, according more privacy than if it were one big room.

As neither of us are huge eaters, we often share an appetizer and a meal and that does us nicely.

Well whoops. We ordered way too much food.

Merilymn ordered Kaaek and dips.

The top 4 dishes on the left, hummus, baba ghanouj, house made yogurt and garlic.

The hummus was very good. The baba ghanouj I didn’t care for, but thats my dislike of eggplant, nothing to do with the quality I’m sure. The homemade yogurt was a bit funny, but had great flavour. The garlic was my favourite. Great garlic flavour with lots of wonderful EVOO.

The Kaaek, or Lebanese purse bread, is a common street food that is crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. This version has sumac and sesame seeds on the exterior and is hollow on the inside. That’s why it looks so big. It was the perfect vessel to scoop up those delicious dips with.

The other condiments you see on the table were to compliment my Lebanese style fried eggs with Sujuk sausage.

The sausage is made in house and is very fragrant. There’s a lot going on here, the flavours were complex. They were delicious. I did inquire as to what spices make up the flavors in this beef sausage and the answer I got was there’s too many to list. The eggs were done really well, soft,fried in olive oil for even more flavour. My breakfast also included a Kaaek, so we had three total.

I decided to give Lebanese coffee a try. It’s similar to Turkish, but infused with Cardamom.

The coffee was very strong, with the Cardamom flavour very present. Thus was the first time I’ve tried a coffee like this and I loved it.

As for the service, it did seem a bit slow. Other patrons who sat down after us were getting there food before us. I might have to chalk that up to them having to make the bread fresh for us though. The servers were certainly pleasant and attentive enough. They even moved us from our original two person table to a four-person table to accommodate all the dishes we were getting.

So yes, that’s way too much food for us.

And while I certainly enjoyed it, once was enough for Merilynn.

8/10

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Our last visit to Patsara wasn’t the best. The food did not live up to the high expectations we have come to expect here. So it was with a little trepidation we decided on dinner here tonight.

Have you ever wondered why every Thai food restaurant you’ve been in seems to have the same food? If you don’t know anything about the government in Thailand’s “gastrodiplomacy” program that financed thousands of Thai restaurants around the world it really is an interesting read.

As I often like to do, my goal tonight is to try at least one dish we haven’t had before. Tonight we are trying two new ones.

First up, Tod Mun Pla, or fish cakes.

When we ordered this we had something akin to crab cakes on our brain. Ya we weren’t even close.

The flavour was good. But the texture was another story. Spongy. Rubbery even. The texture, to be honest, was a bit unsettling. Add the peanut chili sauce and then we have something more pleasant. The crunchy peanuts helped hide the squishinous, but did not completely mask it. Perhaps Thai fish cakes are an acquired taste? One which tonight we did not acquire.

My usual, my benchmark for Thai restaurants, Crispy shrimp wontons.

Really good as usual. But you have to eat them hot. Served with a sweet chili sauce, these are deep fried, crunchy goodness.

The Pandanus chicken also looks really good.

Chicken cooked in pandus leaves, with garlic, cilantro, soy sauce, coconut milk and ginger.

Moist Chicken thighs with all those amazing southeast Asian flavours were enhanced by the smokey pandus leaves.

I haven’t been to Thailand, but Pandanus Chicken gives me an idea of what eating there might really be like.

Ok, so I doubt very much we will ever order Thai fish cakes again. Otherwise a very nice meal.

8/10

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We are being a bit tarded today and gambling a few bucks on the slots at the Starlight. But we need a snack.

There’s the Match place but hat doesn’t interest us. Some other Asian joint that looks closed. And Noodles ToGo

I told Merilynn to order whatever she fancied and Beef Pho was her choice.

I’ll be up front, I don’t have a ton of experience with Pho, so I don’t have a big reference pool to compare to. According to Merilynn this wasn’t very good Pho.

A bit heavy on the Cilantro,, rather flavourless broth, a mystery meat sausage and one measly piece of low quality, fatty beef.

But the noodles and sprouts were good.

Not sure we will ever be back here. But if we are, it won’t be for the Pho.

4/10

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We just finished having sushi at Ki Sushi and as we are walking home I realized I need dessert.

And as it happens we are walking by Piva, that will do nicely.

Gonna kick things off with their awesome espresso Martini.

They don’t mess around with their espresso martinis. Real espresso and top shelf vodka make for a rich and smooth cocktail. If I didn’t have to sleep tonight I’d have a second. And maybe a third. Merilynn had one as well.

This is a Tiramisu Sundae

I am not entirely sure of all the components that make up this incredible take on the Italian classic. But it starts with delicious espresso gelato. There’s a crunch in there that I’m sure is lady fingers. I only had a small taste, this was Sophia’s pick. But that one taste was phenomenal. It would be too much for most people to eat on their own though. A great shareable though.

My choice? A tart au citron.

A very nice presentation and a really great tasting dessert. The Coulis was likely raspberry, though it’s hard to tell sometimes.

Unlike the very rich and very sweet tiramisu Sunday, this was a lot easier to eat. The balance of sweet and tart creates a very nice eating experience. Not just a sugar rush.

My only criticism was the curd itself. Tasted great but it had a grainy texture that did take away from the overall quality.

Regardless a very nice treat after some sushi next door.

8/10

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Dinner with one of the kids tonight. They get to pick and tonight it’s Ki Sushi.

As usual my Toro Nigiri.

Plus a Red Tuna.

Much better than last time we were here. Proper temperature and not stringy. Nice flavour on red tuna.

Prawn Tempura

Crispy, crunchy, delicious prawns with a yummy dipping sauce. How can you go wrong? Well I guess if you let them get cold. We didn’t.

Dynamite and California Roll

Pretty standard stuff but delicious nonetheless. I do like they don’t usually serve their rolls too cold here. That allows all the flavors to really come through.

Bow where can we get dessert?

We are off to Piva!

8/10

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Merilynn is kicking off the weekend with a Spicy Margherita.

I’m honestly a little surprised she picked this. I’ve had them and they’re not my favorite but she said it grew on her. I still have to work tomorrow so I just stuck with a cranberry and soda.

This month they have a special dish and apparently it’s very popular.

Lobster Francese

A parmesan crusted lobster tail in a lobster cream sauce with asparagus and tomatoes.

I really enjoyed the lobster tail, nicely cooked with lots of flavour from the parm. The pasta was al dente and the tomatoes and asparagus added a nice touch. The sauce had just a little bit of a kick to give it some intensity. A solid pasta dish.

Merilynn jumped all over the Shrimp and Brie dip, like I figured she would.

This was really delicious. I mean damn good. Only one problem. It’s rich. Too rich. I mean it’s hard to eat more than three bites rich. Tender, succulent shrimp in creamy, melted brie.with bacon and artichokes. Great combo.

We both scored this a 10 initially, but dropped it to an 8 as it’s honestly too hard to eat much of it.

My last visit here was a bit of a disappointment. Tonight’s visit was much, much better.

8/10

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