The Rompel Report: eating well in Vancouver

Ancelotti Vancouvrese …is not a pasta dish, Vancouver style, but if you have been following international football (soccer for some),you will have heard that Bayern Munich has engaged Carlo Ancelotti, an Italian Superstar coach. Shortly after the news came out a couple of months ago, the German tabloid Bild Zeitung reported that Ancelotti actually lives in Vancouver.

Cioppino

Furthermore, he has a favourite restaurant, which, unsurprisingly, is an Italian one called
Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill & Enoteca”. Checking up on this restaurant you will find
that it has received countless accolades for best chef (Pino Posteraro, also the owner),
best upscale Italian dining and many, many other categories, and for several years in a
row.

These are reasons enough to pay the restaurant a visit. The first time I went was with an
Italian friend visiting Vancouver, and, because it was so good, I went again with friends
who insisted after I told them how fantastic the food was the first time around.
Cioppino’s is not open for lunch and you better book days ahead of your intended visit.
The place is fully booked most nights, but most certainly on weekends. On arrival, we were
led to our table where we were given the menu and the extensive wine list. Before I could
even glance at the very captivating and Italian dominated wine list, my Italian friend had
already planned the procession for the entire evening with the Italian waiter. He ordered a
Prosecco with the Amarone Zenato Riserva Classico Sergio 2008 to follow. Both were
extraordinary and had to be followed by a Grappa Riserva as a digestive, of course.

We enjoyed mixed starters including “Caprese with Burrata Cheese” followed by a pasta
dish for my friend and a veal cutlet for me. All of the dishes were amazing in flavour and
the meat was very tender. We had classic Sicilian cannoli filled with light ricotta cream and
mascarpone sorbet for dessert. In the meantime the waiter must have had reported back
to the kitchen that an Italian and a German were in the restaurant, which caused Pino
himself to come out of the dungeons and say hello to his newly found patrons. He
immediately said that we probably heard of his place from the German Bild Zeitung
reporting about Carlo Ancelotti, which caused some laughter and a longish conversation in
Italian between my friend and him which I could barely follow.

Having reported back to friends about the astonishing culinary experience, we decided to
go back for more. As we were going through the menu, the very same and very
professional Italian waiter came to our table. As we started to order he politely interrupted
me and said to please wait for the specials of the evening. Then he proceeded with almost
poetic descriptions which made our mouths water. Needless to say, we all changed our
initial orders to the specials he recommended, and we were not disappointed. To start with
we had pâté de foie gras, to die for so smooth, and fritto misto di pescato del Pacifico,
crispy lightly buttered calamari, prawn and octopus, which was not your usual fried
calamari, but much lighter on the batter and tenderly cooked squid heads.

The starter was followed by the main courses, “Lobster Heaven”, a very apt order being so
close to the sea, a duck duo, crispy tender breast and boneless confit leg, and bison steak.
Again very typical for Canada, where bison had survived the culling on the prairies and is
farmed nowadays. Bison steak is tricky to grill as it has absolutely zero fat to keep it juicy.

The danger is that the meat dries out very quickly. No such danger at Cioppino’s. The
meat was perfectly served at medium-rare, and came with a very dark and tasty reduction.
We enjoyed a Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva (2009) as a compromise
between the various courses.

After all these fantastic courses we decided not to miss out on dessert. Even though little
space was left, the Cioppino experience would not be complete without it. A crème brûlée
is compulsory, as many of us compare crème brûlées around the world. This one came
with a crust of maple syrup, the Canadian angle, and well done, full marks. There was a
chocolate cake with a “soft heart” (scrumptious!) and a dark chocolate “Tanzanie”
(compressed cocoa, crisp, chocolate crunch, orange cone) for the dark chocolate fan.

All in all a super experience, compliments to the chef and kitchen which, as it is tradition in
Italy, is open to views from the restaurant so that we could watch the magic at work. My
friend commented at the end of the evening that it will be very difficult to go back to normal
food the next day.