good italian food

Despite being located near the food court in Minto Place, El Toro offers a full take out menu, catering (even on Saturday and Sunday) and delivery. The printed menu includes subs, full-size pizzas and pasta meals including canneloni, ravioli and lasagna. After 3 pm, take home a full-size pizza and the second pizza is half price.
Best French restaurants

Bistrot Bistro

Located at 1961 West 4th Avenue, this is one of Vancouver’s favourite destinations for traditional French comfort food. Combined with an unpretentious atmosphere and great service, Bistrot Bistro provides a little bit of France in west-side Kitsilano. Fans say the Sunday-to-Thursday 3-course menu combines great French food at very affordable prices.

The Smoking Dog

Yet another neighborhood bistro in friendly Kitsilano, The Smoking Dog offers a heated outdoor patio where you can sample classic French Onion Soup and Steak Frites. The menu offers a wide variety of options from appetizers to entrees and welcomes families. It’s only 5 minutes from Kits Beach.

Elixir Bistro

This 154 seat bar and restaurant is located in the Opus hotel in the Yaletown neighborhood of Downtown Vancouver. Elixir's award winning Executive Chef Don Letendre has created a truly international dining experience. Specializing in classical French fare he assembles his creations using the freshest regional and seasonal ingredients. Popular with both international tourists and trendy locals.

DB Bistro Moderne

French traditional cuisine meets the Pacific Northwest. Located in Kitsilano’s West Broadway area, DB Bistro has a warm, casual atmosphere accompanied by great French bistro-style cuisine. The menu focuses on seasonal, fine ingredients.

Le Crocodile

Impeccable, yet without fuss or pretense, Le Crocodile combines French tradition with a West Coast style. For 25 years it has been one of Vancouver’s best-known French restaurants.

Provence Mediterranean on 10th

Located in the cozy neighborhood of Point Grey, restaurant Provence has accumulated a large local fan base. The restaurant won Gold for Best Bistro in the 2002 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. Provence shares a love of French/Italian cuisine in a comfortable setting.


Pied a Terre

Another delightful neighborhood bistro, Pied-à-Terre has just 30 seats but the simplicity of the setting belies the crisp white walls accented by black leather chairs. The menu is classically inspired French and offers both à la carte selections and a traditional three-course table d’hôte served with red, white or rosé wine.

Lumiere

Located at 2551 West Broadway. Sophisticated and unique, Lumiere combines European modern French and West coast tones to create a style all its own. Chef Daniel Boulud and Executive Chef Dale Mackay are two of only 160 Grand Relais & Chateaux Chefs in the world – creating incredible dishes guaranteed to charm the palates of gourmands everywhere. An atmosphere – plush, intimate and incredible adds to its popularity as one of Vancouver’s much-desired culinary spot.

Bistro Pastis

Located at 2153 West 4th Avenue in west-side Kitsilano . Try their Steak Tartare and Steak Frites. Faithful fans say it’s like dining in Paris without actually having to be there! Pastis features French, French Bistro and French Nouveau cuisines.

Les Faux Bourgeois

Located in a not so chic section of East Vancouver [hence the name], Les Faux Bourgeois is becoming a popular French spot in a working-class neighborhood. But don’t be fooled by the location. The traditional bistro setting - both cosy and casual - showcases well-prepared classic French dishes at extremely affordable prices.

10 Best Italian restaurants:

Anducci's Cucina

Located at 6011 E. Hastings St in Burnaby, Anducci’s has a wide range of authentic, cooked-by-mom style Italian entrees. The gluten-free pasta is made-to-order and diners can choose their favorite pasta and home-made sauce. Reasonably priced with good service.


Trattoria Italian Kitchen

Located in the friendly neighborhood of Kits on West 4th avenue, Trattoria is a casual, family-style restaurant specializing in typical trattoria-style Italian food. The warm open room with its wrap-around wine wall makes for friendly gatherings while the white marble bar is a great hang-out for that pre-dinner drink.

Italian Kitchen

Situated in bustling downtown Vancouver, Italian Kitchen is a combination of old-world charm and modern atmosphere. The menu features simple yet delicious Italian food from all regions of Italy. This celebrated restaurant is great for family and group gatherings giving you an opportunity to sample a variety of dishes.

CinCin Ristorante and Bar

Note the address: 1154 Robson Street. After a day of heady retail therapy check out CinCin for its incredible Tuscan ambiance, great food and equally great service. CinCin is noted for masterful creations including incredible Italian dishes like the Dungeness Crab risotto and the free-range chicken fired in the wood-oven - made with the freshest local ingredients. The wine bar is an excellent hangout to meet friends and share a bottle of wine and a tasty appetizer.

Cioppino's Enoteca

Another favorite downtown Vancouver hangout at 1129 Hamilton Street, Cioppino’s Enoteca always comes in among the top Italian Restaurants. The homemade pasta and the accompaniments as well as the meat entrees are authentically Italian in taste and presentation.

DiVino Wine Bar

A new addition to Vancouver’s East side, DiVino is located at the corner of Commercial and Gravely. DiVino has developed a great reputation for its culinary offerings, fusing Italian, French and Mediterranean traditions. At DiVino the emphasis is on dishes prepared with fresh and locally available ingredients.

L'Altro Buca

L’Altro Buca is situated in Vancouver’s beautiful west end (1906 Haro St) and is owned and operated by the chef and business partner team of Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart. The menu uses traditional and rustic Italian cuisine as its inspiration. A lush outdoor patio makes for that original al fresco feeling on warm summer evenings.

Il Giardino di Umberto Ristorante

This is owner/chef Umberto Menghi’s gift to Vancouver – authentic Tuscan cooking, the best Italian wines and pasta and seafood dishes that taste as if they just came out of a real Tuscan kitchen. Loads of charm, romance and the old-world Italian home feeling enhance the ambiance. Try the classic osso bucco and saffron risotto – delizioso!

Cibo Trattoria

Located at 900 Seymour Street in downtown Vancouver, the Italian creations focus on same-day, fresh local ingredients. Chef Neil Taylor’s culinary creations are rich and decadent yet light and tasty. Cibo offers a good wine selection and great service to make your dining experience a rewarding one.


Al Porto Ristorante

After a hectic day in delightful Gastown tourists stop off at their favorite neighborhood Italian ristorante at 321 Water St. Al Porto specializes in typical Italian cuisine including seafood creations. Try the wood-fired pizzas with your favorite pitcher of wine for a real Tuscan feeling.

By: Sheila LoGuisto

Images in order supplied by DB Bistro Moderne, Bistrot Bistro, Italian Kitchen and CinCin Ristorante and Bar

At this location, El Toro offers a breakfast delight: steak and cheese omelette, home fries, thick toast and coffee for $5.99. Soft serve ice cream is also available. There are dozens of round tables for patrons but the dining area is apparently shared with other restaurants.
Minto place and was starved so I decided to eat at a place called Eltoro Pizzeria IT WAS AMAZING The food was Excellent. I have never tasted anything better. They serve subs lasgana and killer pizza. If you are in a rush to eat somewhere in Minto Place go there. The staff were amazing and the food is the best pizza I have ever tasted. i had an ice cream sundae and that rocked too. The drinks were cold as ice. Everything was perfect! The prices are very reasonable! The kitchen was spotless. AMAZING IWILL BE bACK!
The four staff members at the restaurant were kept busy the whole time I was there. For late lunch, I had a foot-long pizza sub which includes pepperoni, mushrooms and green peppers by default. Before the open sandwich was toasted, I added lettuce, tomato, pickle, parmigiana and oregano. The sandwich maker would not allow me to pass up some Italian sauce, okay. The sandwich was more than I could eat. However, I note that the price on the printed menu is twenty cents less than the price on the menu board, take-out versus dine-in?

italian food 2

italian food
In days of old, those fortunate enough to own land in the country would open cantinette to sell the produce from their estates to the city folk -- not a bad idea, if you think about it. Though Antinori is primarily known for its wines,Melissa Mulliken recently asked if Florence's Enoteca Pinchiorri is still as good as its reputation -- to which I replied that I cannot say since I have never eaten there. However, it was ranked 3rd in the annual restaurant roundup printed in Civilta' del Bere, Italy's leading wine magazine (they considered the ratings of this year's editions of the major restaurant guides, among other things). This is up from 4th last year, so she will be in excellent hands.

about 20 years ago they decided to revive this custom -- not with a cellar store, but with a restaurant in Palazzo Antinori. It's one of the most comfortable and welcoming places in Florence, and one of the few that's split-level.
italian food
I recently had a business lunch, which began with a flute of spumante (dry) to accompany the toasted bread and liver paté we nibbled on while browsing the menu. We settled on sharing a pair of appetizers. One was insalata di lenticchie, a delightful and extremely interesting lentil salad seasoned with curry, fennel and lemon -- a combination that wouldn't have occurred to me but was quite good. The second, bruschetta con il cavolo nero, bruschetta with kale, was less interesting but not less good. Standard Tuscan fare, but perfectly prepared, with a thick bed of kale atop the slices of bread, and just the right amount of good oil. The kale was a little bit salty, to compensate for a lack of sharpness attributable to unseasonably warm weather, and the whole was quite nice. The second course was arista in crosta, roast loin of pork en crust, though crust is something of a misnomer here as the wrap was moist and herby. And quite good, as was the meat, which was extremely tender. There was also creamed spinach, which was simple and tasty. The wine? Cantinetta Antinori features all of Antinori's wines, and is thus an excellent place to taste by the glass. We had Guado al Tasso, a Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon blend produced at Bolgheri, which was quite nice, rich and enticing of bouquet, and full, round and with nice fruit on the palate.
italian food
For dessert, a simple crostata di mele, a delicately made, tasty apple pastry that went very well with a glass of Muffato della Sala, the botrytized dessert wine Antinori makes in Umbria. It's similar to Sauternes, though this vintage had more pronounced fruit and less evident botrytis than the French wines I've tasted. Quite good, however, the sort of wine you could easily spend an afternoon enjoying sip by sip.
italian food
The cost? Depending upon what you eat, expect to spend between 35 and 80,000 lire per person Though it has undergone a serious facelift since I first went in 1985, I Ricchi remains a well kept secret. To reach it you really have to drive - there is the number 45 bus (ask the driver when to get off ), but it stops running at 8. Take the Via Bolognese up past Trespiano, the city cemetery, and turn left onto the road for Cercina (right after the turnoff for the cemetery parking lot). The road winds for several kilometers, passing through a couple of hamlets and up a steep hill (turn left at the top of it), and the restaurant is on the left at a spot overlooking the valley, with the cemetary bleow. There is unfortunately no sign, but there is a terraced trellis out front which should help you recognize it.

Once you get there, you're in for a treat: Hearty Tuscan fare, with rich pasta sauces and traditional thick soups such as ribollita to start you off (after the appetizers), as well as lighter dishes such as tagliolini con limone, tagliolini in a delicate creamy lemon sauce. The second courses are excellent; the restaurant is famous for its mixed fried meats, which are dipped in a batter that becomes wonderfully crunchy. Accompany them with mixed fried vegetables and you've got a meal fit for a bishop, especially with the house wine, a young zesty Chianti whose acidity nicely counterbalances the fritto. The desserts are the damnation of the dieter: Massive portions, and so delicious you'll want more. The meringato, interlayered meringues and chilled cream liberally sprinkled with bits of chocolate, is heavenly on a summer day.

Price? Surprisingly reasonable, about 40,000 lire per person. One major quibble: there's no printed menu, and as one person who visited pointed out, this makes it hard on those who don't speak Italian. And a minor quibble: the house wine is now Antinori's Santa Cristina, which seems a little much. Something by the flask would be nice to see.

Back to restaurant list


noteca Fuori Porta
Via Del Monte alle Croci 10/r (Florence, just outside Porta San Niccoló, on the road up to San Miniato). Tel 055 2342483, closed Sundays

It's a little bit out of the way, but well worth the walk, especially on a pleasant spring afternoon when you can sit outside. What will you find? Nice people, good foods, especially cold cuts, cheeses, sandwiches, and simple first course dishes (though how simple taglierini with a liberal sprinkling of white truffles are is open to debate), and Florence's best wine list -- All the producers in Tuscany make sure the Enoteca has their wines, and you can sample some spectacularly rare vintages -- say a 1971 Tignanello or Monsanto, for example. Nor is it just the Tuscans; the Enoteca has a wide selection of wines from other regions and from abroad.

Perfect for lunch but better for dinner, when you want to spend a quiet hour eating good food, watching the world go by, and talking with friends. Highly recommended. The cost? Variable; if you don't want a whole bottle, or want to sample a number of different wines, you will be delighted by the variety of the 40 wines sold by the glass. If you want a bottle, on the other hand, you'll have hundreds to choose from. Depending upon what you order, figure from 20,000 lire per person on up.

L'Antico Ristoro di Cambi
Piazza del Tiratoio, just off from Ponte Vespucci in the Oltrarno (near the chuch of San Frediano); Closed Sundays

In the past every Florentine neighborhood had a fiaschetteria, a place where people would gather for a quick lunch, and where a segment of the population would pass the afternoons drinking wine by the flask. San Frediano was a poor neighborhood and had several, all hole-in-the-wall type joints whose clientele began to age inexorably in the 70s, as the younger generation adopted other pastimes. The one on the corner of Piazza del Tiratoio boarded up its doors about 10 years ago while the owners unleashed the stonemasons, and emerged about a month later as the Antico Ristoro di Cambi, an elegant eatery catering primarily to the lunch crowd. They still sell wine, of course, but now it's accompanied by a wide variety of salads, first courses, and entrées, things to be eaten by people on the go who don't want to slow down after lunch. I had pappa al pomodoro, a delicious dish made with fresh tomatoes, basil, and day-old bread that was spiced just right, followed by a "springtime salad," which was actually a platter with tomatoes, radicchio, mozzarella, thin slices of pecorino and some bresaola (cured beef drizzled with oil and lemon juice). Tasty, and since the items were distinct the flavors didn't run together.

Elisabetta, on the other hand, had had a heaping bowl of fresh salad and tripe salad, tripe served with thinly sliced fresh tomato and seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Both quite good. You can, if you want, order a steak -- the guy behind us did and appeared to be enjoying it, and in the winter the menu changes to reflect the cooler temperatures, with more rib-sticking entrées such as beans and sausage.
She also wondered where else I would dine in Florence, if I wanted to enjoy a memorable meal. I haven't been everywhere, but the people doing the restaurant guides presumably have. Firenze Spettacolo recently went through them and drew up a top ten list
The cost? Betty and I spent 39,000, but didn't drink any wine (too hot). If you want something simple, quick and quite Florentine, you should try this.

italy food.....

From the If you cannot imagine how mere cornmeal can be turned into a tasty meal, then undoubtedly you have never eaten polenta prepared in an Italian kitchen. Once considered peasant food, polenta is now appearing in even the most elegant restaurants. Earlier in this century, polenta was a staple food eaten out of necessity, sometimes two or three times a day. Some families would dump a big mound of polenta onto a board, and everyone would sit around sharing it. It would be flavored with broth, a little sauce, vegetables or sausages. Polenta is still a staple in many homes in northern Italy today, particularly in the regions of Veneto, Piedmont, and Tuscany, although generally considered "home cooking" and not served for company.early Middle Ages (beginning around A.D. 500) to the late 1800s, Italy consisted of separate republics, each with different culinary (cooking) customs. These varying cooking practices, which were passed down from generation to generation, contributed to the diversity of Italian cuisine. Italy's neighboring countries, including France, Austria, and Yugoslavia, also
In order to create a really great pizza, you need to start with the best ingredients, but unless your pizza has a great crust, it doesn't matter what toppings you put on your pizza. I was fortunate enough to have a very large bag of San Felice Tipo 00 flour sent to me to try out from Ben at Wholesale Italian Food and we quickly got busy making pizzas to cook in our backyard pizza oven. Now our pizza crust is usually pretty darn good, but I have been using all-purpose flour to make it up to this point, and it wasn't until I started to use the San Felice tipo 00 that I realized how much better it could be! San Felice is in fact certified Authentic Artisan Neapolitan Pizza Flour and creates a light crust that is crisp on the outside but tender to the bite. In Italy, flour is classified either as 1, 0, or 00, and refers to how finely ground the flour is and how much of the bran and germ have been removed. 00 flour is the most highly refined and is talcum-powder soft. I will never go back to all-purpose flour for my pizza again

contributed to differences in the country's cuisine.
Italy Food and Wine are varied in nature and is world famous for its cultural difference and diversity. It is not an imitation of any particular type of cuisine but a refectory blend of Greek, Roman, Gallic, Germanic, Goth, Norman, Lombard, Frank, Turkish, Hebrew, Slavic, Arab and Chinese culinary. There are regional differences in food tastes of Northern and Southern Italy. Italian food is also very seasonal. Italian food can thus be distinguished from other world class cuisines due its innate nature of being fresh and priority to seasonal productions.
Italy changed in many ways when the economy flourished following World War II (1939–45). During this time, farming was modernized and new technologies and farming systems were introduced. Various culinary practices throughout the country's regions began to be combined after people started migrating from the countryside to the cities. Many southern Italians traveled to the north at this time, introducing pizza to northern Italians. Those from the north introduced risotto (a rice dish) and polenta (a simple, cornmeal dish) to the south. Fast foods, mostly introduced from the United States, have brought more culinary diversity to Italy. However, pride in the culture of one's region, or companilismo, extends to the food of the locality, and regional cooking styles are celebrated throughout the country.
Northern and Southern Italy gastronomy are assorted. Where the northern Italian food uses more butter and creams, the southern residents like to have more tomato and olive oil. There is also a marked difference in the cooking style of fat and traditional food of pasta. Moreover, inland northern and north-eastern regions like extra butter, cream, polenta, mascarpone, grana padano, and parmigiano cheeses, risotto, lasagna and fresh egg pasta. On the other hand, the coastal northern and central Italians are somewhat fond tortellini, ravioli and prosciutto. The southern Italian food is more concentrated with mozzarella, caciocavallo, and pecorino cheeses, olive oil, and dried pasta. However, the traditional Italian cuisine does not follow strict North-South patterns
3 FOODS OF THE ITALIANS
Although Italians are known throughout the world for pizza, pasta, and tomato sauce, the national diet of Italy has traditionally differed greatly by region. Prior to the blending of cooking practices among different regions, it was possible to distinguish Italian cooking simply by the type of cooking fat used: butter was used in the north, pork fat in the center of the country, and olive oil in the south. Staple dishes in the north were rice and polenta, and pasta was most popular throughout the south. During the last decades of the twentieth century (1980s and 1990s), however, pasta and pizza (another traditional southern food) became popular in the north of Italy. Pasta is more likely to be served with a white cheese sauce in the north and a tomato-based sauce in the south.

Italians are known for their use of herbs in cooking, especially oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, rosemary, and sage. Cheese also plays an important role in Italian cuisine. There are more than 400 types of cheese made in Italy, with Parmesan, mozzarella, and asiago among the best known worldwide. Prosciutto ham, the most popular ingredient of the Italian antipasto (first course) was first made in Parma, a city that also gave its name to Parmesan cheese.

Heat the olive oil over a gentle flame and slowly brown the garlic, taking care not to let it burn. When the oil is flavored, remove and discard the garlic. Next, turn the flame up and brown the breadcrumbs over a brisk flame, stirring in the pepper too. As soon as the bread crumbs are browned remove the pan from the fire. If you are perchance using dried oregano (just 1/4 teaspoon) add it now.

Set pasta water to boil, and while it is heating arrange the sardines on a grill and brush them with some of the bread crumb mixture.

Cook the pasta, and while it is cooking grill the sardines for about 8 minutes.

Drain the pasta, season it with the flavored oil and the fresh oregano, if that's what you have,, carefully incorporate the grilled sardines, and serve at once.

A wine? I might be tempted by a Frascati, and I'd follow the pasta with a more glamorous grilled fish.

Whether it is thin crust, thick crust, stuffed, rolled, topped with a dozen ingredients or served simply with tomato and cheese, there are few people who do not appreciate good pizza, myself included. Pizza, or flatbreads have actually been around for centuries, but today’s style of pizza can be traced back to the 18th century when vendors roamed the streets of Naples selling pieces of garnished flatbread to the poor. Although it is commonly believed that Italians invented the pizza, it's origins can actually be traced back to ancient times. The Israelites, Egyptians, and other Middle Eastern cultures ate flat bread cooked in mud ovens similar to today's pita bread, and later the Romans and Greeks began topping this flatbread with olive oil and native spices. Once the Italians accepted the use of cooking with tomatoes, the Italians perfected the pizza, and it evolved into what we call pizza today. Italians take their pizza so seriously in fact, that as they did for wine, they have established a controlling body (a Denominazione di Origine Controllata or DOC) for pizza: the Associazone Vera Pizza Napoletana. This agency produced a document called the Progetto di Norma which stipulates exact ingredients and methods required by Associazone members worldwide to produce "verace pizza napoletana
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