La Pentola della Quercia

 

Awarded the Silver medal for Best New Restaurant 2013  by Vancouver magazine, La Pentola della Quercia delivers a glorious performance with their Dine Out Vancouver Festival menu.  Chef Lucais Syme hits all the marks with his northern Italian inspired menu, highlighting the diversity of farm to table ingredients that discerning Vancouver diners have come to expect.

 

The antipasti course of house cured organic ocean Coho salmon was perfectly executed; light and delicate, but offset with a fresh crisp bite of shaved fennel and poached radish.

 

 

The Primi course was a fluffy and delicious parmesan soufflé accompanied by house made swiss chard ravioli drizzled with a brown butter. I chose a 2012 Leonildo Pieropan Soave Classico  from Venezia for the first two courses. Displaying a lovely straw colour with aromas of citrus, apple and almond notes, it was an elegant and beautifully balanced, mineral rich wine with a full yet zingy fresh finish.

 

 

 

 

For the Secondi course, I opted for the Fontanna Freda Serralunga d’Alba Barolo to accompany Braised short ribs, rapini, and roasted red potatoes.  The big, bold, full bodied Nebbiolo, with flavours and aromas of dried cherry, withered rose, vanilla and spice was a perfect accompaniment to the savoury and deliciously tender short ribs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished the evening with a deliciously creamy chocolate mousse, nestled under a scoop of delicately sweetened  beet sorbet and sprinkled with beet meringue crisps on a poppyseed puree.

 

 

La Pentolla offers excellent service in a warm and inviting room with a rustic elegance brought together with the impressive array of copper pots – pentola means pot in Italian – and a bright bistro feel demonstrating their focused attention to detail.