Nowhere will you find more genuine Italiana than at Tosi Italian Food Imports (624 Main Street, Chinatown, 604-681-5740). Given the area’s volatility (to put it nicely) you must ring a buzzer to be let in. But in a moment or two, you’ll enter a large, dimly lit grocery that hasn’t changed one iota since Angelo Tosi’s father opened it here in 1906. And while you may not care to stock up on one offifty Pagani pastas, montasio cheese, various barrel-marinated olives, or the best oils and vinegars this side of Tuscany, you’ll relish the atmosphere right out of The Postman — and genial wool-capped Angelo, who’ll cut you a rich, glistening slab of farm-fresh parmesan to your specifications.
Italian provisioners are dotted throughout Vancouver. Several are found in the mixed Asian and European neighborhoods around Nanaimo Street and Hastings Street.
Renzullo Food Market (1370 Nanaimo Street, East Vancouver, 604-255-9655) is known for its antipasti and olives. Ugo and Joe’s (2404 East Hastings Street, East Vancouver, 604-253-6844) special-izes in cheeses and imported meats. The Italian Meat Market and Deli (2276 East Hastings Street, East Vancouver, 604-255-2032) is a picture-perfect deli with sausages, pastas, and cheeses to die for, as well as a meat-stuffed capon-roll that a neighbor claims is “world famous.” Across the street, Bianca-Maria Italian Foods (2469 East Hastings Street, 604-253-9626) is run by knowing women with one foot in the old country.
On the Drive, La Grotta del Formaggio (1791 Commercial Drive, East Vancouver, 604-255-3911) iS a favorite ofmany. Like most of the above, it sells everything from artichokes to espresso makers, along with fine Italian oils, vinegars, pastas, sausages, and, of course, cheeses.
Both coffeehouse and delicatessen, Epicurean (1898 West 1st Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-731-5370) has built an enviable reputation for both its food and European ambiance.
If you’re the type who shuns quiet, decorous restaurants in favor of clattering plates, paper bibs, tightly packed tables, and all-round hustle, you’ll love Nick’s Spaghetti House (631 Commercial Drive, East Vancouver, 604-254-5633). Owned for almost fifty years by Nick and Paulina Felicella, this kitschy room packs ‘em in night after night with huge platters of spaghetti and meatballs, linguini, cannelloni, and so on. House wines come by the “double glass” and half liter. Desserts run to a hefty cheesecake and sinful slab of tiramisu doused with chocolate. Another reliable haunt on The Drive, with wood-burning oven, is Lombardo’s Ristorante and Pizzeria (1641 Commercial Drive, East Vanvouver, 604-251-2240). Also try longtime Cipriano’s Ristorante and Pizzeria (3995 Main Street, Mount Pleasant, East Vancouver, 604-879-0020).
Boleto Restaurant (2563 West Broadway, Kitsilano, 604-739-1314), mentioned under “Artisan Breads,” is also a purveyor of cucina rustica, the beloved cuisine of southern Italy and Sardinia. Here, you’ll find the real thing — dishes that may be rich in salty sardines, fennel, or pine nuts — paired with regional Italian wines.
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