four on four

Last night was another dine-out event at Quattro on Fourth, a little restaurant that serves great Italian cuisine. I went there last year with another friend for dine-out, and we couldn't stop raving about the radicchio bocconcini. So good!

For my meal, I ordered the Radicchio Bocconcini (grilled fresh mozzarella wrapped with prosciutto and radicchio in a cherry vinaigrette), the Involtini di Vitello (braised veal tenderloin breast stuffed with spinach and caciocavallo in a marsala sage succo) as my entree and for dessert, I had the Torta al Sanguignia (blood orange and almond tart with vanilla mascarpone cream).

Radicchio bocconcini was delicious. The cherry vinaigrette was light and slightly tart, which I liked.

The veal was juicy and tender and the sauce was not too heavy.

Dessert! I was surprised to find the tart a bit hard, but I think that's how it's suppose to be prepared. It had a light almond flavour and I really liked the blood orange sauce.

My friend had the Carmellata, chocolate pate with caramel sauce. It was very smooth and rich. A little too rich, since my friend, the self-confessed chocoholic couldn't finish the tasty treat.

salty goodness

Last night, me and Shar had dinner at the Salt Tasting Room, as part of the dine-out event that's happening throughout the city. Located in Blood Alley (it's not that bad, really), it's a small inconspicuous nook at the end of the alley, easily missed if you're not looking for the salt shaker flag above its door. Once inside, it's a busy hub where you can enjoy fine wine, artisan cheese and delicious deli meats paired with strange but yummy condiments (fig bread anyone?).

I had a glass of Elephant Island Crab Apple Wine 07 from Naramata, BC along with my dinner which was very nice and very unexpected and grown-up of me. Usually, I order cocktails. The wine tasted like fermented apple juice, sweet but also tart and smooth. I wouldn't mind having a bottle of that in my fridge. I ordered the Potato Leek Chowder garnished with Organic Olive Oil and the Salmon Pate with Cornichons as my appetizer. The chowder needed just a pinch of salt, but the salmon pate was delicious. For my entree, I chose the BC Plate: Wild Boar Salami with Rosemary paired with Piparras Peppers (Spain), Ash Camembert (from Salt Spring Island) with Marcona Almonds (Spain) and Fruilano Salami partnered with Quince. Dessert was Lemon Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce, which was wonderful. Light, fluffy, with a hint of lemon... loved it! Shar ordered the Chocolate Pate with Strawberry Compote, which was also good. The chocolate was so smooth and just melted on your tongue as you savoured it.

Potato and Leek Chowder garnished with Organic Olive Oil. The place is called Salt Tasting Room, but not a single salt shaker to be seen... interesting.

Salmon pate with cornichons. Superb! Tasted really good with the sourdough bread and the waitress kept refilling our basket, over and over again.

Fruilano Salami with Quince. I liked the fruity quince; it was paired nicely with the salami, which was a little salty. A small slice of sourdough smeared with Camembert, a slice of wild boar salami and topped with a little bit of quince = a lovely sandwich.

Ash Camembert with Marcona Almonds. Shar wanted a more pungent cheese (something like goat cheese or blue cheese), but I really liked the Camembert. The almonds were super yummy. Shar kept mentioning how much better they would be If they were chocolate covered. LOL!

Wild Boar Salami with Rosemary and Piparras Peppers. The pickled peppers went well with the meat and wasn't too spicy. I liked the wild boar salami, but couldn't really taste the rosemary in it.

Lemon Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce. Licked my spoon clean, it was that good.

Chocolate Pate with Strawberry Compote. Went down smooth.

I'm persuading my chef friend to have her birthday dinner at Salt. I think she'll love it. I know I did.

Sorry for the way the pictures turned out. It was dimly lit inside (to create that special ambiance, ya know!) and I didn't want to use flash. I was already getting looks from our neighbours. The tables were very close together. I could have reached over and grabbed a slice of olive bread. I really wanted to, it looked so good.

going West

Vancouver dine-out has officially started (January 14th) and will continue on til February 1, 2009. Last night, we went to West, a place my chef friend has been to last year for dine-out and still continues to rave about every chance she gets. So, of course I had to go and taste it for myself.

The restaurant didn't look like much from the outside, but the interior was lovely. Swirly mirrors on the ceiling combined with the traditional decor of the room (dark stained wooden shelves for wine storage, dim lighting, rectangular mirrors on the walls, etc) created a nice contrast. They had an interesting menu for dine-out and I decided upon the veloute of pumpkin with cinnamon marshmallows for my appetizer, the bio-dynamic aged risotto with David Woods goat cheese, red onion and pesto dressing as my main and for dessert, the white and dark chocolate tower with peanut toffee, popcorn ice cream and caramel wafer. I chose the dishes based on their unique ingredients (cinnamon marshmallows? Bio-dynamic risotto? Popcorn ice cream?!), and I was pleasantly surprised.

The veloute of pumpkin was velvety smooth and with the cinnamon marshmallows swirled in, it gave the soup a slightly sweet flavour without it being too overpowering. There might have been some squash mixed in as well, not that I'm complaining. My entree was so rich and I liked the pesto dressing, but I still couldn't figure out what was so bio-dynamic about the risotto. I could've done without the fried curls of red onion sprinkled on top, but it did add a nice texture to the risotto. Dessert was fabulous, you can't go wrong with chocolate and the popcorn ice cream was yummy! One day, I might have to go and find that flavour when I visit the 150+ ice cream shop. I had a Leong-Lei cocktail (lychee liquor, vodka, apple hearts, green tea syrup) to accompany my meal. What can I say, I'm a sucker for lychee liquor.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures as I left my camera at home and the photos on my phone came out all blurry. So, you're going to have to trust me when I say that West was definitely worth the visit.