The GOODS from La Pentola

Vancouver, BC | Freshest of flavours, seasonal ingredients and imaginative mixes – it’s not just Chef Lucais Syme’s kitchen team at La Pentola della Quercia that’s creating handcrafted cuisine. Situated in the heart of Vancouver’s trendy Yaletown, inside OPUS Hotel, La Pentola’s bar – headed up by Martin Corriveau – is taking a spirited approach to cocktails this fall.

Echoing the restaurant’s ethos of combining fun with flavour to create an unforgettable experience, the focus is on handcrafted ingredients this season: from brandied organic Montmorency sour cherries from the Fraser Valley to a deconstructed housemade gin and tonic. Warming spirit-forward cocktails make the most of seasonal produce, including Okanagan apples and peaches, and Italian-influenced ingredients appear in drinks such as a shandy that showcases a locally-made cider.

“We’re moving towards heavier, spirit-forward cocktails,” says Head Bartender Martin Corriveau. “Be prepared for some bold drinks – Negronis, amaro-heavy libations and brown spirits feature more prominently. Our oak-barrels will be filled with Vieux Carrés; a luscious New Orleans cocktail with Cognac, whiskey and Bénédictine – and we will be bottling Corpse Revivers No.2: a 1930’s classic with triple sec, Lillet, gin and absinthe.”

This summer, Corriveau introduced barrel-aged and bottled elements to the cocktail program – beginning with a barrel-aged Manhattan and a carbonated French Canadian 75, made from Bombay Sapphire gin and orange bitters, then bottled and labeled by batch number. The traditional French 75 is made with Champagne, but La Pentola’s version features Blanche de Chambly beer from Quebec – just one of many quirky twists on tradition.

Corriveau will be introducing guests to the bar’s collection of Italian amari. These aperitifs range from the more familiar Campari, Aperol and Fernet Branca to the more unusual artichoke-based Cynar – alongside their collection of grappas. Corriveau also shows off his sweet side by making his own syrups such as orgeat (almonds and orange blossoms), pimento (cloves), vanilla, elderflower and grenadine.

He’ll be getting creative with seasonal specialties such as cherry and peach bitters and housemade limoncello and crème de noyaux – a liqueur similar to amaretto. In collaboration with the kitchen, Corriveau keeps the bar menu spicy with a housemade ginger beer, and they have created a tonic from powdered cinchona bark, which is served as a deconstructed G&T featuring gin on ice, sparkling water and a shot of tonic infused with kaffir lime and white peppercorns.

Inside the cocktail menu is a take-home recipe for the cocktail of the week, which is usually a crazier concoction as Corriveau experiments with more twists on traditional recipes. Look out for a new Cinema Highball (a rum and cola infused with popcorn), Pisco Punch (pisco and pineapple), and the Otago Fizz (a creation with manuka honey and prosecco) coming this fall.

“Our philosophy is to feature Italian inspired cocktails and showcase Italian ingredients, but also offer something else unique as well.” says Corriveau. “You don’t see many cocktail bars that have the selection that we have and we keep adding to it. It’s great being able to play with amari; to explore those flavours and introduce people to Italian aperitifs. With the homemade ingredients it’s the little extra care and little extra love that we put in our drinks that means that people come here to have something they won’t be able to find anywhere else.”

Details

350 Davie Street | Vancouver, BC , V6B2G2
Telephone:  (604) 642-0557  |  Email:  [email protected]
Reserve: [email protected]
Website: www.lapentola.ca | Twitter | Facebook

Hours

Open 7 days a week (closed daily 3-5pm)
Breakfast: 7am – 3pm | Lunch: 11:30am – 3pm
Dinner: Sun-Thu: 5pm | Late, Fri & Sat: 5pm – Later

VIRTUAL TOUR

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People

Chef / Owner – Lucais Syme
General Manager – Jay Pare
Restaurant Manager – Ricardo Ferreira

About La Pentola

Adam Pegg & Lucais Syme of Vancouver’s award-winning La Quercia restaurant deliver artfully crafted, Northern Italian cuisine at La Pentola della Quercia inside OPUS Hotel Vancouver. Complementing the chef-duo, the city’s most passionate and experienced servers, each expertly trained in all aspects of the menu, skillfully present handmade pastas and “nose to tail” meat and fish dishes at this Vancouver hot-spot.