GOODS: “Nicli Antica Pizzeria” Set To Host Craft Beer & Neapolitan Pizza Dinner Series

Nicli Antica Pizzeria is located at 62 East Cordova in Vancouver, BC | 604-669-6985 | www.nicli-antica-pizzeria.ca

The GOODS from Nicli Antica Pizzeria

Vancouver, BC | Beer and pizza – it’s become a classic Canadian combination. Whether it’s an after game celebration, before class quick bite, or dinner out with friends; beer and pizza is everyone’s ‘go to’ casual meal. It’s become so ubiquitous that most of us take it for granted. Not at Nicli Antica Pizzeria where they continue the century old tradition of creating Neapolitan-style pizzas the proper way – with love, by hand, using the only the best seasonal ingredients.

Coming up in May are three Craft Beer and Pizza Pairing Dinners that may just have you appreciating beer and pizza with a whole new respect. “We are very excited to be partnering with three of BC’s top artisan breweries,” says Nicli owner Bill McCaig. “Like a wine-pairing dinner, it’s a great way to showcase the flavour profiles in the beer and how they complement our pizzas. For these initial dinners we are so pleased to be working with Parallel 49 (May 13), Driftwood (May 20) and Howe Sound (May 27). They demonstrate the same care and attention to beer-making that we do with our pizzas. We think this may be a Vancouver first and if they’re well received, we’ll do more.” Details and tickets after the jump… Read more

GOODS: “Pizzeria Farina” On Main Street Is Looking To Hire A Part-Time Kitchen Helper

Pizzeria Farina is located at 915 Main Street in Vancouver, BC | 604-681-9334 | www.pizzeriafarina.com

The GOODS from Pizzeria Farina

Vancouver, BC | Pizzeria Farina is looking to hire a part-time kitchen helper. A minimum of 1-year restaurant experience is required (student cooks are welcome to apply). The successful applicant will be responsible, presentable and most importantly, passionate about food and cooking. Please apply in person to Pizzeria Farina (915 Main Street, Vancouver) from Tuesday to Sunday at 4pm. See and learn more about the popular pizzeria after the jump… Read more

GOODS: “Pizzeria Farina” At Main & Prior Has Joined The Growing Scout Community

We’ve invited Pizzeria Farina to join our GOODS section as a recommended local business that is worth checking out. They’re now proud members of Scout, and as such we’ll be posting their news front and center and hosting a page for them on our curated list of independent goodnesses. We’d like to take this chance to thank them for their support of Scout, and for making Vancouver a more delicious place to live!

ALL THE LOCAL “GOODS”

Coming Of “Via Tevere” Means Our Year Of The Pizza Ain’t Over

by Andrew Morrison | To think that I used to bitch about our lack of quality pizza! After the arrival of Campagnolo a couple of years ago, they’ve come in a rush with one popping up after another every few months. First there was Nook, then Tavola, then Nicli, then Bibo, then Campagnolo Roma and, most recently, Verace. Tonight we welcome the opening of Pizzeria Farina on Main, and then put our waiting caps back on for Novo and Pizzeria Barbarella, both of which can’t be that far off now. Think that’s enough? Me neither.

Enter the 40-50 seat Via Tevere Pizzeria Napoletana, which is scheduled to open at some point this Fall in the lovely old building at 1190 Victoria Drive. The new joint is owned by a pair of real deal Neapolitan brothers, Domenic and Giorgio Morra. You might recall that they opened East Van’s Ragazzi in 2003 (serving up hybrid NYC/Neapolitan pies), and doubled down with the Mobile Ragazzi Pizza food truck last year.

“Via Tevere” is the name of the street that their father grew up on in Naples (to this day it remains in the family as a summer retreat). “Our inspiration is a love of all things Neapolitan – the city, the people and most importantly the food,” Domenic says, adding that the menu will feature antipasti and pizzas that will “pay homage to the traditional pizzerias that line the streets of Naples.” All of the ingredients – not to mention the cooking methods and equipment -  will be Neapolitan, including the restaurant’s pride and joy, a wood-burning oven.

It seems Vancouver’s “Year of the Pizza” is far from over. No complaints here.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

“NOVO” Set To Bring Neapolitan Pizza To Kitsilano This August

by Andrew Morrison | It seemed like not that long ago I was a serial complainer about the lack of high quality, authentic pizza in Vancouver. Thanks to recent injections by the likes of Nook, Campagnolo and Nicli Antica Pizzeria, the bar has been raised, and I’ll be the last to complain whenever news comes that yet another option is one way.

NOVO Pizzeria & Wine Bar is coming to 2118 Burrard Street, just off West 6th next to Fifth Avenue Cinemas (formerly the Indendio West location). The 88 seater will boast over 2,000 sqft of indoor space with another 34 seats on a south facing patio. As you can see from the photos below, there’s still plenty of work to be done, but we can expect to see it sometime around the start of August.

NOVO will be the first ever restaurant from a pair of long-time East Vancouverites named Carmine Paradiso (best Italian name ever) and Roger Visona. Their dream is to serve up real deal Neapolitan pizza made in a wood-burning oven, just like in their ancestral homeland.

Scott Fitch (ex-Figmint, Feenie’s, Hilton Vancouver) will be in charge of the front of house. He detailed this information in an email this morning:

Staying true to their Italian roots, Carmine and Roger traveled to Los Angeles to train at the North American branch of the Vera Pizza Napoletana (VPN) – an association established by the Italian government to preserve the techniques, tradition and art of Neapolitan pizza making. From there, the two friends spent another six months developing their menu for NOVO – and incorporating the preparation techniques learned at VPN.

The dough for each of NOVO’s Neapolitan pizzas will be made from “00” stone-ground
Caputo – the number one choice of pizzaiolis (pizza makers) in Naples – and then aged 72 hours, a technique that gives the dough an array of complex flavors. Add some fresh, quality ingredients and buon appetito… you have the perfect comfort food.

Along with an expansive wine bar, classic Italian cocktails and rustic pizzas that will be fired up in a 900-degree wood-burning oven – which naturally imparts flavour into every pie – NOVO features a full menu that includes antipasti, salads, panini and a variety of home-style pasta dishes reminiscent of their childhoods (think chicken ravioli soup, gnocchi, Bolognese and fettuccini carbonara).

Sounds pretty sweet. For decor, they’re shooting for an old-world feel with modern, elegant touches, “the kind of place one might come across while strolling a side street in Naples or Rome.” We wish them luck. Break a leg.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

Nook

Details

781 Denman Street, Vancouver, BC
Telephone: 604-568-4554
Email: nookrestaurant [at] gmail.com
Website: www.nookrestaurant.ca
Hours: open 7 days a week from 5pm
NO RESERVATIONS

Gallery

The People

Owners Mike Jeffs (chef) and Nicole Welsh

About Nook

Nook is a cozy pizza, pasta and antipasto restaurant in the West End of Vancouver.  The room has a vibrancy to it as the thin crust pizzas and pastas are prepared in an open kitchen near the back of the room and antipasto items – crostinis, Burrata, La Quercia Prosciutto and salami platters are at the front of the room. The menu is kept intentionally small and focussed so that we can feature a number of daily specials. The wine list is all Italian and features many hard to find labels with the majority being served by the glass. If you are looking for a place with really good food, really good wine, great energy with a knowlegeable staff and a fun soundtrack playing throughout the room – Nook is the spot for you.

Reviews

Vancouver Courier | Tim Pawsey

Perched on a stool at the corner of the bar of West End restaurant Nook, the Hired Belly and his team of selfless researchers suddenly find themselves in foodie heaven, working through a fresh and flavour-packed list that yields no end of delight and surprise.

Newly minted Nook (781 Denman St., ph. 604-568-4554) is a sibling to nearby Tapastree, just around the corner–itself a long-running, notable haunt and one of the city’s earliest small plates proponents. Maybe that explains how this one-time schnitzel house seems to have been effortlessly transformed into a “serious” yet unpretentious Italian haunt focused on authentic plates and soundly sourced ingredients.

No surprise, Nook has already been discovered by locals and tourists alike, so your visit might start with a bit of a wait. But the rewards are worth any time put in at the door. Not only that, the staff is alert to who’s in line and makes sure you’re seated as soon as possible.

Offered the chance, we jumped at the bar. Designed as much for dining as for sipping from the room’s smart, well-priced and almost entirely Italian list, it doubles as the room’s charcuterie and cold plates prep station, a forward outpost of the bustling open kitchen in back, which concentrates on pasta and pizza.

Soon we’re sipping on floral Falanghina ($34), fighting over tastes of prosciutto-wrapped figs and a medley of crostini, with inventive toppings such as ricotta with grilled radicchio, pistachio and fireweed honey ($6). These and a salami plate are prepared bar-side, by the ever attentive Christy, who manages to make us feel more than welcome as she juggles her orders.

The kitchen obliges with fresh, handmade gnocchi with meatball morsels ($15), as well as roasted tomato, olive, onion and ricotta-laden pizza ($14). When it comes to the temptation of affogato (ice cream bathed in espresso, $6) and liquor-soaked tiramisu (arguably one of the best we’ve tasted, also $6), resistance proves futile.

Next day, I return before opening hours to find the room in full play, literally, with sound system cranked to build the night’s energy, with most of the activity around the kitchen’s pastry board, as the evening’s supplies of gnocchi, ravioli and other pasta are being made from scratch–just one crucial element of Nook’s early success.

Truly good restaurants don’t merely satisfy, they titillate, seduce at every level and wrap you in the comfort of their rhythm–so much so, that you can’t wait to come back.

Put Nook in the book.

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Westender | Andrew Morrison

The southern blocks of Denman Street are filled with some of the city’s most narrowly focused food shops, little one-trick-pony altars to indulgence that reflect the neighourhood’s sizeable 40-and-under demographic and its seasonal influx of beach-loving visitors: Dairy Queen, gelaterias, a chocolatier, and chain outlets exclusively dedicated to cupcakes, cookies, and cream puffs, never mind Vera’s Burger Shack, Fatburger, and all those pizza and gyro joints. Quite rightly, the stretch between West Georgia and Davie boasts a variety of nicknames, among them Sweet Street and Heart Attack Row. My personal favourite is Fatassenstrasse.

There is noticeably less of this along the blocks of Denman further to the north, between Robson and West Georgia, where the success and relative longevity of restaurants including Kintaro, Café de Paris, and Tapastree combine to cast an air of culinary seriousness that neatly counters the gastronomic frivolousness up the street. New restaurants here are few and far between. Last summer, while looking for a new place to test drive, I chanced upon Schnitzelz, a then new fast-food concept that saw the tired old Austrian staple reinvented (and misspelled) in many guises, none of them remotely appetizing. But what the hell, I thought, I might as well. Two bites into my meal, however, I’d had enough. As is true of much to eat on Denman, it wasn’t worth writing about.

Fast-forward nine months, and Schnitzelz has been put out of its misery and replaced by Nook, a small Italian trattoria that has four things going for it right out of the gate.

First, instead of being another chain restaurant or another beast born of high-fructose corn syrup, Nook is brought to us by Nicole Welsh and Mike Jeffs of Tapastree, the small-plates mecca located just around the corner. They bring with them battalions of established customers, and the goodwill of a community already familiar with them.

Second, Nook is pretty, having been designed by Scott Cohen and Stephan Gagnon, the duo behind good-looking rooms including Les Faux Bourgeois, Jules Bistro, Bistrot Bistro, and the newest location of Nuba. Distinguished by a long 12-seat bar lined with chrome-legged highchairs upholstered in garish red, and cream-tiled walls and floors, it’s a classic diner made Euro. A meat slicer is positioned front and centre, and staff are dressed head to toe in black. The music sways comically from obscure ’80s rock to dub reggae.

Third, Italian cuisine is staging a big comeback in Vancouver right now. The recently opened L’Altro Buca, just a few blocks away on Haro Street, was the first new Italian restaurant the West End had seen in many years, and it’s doing gangbusters. Clearly, an audience for Nook exists.

Fourth, the prices play to these recessionary times. None of the dishes are over $15.

So, yeah, talk about ducks in a row. The only way Nook might have screwed it up would have been if the kitchen couldn’t cook or if the service proved irredeemably awful. Happily, both are bang on.

The meat-heavy menu smartly avoids the kitchen-sink temptations that the challenge of Italian cuisine brings out in non-Italians. Very good crostini ($6 each) opened the meal: the white bean and olive version was smooth then pungent; the grilled radicchio and candied pistachios on ricotta with fireweed honey was a dance between bitter and sweet; the caper-topped chicken liver spread was a simple, crunchy, and savoury treat that needed nothing more nor anything less. A fourth version (on the specials board) came topped with a seasonal tower of mashed green peas, fresh tomato, and mozzarella — basic, flavourful, and evocative of the height of summer (which, let us not forget, is still to come), this was the best of the lot.

A selection of antipasto followed, including bowls of olives ($4), delicious little meatballs ($9), and thin wedges of quality focaccia ($4), upon which we laid long sheets of too-lean prosciutto and olive-oil-doused buffalo mozzarella ($12). We also enjoyed a taster of very good salami (from Seattle’s famed Salumi) that included a mild soppressata and a sweet and spicy dark-molé type ($12).

A gas-fueled pizza oven produces surprisingly fine thin-crust pies, each priced between $13 and $15. (A wood-burning oven would be ideal, but there are only a handful in the entire Lower Mainland). My wife and I sliced through a pie loaded with fresh arugula, prosciutto, and roasted garlic, and eyed five others that were just as refreshingly uncomplicated. There were six pastas along the same lines and price points: The pesto with sundried tomato and pine nuts was fresh and lively; and the orecchiette with sausage, fennel, and chilies provided a solid punch. But the bolognese was prepped debole, the mildly-flavoured southern version, red-tinged with the kiss of tomato paste. I would have preferred the brown, significantly richer robusto ragu style characteristic of the north.

I love Nook for its simple approach to an often over-complicated milieu, and for its utter lack of pretense. I also like that it only serves Italian beer (Moretti, Menabrea, and Peroni; $6 each), and that the almost exclusively Italian wine list is abrupt and well chosen. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of anything that I didn’t like about the place. That’s only partly because small, original, and charming neighbourhood restaurants are increasingly rare in these days of big-box hegemony, and rarer still on a street defined by sugary superfluousness. Mostly, it’s because the food is good and affordable. It’s always exciting to see a place like this open, but it’s even more exciting to know it will survive.