Legendary Vancouver restaurateur Umberto Menghi is opening a new restaurant this Spring in the short-lived Italian Kitchen To Go location at 1328 Hornby Street. It’s to be called “Giardino” – referencing Il Giardino, the storied, decades-old Tuscan restaurant that Menghi, now 67, shuttered almost two years ago after the property had been purchased by condo developers.

The official announcement should come early next week, with Menghi quoted as saying, “Perhaps, in the back of my mind, I always knew my hiatus from the city was not to be forever. It is in my blood.” Like the original eatery, the new address will feature an outdoor garden patio, high ceilings, warm-coloured tiles, and Tuscan-inspired artwork, but Menghi insists that it is not a reopening of Il Giardino. “It’s going to have its own personality,” he says. “I can’t wait to open the doors to guests old and new.”

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