This Scout series maps out Vancouver’s best and most legendary comfort foods. We encourage readers to steer us towards their favourites in the comments or by using the hashtag #ScoutYVR on social media.

Go to an Italian joint, expect meatballs. Right? Head anywhere outside Italy, and this will almost always be true. It most certainly is in Vancouver, where meatballs and Italian restaurants have long been hand in glove. But as with most things, not all are created equal. If there was a champ among them – one worthy to be the first order of meatballs to be included on this map of Vancouver comfort foods – it has to be the juicy, saucy, sweet and deeply savoury ones offered since day one at Osteria Savio Volpe. Made using the holy trinity of beef, pork and veal studded with pine nuts and currants, the impactful orbs are soaked in a neckbone gravy that diffuses into the meat and amplifies their taste to a degree that almost shocks the palate, which will never forget the moment for as long as its tongue wags. (Best consumed with an appropriate glass of wine and a side of bread for scarpetta action.)

Osteria Savio Volpe

Neighbourhood: Fraserhood

615 Kingsway

604-428-0072

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