Posts Tagged: La Quercia
Posted by Rob | January 1st, 2010 | 15 Comments »
Over 400 votes have been cast for the inaugural Best of Kitsilano Awards and the 2009 winners are official.
The winners in the 10 Dining categories are:
- Best Restaurant – Bishop’s
- Best New Restaurant – Maenam
- Best Coffee Shop – 49th Parallel
- Best Brunch - Zen Cafe
- Best Sushi – Octopus’ Garden
- Best Greek – Maria’s Taverna
- Best Italian – La Quercia
- Best Mexican – Las Margaritas
- Best Burger – Moderne Burger
- Best Pub – Regal Beagle
The winners in the 10 Shopping categories are:
- Best Gift Shop – Moule
- Best Gym – Fitness World
- Best Butcher – Jackson’s Meats
- Best Bakery – Terra Breads
- Best Grocery Store – Capers
- Best Wine Store – Kitsilano Wine Cellar
- Best Snowboard Shop – Pacific Boarder
- Best Book Store – Duthie’s Books
- Best Baby Store – Crocodile Baby
- Best Spa – Beverly’s – the Spa on Fourth
Over the next couple weeks, we’ll take a closer look at the winners and finalists in each category as well as a breakdown of the voting.
Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone that voted.
Posted by Rob | April 15th, 2009 | Leave a comment »
The winners of the 20th Annual Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards have been announced and Kitsilano’s own La Quercia was named Best New Restaurant and Best Casual Italian.
Other notables from the hood include Fuel Restaurant‘s Robert Belcham being awarded Chef of the Year and Vancouver fixture Bishop’s being tagged as Best Regional.
Posted by Rob | December 18th, 2008 | Leave a comment »
Andrew Morrison’s Scout Magazine is polling its readers on The Best New Restaurant. Kitsilano’s own La Quercia is still in the hunt and is currently in 3rd place. Voting is open until January 1st, so get over to Scout and support Kitsilano’s best new restaurant.
Posted by Rob | October 16th, 2008 | Leave a comment »
The Broadway International Wine Shop is hosting another Chef + Winemaker event on October 27th and this time around their special guests are the Chefs/Owners of Kitsilano’s newest Italian Trattoria, La Quercia. Lucais Syme and Adam Pegg of La Quercia will be joining winemaker Marco Bacci of Tuscany’s Castillo di Bossi for the Italian inspired evening. Guests will be tasting a selection of Tuscan and Super Tuscan reds as well as a beautiful dessert wine to finish, all expertly paired by La Quercia.
The tasting takes place on Monday, October 27th at 8pm at the Broadway International Wine Shop at 2752 West Broadway. Tickets are $45 and must be paid upon reservation, in person or over the phone (604-734-8543).
Posted by Rob | August 27th, 2008 | Leave a comment »
Apparently Alexandra Gill of the Globe and Mail hasn’t given up on West 4th’s eateries entirely. After a soap opera episode at Fuel, Gill has ventured West to the newest contender on Kitsilano’s bistro pipeline – La Quercia. And she wasn’t shown the door.
And now along comes La Quercia, a 32-seat restaurant on the western outskirts of Kitsilano that has rooted itself in one of the most obscure regions in all of Italy.
The kitchen isn’t entirely stuck in the snow-capped peaks of the Dolomites (I didn’t see any sauerkraut on the menu). But the cuisine is predominantly Northern Italian, doesn’t veer much further south than the pesto-bean-potato pastas of Liguria, and is thus more regionally authentic, I would argue, than any of its peers.
What gives?
The praise goes to owners Lucais Syme and Adam Pegg. The hard-core regional enthusiasts are both alumni of the Parkside group of restaurants (Parkside, La Buca and Pied-Ã -Terre).
But Mr. Pegg, one of the first Canadians to complete Italcook’s Slow Food – Master Italian Cooking program at the Higher Institute of Gastronomy in Jesi, Italy, boasts the specialized training in Italy’s strictly delineated culinary traditions.
Posted by Rob | August 22nd, 2008 | 2 Comments »
It’s not often that I get to visit a new restaurant shortly after it opens but last week I was lucky to visit Kitsilano’s newest Italian restaurant – La Quercia. Other than the fact that it was the hottest evening of the summer and they didn’t have air conditioning, we left very, very happy.
I was going to write something up here sooner but after seeing my favorite foodie sit down a couple tables away, I figured I’d wait for him to fill in the blanks. Turns out it was Urban Diner editor Andrew Morrison’s second night in a row – I suspect that when he doesn’t like a restaurant on visit #1, he doesn’t do back-to-backs. Morrison and I sampled the Taglionlini Bolognese and were both impressed:
I began with another pasta, a taglionlini Bolognese ($12 for half; $17 for full). This dish had changed for the better from when I tasted it on that unofficial first night, when the ragu was nowhere near as rich and meaty. Chef Pino Posteraro’s version at Cioppino’s is still the best in my book, but La Quercia’s is a close second.
Now, I’ve never been to Cioppino’s, so La Quercia’s Bolognese is the “Best in my Book”. Be sure to read Morrison’s complete review over at the WestEnder.
Posted by Erik | July 16th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
As always, Urban Diner had the scoop back in May that a new upscale trattoria – La Quercia – was set to open at 3689 West 4th (@ Alma). And then again earlier this month that the website is up and has a menu posted. And yesterday a video of the pre-opening dinner he attended. Looks like they will be open for business very soon. The website looks beautiful and the menu promising.
Urban Diner has also been giving regular updates on Trattoria Italian Kitchen, and we have been diligently copying (and linking to) his work. Most recently, Andrew gave TIK a favourable review in WE:
Pastas, of which there were eleven, surprised the most. At the original Italian Kitchen downtown, I’ve found the pastas to be inconsistent. I sent one back once, something I’d never done before (I forget the reason, but not the disappointment – like jumping into a pool only to find it empty). Here, they nail al dente, and the sauces are refreshingly uncomplicated. A chef I once worked for used to say, “Italian food is the simplest expression of the fewest ingredients.” They seem to understand that here, capturing reasonable facsimiles of Mama-esque authenticity.
Together, these two new West 4th trattorias nicely bookend Kitsilano, and I can’t wait to try them both. Although realistically it may be a while…
