The food is solid but so is the service and wine list at Piva Modern Italian.
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Piva Modern Italian
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Where: 787 Columbia St., New Westminster
When: dinners daily; lunch, Thursday, Friday; brunch, Saturday, Sunday
Info: 604-522-0221, pivarestaurant.ca
I have to confess — at first, it was just convenience. Simple as that. Piva Modern Italian restaurant sits halfway between us and friends in White Rock.
But once inside, I noticed things. Our server, Tony, was great. He comfortably talked about wine and food, understood the art of service, and had an easy sense of humour. En route to the washroom, I noticed Wine Spectator and Vancouver Magazine wine awards on the wall. And when Tony sent the wine guy over, he recommended a bold and beautiful wine which we all gushed over — a super-Tuscan from the Bolgheri region, which at just $20 over retail was a steal.
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Then I see a Dina Goldstein photo piece from her Fallen Princesses series on a wall. And then a lot more art, including another I loved — Paul Rousso’s crumpled New York Times Weekend Arts wall sculpture. I learned later that one of the five owners is an art collector and, ah, it figures — Tony was a long-time waiter at Il Giardino. And the wine guy? Managing partner and wine director Christopher McFadden, who has overseen wine programs for the Fairmont and Opus Hotels, Gotham Steak House, and Oliver Bonacini restaurants in Toronto.
Chef Subraaz Abdulla is also a fan of Tony the server. “I’m learning from him. He’s been a server his whole life and he changed my perspective and made me understand what matters is the guest, even if they have outrageous requests. I’ll try my best,” he says.
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I didn’t take notes or photos from the first dinner — I do remember my burger as tall, juicy, and tasty, and a tasty antipasto plate we shared — but since we all enjoyed the Italian food and the vibe, I returned for a review dinner.
Piva’s namesake is one of the five owners’ ancestors who immigrated from Italy in 1917. The restaurant opened five years ago in the heart of New West across from the SkyTrain station — handy for scooting in from Vancouver or Burnaby or Surrey.
“The family story is huge for all of us,” says McFadden. “We’re close friends and this is a very family-based community.”
Abdullah was previously chef at Quattro on Fourth Avenue, and a pasta dish created by one of the founders drifted onto his Piva menu. It’s called “For Nonno”, or “grandfather”, a creation of a Quattro founder. It’s got spices, garlic, chicken, black beans.
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I didn’t try that, but after a bite of my husband’s spaghetti with wild boar meatballs ($25) I made a couple more stealth attacks. It was delicious with a mushroom binder and a cream sauce with veal stock. The pasta was tossed with grana padano, morels and portobello mushrooms. Abdullah says he gave up making fresh pasta as he couldn’t keep up with demand, so uses dry except when cannelloni or lasagna is a feature.
For my main course, I ordered pizza ($18) with thinly sliced smoked duck, fig jam, crispy pancetta, asiago cheese, apple and spinach. I’m no pizza cooking expert, but I do think it would have benefitted from higher heat. It lacked the char, the chew and gnarly artisanal appearance from hellish heat. But still, it was better than a lot of pizzas with its crisp cornicione or edge.
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A grilled calamari steak ($15) appetizer came with capers, roasted garlic, spicy pomodoro and olives. This giant among squid hit the sous vide for a couple of hours in a marinade before a quick grill and was so tender to the bite.
Crab cakes ($17) tasted somewhat of prawns and Abdullah explained why. Instead of bread as a binder, he uses a shrimp paste. It was served with aioli, grainy mustard and arugula.
Nonna, or grandmother, figures in the dessert section. “For Nonna” is a delicate and tiered balance of crispy phyllo, a bling of cherry compote and vanilla bean mascarpone, a sensuous blend of flavours and textures. And it is delicious.
McFadden’s award-winning wine list is split between B.C. and unique Italian wines and honours the Piva family origin story. “Everything’s from family estates and accessibility. It’s not global, but we knew we had to stand tall and proud and represent our intention. The number-one thing is to do things with intention, build conversation and have a spark that makes us stand out.”
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Chef Stefan Hartmann — who can forget his sublime cooking when he was at Bauhaus restaurant? He is now culinary director at the Glowbal restaurant group and will be hosting a seven-course, wine-paired West Coast Winter Crab dinner on Nov. 18, at Coast restaurant. There will be dishes like Chilean crab with bonito curd, butter-poached king crab, snow crab stuffed monkfish and much more. There are only 20 seats for this exclusive $300 event. Expect to swoon. And if you miss this one, there will be more Hartmann seasonal exclusives to come. Reserve at achee@coastrestaurant.ca .
Dine Strathcona is back for year three with neighbourhood restaurants, cafes and breweries supporting HAVE Culinary Training Society, from Nov. 17 to 30. The non-profit provides training and work opportunities for those in the community facing barriers to employment. In the past 14 years, it has trained 1,200 students, and 75 per cent have found work in tourism and hospitality. As well, HAVE’s on-site cafe has prepared over 1,000 meals a day for at-risk individuals during the pandemic. This year, the Strathcona Business Improvement Association will donate $5 from each sale of a Dine Strathcona dish featured at 19 participating businesses to HAVE. The participating restaurants are: Ask for Luigi, Axum Ethiopian Restaurant, Dosanko, Lalalou’s, Belgard Kitchen, The Heatley, Mackenzie Room, VV Tapas Lounge, Coastal Eden Cafe, Harken Coffee, Liquids & Solids, Pallet Coffee, Prototype Coffee, Railtown Cafe, The Garden, Burdy food truck at Container Brewing, Strathcona Beer, and Superflux Beer. For menu features, go to strathconabia.com/dinestrathcona2021.
Source: vancouversun.com
