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Campagnolo Restaurant: Scrumptious Italian in Vancouver’s Strathcona

Campagnolo Restaurant: Scrumptious Italian in Vancouver’s Strathcona

My husband has just returned back from a four-day business trip. After four days of being a single mom (and incidentally, a surprising treat to be spending this one-on-two time with my girls), a special meal is in order. Lunch seems to be the perfect time for my husband and I to try out great restaurants – especially during weekdays. With kids properly shuttled away at their regular caregivers, we can blend in with the business folk and daytime hipsters and enjoy some terrific meals.

Campagnolo has been on our list for some time – ever since we moved back to Vancouver nine months ago. There’s something appealing about being able to get what’s rumoured to be fabulous Italian food in a somewhat dodgy location – albeit a gentrifying dodgy location – near the Ivanhoe Hotel on Main Street.

My husband and I are both working from home and tummies rumbling at 11:15, decide to make an early lunch of it. We’re the first diners to arrive just after the restaurant opens for service at 11:30. By the time we leave an hour later, the dining room, which seats about 100 people, is about a quarter full with business lunches, old girlfriends “doing lunch”, and a 30-something son having what seems to be his monthly meal with his mom.

The dining room itself is beautifully modern, with exposed cinder block walls and a wonderfully natural wood wainscoting that seems to have a random subway tile, brick effect (you’ll have to see it to know what I mean).

We take a seat by the window. My husband speculates that maybe the frosted glass on the window is purposefully high so that diners aren’t distracted with the seediness of the street. It also adds mystery for those passing by.

We share the arugula salad as a starter. The pine nuts add a lovely crunchiness and while I’m not normally a fan of radish, paired with this dressing and thinly sliced, I lap the radish up.

We’re both in the mood for pasta. He orders the Arlecchino, a wide noodle with fennel sausage. I decide on the Tagliarini, also a wide noodle but paired with pork ragú. When our meals arrive, I feel that momentary jealousy when you think you’ve ordered the lessor dish. But upon sampling, I realize that although his plate is more attractive, I’m not in the mood for the saltiness of the fennel sausage and am delighted with my choice. We both agree that the small portion is the perfect amount for a lunch meal.

And because I’m pregnant, the vanilla panna cotta is a requirement. The candied orange and hazelnut combo is particularly to die for. When the server brings my Americano, she realizes that she’s spilled half of it in my saucer and returns to the back to replace it. When she comes back, the saucer is clean, but the cup is still streaked and messy with the spill. A small annoyance, however, amidst a terrific meal.

Two lunch entries, salad, dessert, no alcohol cost $58 including tip.

Campagnolo

1020 Main Street, Vancouver, BC
www.campagnolorestaurant.ca | Twitter: @campagnoloMAIN | Facebook

Campagnolo on Urbanspoon

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