Adesso Bistro

more on Toronto after this guest post!

When my blogger friend, Joy Luck Club, suggested I do a "guest spot" I figured I was up for the challenge.  However, I have learned a great deal from my experience and will strive to do a better job next time.  Plates would arrive at the table and we'd start digging in...only to realize I had missed the best photo opp.  So, please excuse the poorly executed food photos and the lack of other photos for the venue.  I'll do better if I'm ever invited back.

Dee


Adesso Bistro
1906 Haro Street
Vancouver, BC V6G 1H7
(604) 568-9975

A Bit of Nostalgia and a Bit of Good Food

For those of you who have been experiencing the Vancouver restaurant scene for a number of years you will be familiar with the location that now houses the Adesso Bistro.  A recent Groupon brought Garden Guru and I in for what turned out to be a great meal.  Adesso takes up the ground floor of a small building on Haro Street that was once a hotel.  The small courtyard on the east side serves as a lovely patio in the warmer months.  Here's where the nostalgia comes in (those of you who used to be regular consumers of martinis and great food in the 80s and 90s have already figured this out) ...this is the original location of Delilah's.  Although Delilah's is now closed, many of us remember it as a dining icon in its day (esp back in the time of its Haro Street location).  Walking down those few steps to the front door and entering to see the reception desk still in its original location had us thinking that we would find the "paper check-list menus" still on the tables.  But this is now Adesso, so I will suppress my fond memories and fill you in on our evening...

This is an Italian restaurant.  You feel it in the menu, the staff and most importantly the food.  Our server was knowledgeable about the menu and her descriptions helped us to make our choices.  We ordered a bottle of Liberty School Cab and then were pleased when an 

amuse bouche was served - a wee serving of fried gnocchi.  

Pasta Aglio e Olio, Pasta with garlic infused olive oil and chilis ...aka BR's Pasta

BR's Pasta

My recipe is a slight variation on the traditional versions.  The addition of tomato paste is my signature ..........it's my own twist and we love it this way!  

Fresh Pasta....it's so tasty and easier than you might think!

I have always been a lover of good pasta but frankly a little nervous to try my hand at making the noodles from scratch.  Well let me tell you......I have overcome my fear.
I have been making fresh pasta for about a year now and it's fabulous and it really isn't difficult.

Nothing beats the taste and texture of fresh homemade pasta.  Compared to the dried stuff....I think it's definitely worth the extra bit of effort.  We rarely buy pasta anymore and Fresh Pasta seems to appear quite often on the menu around here.

A Communal Birthday Celebration

It has become a tradition for 3 dear friends to celebrate their birthday together.  We were all born the same year, all attended the same secondary school (a long time ago!) and all continue to stay in touch...........that has to be good reason for a celebration!

So Happy Birthday Dee and M....here's to many more.

Since our birthdays fall in different months, we averaged the days of the year and came up with "our" birthday as sometime in late August.  Life is busy, but we finally got together and marked this auspicious occasion.

This year's theme happened to coincide with the happenings in the back garden.  So it's no surprise that our lovely wine paired meal was Tuscan inspired. Tradition has been that we celebrate in a grand fashion with a lovely tasting menu paired with yummy wines.  Some of the meals have lasted hours.  This one was no different.  In fact we had so much fun, it turned into a slumber party.  Who said old farts can't party?

We each prepared a course or two each and selected lovely wine pairings to compliment each.

My course was very interactive;  interactive, not out of design, but necessity!!

Have you ever experienced things suddenly breaking down in your home?  Well that happened around here.....and as with most things around here......it happened in a big way.  Over the course of 2 days we lost the dishwasher, microwave and yes, the very well loved and often used pasta roller attachment for the KitchenAid.  With the menu planned and no time to shop, I resorted to hand rolling the pasta for this dinner. Well actually, I coerced my two birthday buddies into hand rolling the pasta for dinner.

In the true Tuscan tradition,

Hand-Rolled Pici with a Hearty Ragu (click on Pici to view the recipe)

With antipasti to nibble on and luscious wines to sip we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. I think we have stumbled upon a new tradition.  The Pici was fabulous and the process was rather amusing.

Check out the video to see the Pici makers in action.   You also get a glimpse of Garden Guru working away in Tuscany.

So that's how 3 friends and a few of their guests enjoyed their birthday this year.  Fun times, good food, yummy wine........great friends!

Life doesn't get much better than this.