Mia Stainsby

My column on Nero Tondo, which offers a great value $79 tasting menu where almost all ingredients are local and curated for quality. No lemon? They source local makrut, finger limes, calamansi. The tuna dishes are outstanding!

For my weekly columns, go to Vancouver Sun and The Province’s Life/Food/Local Reviews section.
Or sign up for West Coast Table Thursday notifications under vancouversun.com/newsletters.
Or https://muckrack.com/miastainsby/articles
Or google Mia Stainsby and Word of Mouth, my restaurant blog. Less

A few weeks ago, I included Claudio’s Ristorante in a pizza roundup story for Vancouver Sun and The Province pizza. Now, I circle back — Claudio’s deserves a couple of thumbs up for its pastas, too. The dough is made fresh daily with sensitivity and understanding of its sometimes fickle nature and transforms it into satisfying dishes like the single raviolo with truffle ricotta and egg yolk or trofie, a Ligurian pasta that’s rolled and rustically twisted — the pesto sauce on it was perfectly balanced. Cappalletti (hat-shaped) squid-ink pasta with a cream sauce, tagliatelle bolognese with pork shoulder, prosicutto, mortadella, precorino and grana padana — mwah!
The restaurant’s operated by the two sons of Claudio Magagnin who operated Pasta Amore in Burnaby until 2021.

#burnabyrestaurants #pasta Less

My @vancouverrsun and @theprovince column on House of Dawn steak house in Richmond — steaks are dry aged 28 to 60 days and even in chocolate and butter for tenderness and a little more complexity.

#steaks #richmondrestaurants #peterluger #wolfgangpuck #joelrobuchon #noma Less

A true leader in gastronomy, Andrea Carlson, chef/owner of Burdock, is deepening our appreciation and understanding of the plants we eat at her Taste and Sound dinners.

For my weekly columns, go to Vancouver Sun and The Province’s Life/Food/Local Reviews section.
Or sign up for westcoasttable.vancouversun.com
Or https://muckrack.com/miastainsby/articles
Or google Mia Stainsby and Word of Mouth, my restaurant blog.
@burdockandco Less

Genial staff, comforting food in discomfiting times, and a veteran chef make Folietta, a stylish Italian restaurant in East Van fire on all cylinders. @foliettayvr

To find my weekly columns, go to Vancouver Sun and The Province’s Life/Food/Local Reviews section.
Or sign up for West Coast Table Thursday notifications under vancouversun.com/newsletters.
Or https://muckrack.com/miastainsby/articles
Or google Mia Stainsby and Word of Mouth, my restaurant blog. Less

Freyja Croissant Bakery, located in Campbell River and Courtney, sells Scandinavian style croissants, elevated. What’s a Scandinavian croissant, you ask? The big difference is sourdough does the heavy lifting, ie., leavening, rather than the quicker, easier yeast method. It adds an extra measure of flavour. Lamination includes 27 folds and it’s a three-day process to complete. New Zealand butter amps up flavour.
Owners Emese and Géza Toth-Harasztos take it further, with croissant gymnastics, working the dough into inventive shapes with yummy fillings. Such as — the decadent Almond Cherry Dome with a lattice top. It’s filled with morello cherry jam and whipped almond ganache and dipped in almond chocolate. Or the carrot cake double-baked croissant another shape shift, far from its French origin— it’s filled with almond-based carrot cake frangipane and topped with whipped cream frosting infused with Madagascar vanilla. Chocolate bowtie croissant is cross-laminated and filled with dark chocolate creme. My fave? Pistachio croissant. It’s filled with a white chocolate based pistachio ganache and sprinkled with pistachios.
Should you wish a lunch-y option, there’s the cream cheese and spinach roulé with Pecorino cheese or a canoe-shaped pizza croissant with organic marinara sauce, chorizo, Fontina, bubbling and flaky as can be.

#croissants #campbellriver #courtenay #inventivecroissants Less

My column on Cantina di Luigi from the Kitchen Table restaurant group. It’s kin to Ask for Luigi, with the same obsession for pasta. Chanthy Yen is now the executive chef of the group and watching over this newest member of the family in Chinatown.

#vancouverrestaurants #italianrestaurants #chinatownvancouver #pasta #askforluigi
@cantinadiluigivan


To find my weekly columns, go to Vancouver Sun and The Province’s Life/Food/Local Reviews section.

Or sign up for West Coast Table Thursday notifications under vancouversun.com/newsletters.

Or
https://muckrack.com/miastainsby/articles

Or google Mia Stainsby and Word of Mouth for my restaurant blog. Less