Dave G.
Yelp
Anytime I travel to a new city, I watch one of Anthony Bourdain's shows. He's pointed me to so many great meals, that when he passed away recently, I felt like I had lost someone I knew. So in his No Reservations Vancouver episode from several years ago, one of his first stops is Cioppino's to meet Chef Pino. The next thing I like to check, especially if the episode is a few years old, is if the chef is still actively in the kitchen. Sure enough, Chef Pino is still very much running the show, so I knew for sure that this was going to be my one meal in Vancouver after I flew in the night before leaving on a cruise ship for Alaska.
Turns out Chef Pino was there that night and hosting a table full of pastry chefs sitting right next to us. I wish I would have known that prior to ordering, because I would have just said...I'll have what they are having. Turns out Chef Pino is just as friendly and personable as he was on TV, and ended up introducing each of the chefs to our table. I'm sure I should have known who they were, but I'm not that up to date on my pastry chefs.
Onto the food.....
One of the specials of the night was a stuffed zucchini blossom appetizer. This was perhaps the best dish I had all night. It was perfectly lightly flash fried and stuffed with tasty fresh mozzarella. Kind of the Italian answer to a chile relleno. 5 stars
Carpaccio di Manzo - The thin slices of beef, were perhaps cut too thin and were tearing apart and getting stuck to the Parmesan and arugula. Just a little thicker with the cut of beef and the flavor wouldn't have been as overshadowed. 3.5 stars
Porcini and Chestnut Soup - very well balanced flavors. Save some extra bread to wipe the bowl and you'll be happy. 4 stars
Linguini "all'aragosta" - half lobster tail was split down lengthwise down the shell and peeled out nicely. It was cooked perfectly. I loved the lobster tomato cream sauce of this dish, and the fresh made pasta had a great texture to it. This is expensive guilty comfort food and I could have easily eaten the whole portion of it, the problem was, my other 3 dining companions didn't like their dishes as much, as what was supposed to be giving them a taste, turned into me only eating 1/4th of my meal. My fault for being too generous 4.5 stars.
Risotto with Lobster and Pesto - Here's the problem, when dining with family, never order the same thing. My wife and my mother-in-law both ordered this dish. I tried to convince one of them to order something else, saying we'll all share. But they wouldn't listen. Neither of them liked this dish very much, and gobbled up mine instead. The dish wasn't bad, but the risotto was very al dente, perhaps too much. Not that I ever want mushy risotto, but this was very chewy. The pesto was very strong so it covered up the flavor of the lobster pieces and veggies. It also had a sticky quality to the pesto, which really made each bite stick to the spoon. The presentation was strange as it was put into a dish with 3 compartments like it should be holding three different kinds of risotto dishes, but other than the center compartment had a dollop of foam (had a slight briny flavor to it), I don't know what differentiated each compartment where they needed to be served separately. 2 stars
Potato Gnocchi - my daughter threw me a curve ball and ordered something that I didn't think she would like. Again just like the other two I tried to talk her out of her order, but nobody was going to listen to me this night. Sure enough after a few bites, she wanted my Linguini and I was stuck with her gnocchi. Now I just recently had some of the best gnocchi on on the planet at Michael Chiarello's Bodega in Napa. Sometimes when you've had a dish so amazing, it's just not fair the next time you order it somewhere else. Sure enough I was disappointed with the gnocchi. It started out fine, but I found that I lost interest more and more with each bite as each taste was rich and similar. To me Gnocchi works so much better as an appetizer than a main course. But none of my personal opinions about gnocchi, should really affect rating of the dish. 3.5 stars
I think perhaps my dining companions really mis-ordered here, and I didn't really get to see Cioppino's in it's best light. But I'll tell you what, I don't know if it was the table of pastry chefs next to me, but dessert was 5 stars all the way.
Organic Lemon Tart - I loved the crunchy lightly charred meringue with the strong lemon flavor.
Tiramisu - this was deconstructed and each flavor was superb separately and all together as well.
Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta with blood orange curd, mixed berries, chocolate tulie, and chocolate powder. This was just wonderful and I'm glad I splurged and we ordered several desserts to share.
Chef Pino really knows his chocolate and was happy to tell us how much chocolate research he did to just find the right blend for his desserts. His research was well worth it.