Eat Drink Be Local ? Campagnolo now serves gluten-free pasta?is ...

You may wonder why at Eat Drink Be Local we would care about a restaurant that was started by three Albertan men and serves Italian cuisine. Well, we happen to know that they source their ingredients locally. In fact, when the Main Street Farmer?s Market runs at Pacific Central Station, you?ll often see proprietors, Rob Belcham and Tom Doughty, or Executive Chef Ted Anderson picking up vegetables or selling fresh pasta.? Collectively they have built a strong relationship with local farmers, adopting a slow food philosophy towards ingredients. They also carry some great BC wines, including the Montagu Cellars Three Barrel Merlot, which is made by restaurateur Tom Doughty.

Campagnolo?s seasonal menus, crafted by Chef Anderson, are inspired by the Piedmont and Emiglia-Romagna regions with simple, authentic dishes that boast a variety of starch and meat. From salumi, and octopus salad, to pizza, pasta, risotto, and crispy ceci, they cater to your every Italian desire ? except for the hot Italian servers, but that?s just wishful thinking.

The day I went in for lunch, I was lucky enough to get a mini tour of their meat room, learning about their whole animal butchery and their tail to nose approach. Every week the restaurant receives two whole pigs from Sloping Hill Farm and because it was ?Pig Day? (otherwise known as the day they get their pigs in) I saw them hanging and curing in the freezer (sorry vegetarian friends).

Campagnolo believes in everything made in-house, from scratch, which includes their salumi, as well as their pasta. As a very picky pasta eater with a primarily carnivorous appetite, I was pleasantly surprised with the pappardelle that I devoured during my first visit to the restaurant. You can taste the difference in fresh pasta, as you can in fresh produce, fresh bread or fresh meat.

Recently the team has developed (and perfected) a gluten-free cannelloni. Breaking my idea of a gluten-free pasta, it wasn?t dry, or like cardboard, but rather a celiac-friendly pasta incognito. Their was a slight different texture, structure and appearance (a tad more transparent and flimsy), but had I not known that it was gluten-free I probably wouldn?t have noticed.

?It was imperative that we didn?t just make a gluten-free pasta; rather, we make a pasta that we as chefs would want to eat, that just so happens to be gluten-free,? explained Chef Anderson.

So why cannelloni and not rigatoni? The dough for cannelloni lends itself well to baked preparations, and baking it separately from other pasta prevents cross-contamination. Also, to ensure that the dish is extra safe for those who are gluten intolerant, one pasta roller is dedicated solely for the cannelloni.

In addition to the cannelloni I sampled some of their other menu items.

Charred Octopus Salad ($13)

romaine, artichoke hearts, grapefruit ? octopus sourced from Organic Oceans Seafood

?the Cure? - Salumi Platter ($16)

three of chef?s selections ~ all made on premises using Sloping Hill?s heritage breed pork

Brodo ($9)

mascarpone ravioli, kale, parmigiano reggiano

Squash Cannelloni?(GF) ($17)

ricotta, brown butter, sage

(This cannelloni dish is switching to one with spinach & ricotta, roasted tomato sauce and crisp garlic.)

There is also a gluten free, but not currently vegetarian, cannelloni dish at the sister restaurant, Campagnolo Roma.

DESSERT

Adam?s Butter Tart ($9)

dried prune plums, pine nuts, milk

Their plums are sourced from Sapo Bravo Farms where they are harvested in the summer and then dried in-house and used throughout the winter.

Mascarpone Cheesecake ($8)

coronation grapes, pistachio crumble

?

TO DRINK:

Monarch Caf? ($9)

grappa di gianduia, frangelico, espresso

One thing I noticed on the menu that I?ll be back to try is the Fiducia where, as it explains on the menu, you ?trust the chef? with his expertise for $15. And in case you were wondering, I don?t think they?ll be making gluten-free pizza anytime soon, but in a year or two, who knows.

For more information on Campagnolo and to see their menus visit them online www.campagnolorestaurant.ca

Source: http://www.eatdrinkbelocal.com/campagnolo-now-serves-gluten-free-pasta-is-pizza-next/

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