Italian Kitchen, the newest Glowbal Group restaurant located at 1037 Alberni Street next to Betsey Johnson and a couple stores West of Tiffany at Burrard Street and Alberni Street opened their doors on the 29th of August with a truly memorable opening party fit for Vancouver’s A-List.

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to check the restaurant out over ten times, dining there for lunch and having drinks at night. So far my impression is that the food is reasonably priced and the quality and execution is pretty good. The crowd is always hip and good looking and so are the staff.

So what’s good on the menu, you ask? So far I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy:

• spaghetti and Kobe Beef Meetballs,
• two of their Bruschetta selections, the Prosciutto di Parma, rosemary and parmigiano bruschetta
• and the chick peas, roasted garlic and Italian parsley bruschetta,
• the Anitpasto Platter with burrata filled zucchini blossoms with portobello frites, jumbo tiger prawns, egglplant alla parmigiana, asparagus and fontina wrapped with prosciutto, heirloom caprese salad, fennel crusted rare ahi tuna, spicy meatballs with tomato ragu and osso buco risotto crochette
• the 40 day aged rib steak

One item of note, the steaks at Italian Kitchen come in a regular and 40 day aged varieties. I have yet to try them side to side but expect an update in the near future on this.

In the interim, check out the menus below as well as pictures of food. You can always get the latest photos I’ve taken at Italian Kitchen, HERE.

Italian Kitchen address and information:

ADDRESS: 1037 Alberni Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 1A1 (MAP)
TELEPHONE: 604-687-2858

HOURS of OPERATION: Monday – Saturday 11:00 am to 12:00 midnite, Sunday 4:30pm to 12:00am

WEB SITE: www.glowbalgroup.com

Check out what the gals at Sweetspot.ca have to say about Italian Kitchen after the jump.

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It happens every time we go out for dinner: Menu paralysis. Sure, the Ahi starter sounds divine, but what about the heirloom tomato salad?

Italian KitchenLeave it to the wunderkinds behind Glowbal, Sanafir and Coast to solve our dining dilemmas with their latest effort, The Italian Kitchen. Executive Chef Ryan Gauthier is serving up a new take on Mediterranean classics, and he’s dishing them up à la famiglia – family style. (Meaning no more fork scars after foraging from our dinner companions’ selections.)

We took our place at the 50-foot white marble bar to chow down on the Antipasto Platter ($18 per person), with Portobello ‘frites’, tiger prawns, eggplant parmigiana and more. The burrata cheese-stuffed zucchini blossoms would bring Tony Soprano to tears.

We’d have happily stayed at the bar to share quattro-formaggio pizze bianco and crab gnocchi with the eye candy three chairs over. Instead, we headed upstairs to the main dining area for a main course (or three). The mouthwatering Meat Platter ($30 per person) satisfied every carnivorous craving, and then some. Still, we couldn’t resist carb-loading with penne pomodoro, artichoke-stuffed rotelle and spaghetti and meatballs (all from the Pasta Platter, $15 per person).

Sure, there are plenty of single-serving entrees for lone ranger types. But we’re happy getting everything we want, and more.

The Italian Kitchen
www.theitaliankitchen.ca
1037 Alberni St.
604-687- 2858