“Nothing spoils lunch any quicker than a rogue meatball rampaging through your spaghetti” – Jim Davis

Glowbal’s meatballs are neither rogue nor served with spaghetti, they’re served in style.

Various cultures all throughout the world have their own versions of the meatball, either as a part of a dish or simply served as a dish itself. The unassuming meatball is made up of ground meat and other ingredients such as breadcrumbs, minced onions, and spices, which would then be rolled up into a ball before being fried, steamed, baked, or braised with a bit of sauce. The Austrian call it the fleischaibchen, the Belgians have their ballekes, to the Greeks it is known as the keftedes, and its called the polpette to the Italians. Whichever way you call it, it’s still a meatball – plain and simple . . . well, probably not so plain and simple in the case of the Glowbal Restaurant Group, which has transformed a simple everyday meal into a dish worthy of praise.

You can download the this week’s PDF format HERE (or grab the full newspaper HERE,) or just keep reading (the unrated version) below.

Episode 1 – Three meatballs … and a secret one too

Image cutline: Traittoria serves up the ever elusive lamb-based secret meatball only to those in the know. You didn’t hear about it from us, ok?

The slow start to the sunny season has me turned upside down and I’m craving comfort food.  A plateful of meatballs, slathered in a tangy tomato sauce seems fitting for the occasion.  This craving brings on a new quest – to investigate Vancouver’s meatball scene. No, I’m not talking about the municipal government and the new bike lanes, in this case the term meatball actually refers to the food we’ll be eating on this quest and not some politicians. With this notable task at hand, it only made sense to bring on Melody Fury, my co-conspirator to give me insight on the finer points of said meatballs.

R: Glowbal Restaurant in Yaletown is known as a destination for meatballs in Vancouver.  They have five sister restaurants, four of which offer their own variety of meatball; we had no option but to make this the starting point.

M:  We were straight ballin’ out of control.  Raj and I chased five types of meatballs each with double the glasses of champagne in one afternoon.

R: No matter which Glowbal Restaurant we went to, balls were everywhere.

M:  What was once just rustic fare made with meat scraps and day-old bread, the Glowbal Restaurant Group has revamped the meatball into their lux, signature dish.

I was initially skeptical of whether Wagyu beef was overkill for the humble meatball.  After trying their over-the-top rendition (which they automatically serve to every rockstar, VIP and supermodel that rolls through) I instinctively paired the balls with an extravagant sparkling wine.

R: If there’s any place to start a meatball quest, it’s gotta be Glowbal with Italian Kitchen, Society, and Trattoria in tow.

While only selected properties serve meatballs at this time of year, serious ball-lovers should seek out the secret spicy lamb meatball at one of their sister restaurants.

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Raj Taneja is part technologist, entrepreneur, social media juggernaut and foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com and publishes a miscellany of musings at raj.jp and on twitter @tinhead. Melody Fury is the founder of Vancouver Food Tour and a freelance food writer by day, cocktail ninja by night.  Follow this YVR lifestyle ambassador on twitter @GourmetFury .