osso lunchroom puts twist on Italian
If you’re in Langley and looking for a delicious dish of Italian food that doesn’t come with all-youcan-eat bread sticks, you might want to try Osso Lunchroom.
The restaurant, which opened in 2015, is located in a commercial complex that gives it a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it quality. But, don’t let the unsuspecting exterior fool you; inside there’s a lineup of eats on offer that includes casual comfort food inspired by the cuisine of Italy, with a local twist.
“Our menu is 95 per cent local at the peak of the Fraser Valley’s growing season,” Sean Bone, the executive chef and owner, says. “We grow our own micro-greens, and grow some of our own vegetables.”
The small eatery features walk-up ordering, guided by a floor-to-ceiling chalkboard menu displaying the seasonal creations on offer by Bone, a Red Seal certified chef, and communal seating at reclaimed wood tables that can create a bit of a musical chairs scenario in the dinner rush hour.
“It was meant to have people come together to eat,” Bone explains.
Despite a steady stream of diners coming and going, the restaurant’s front-of-house staff member was friendly, helpful and efficient — taking orders, filling drinks, delivering meals and quickly clearing empty plates and other assorted dinner detritus to clear the way for the next dining party. In addition to offering a decent array of local beers on tap, such as Four Winds of Delta, Osso Lunchroom serves up several coffee concoctions, as well as red and white house wines ( both were pleasant but a bit pricey at $8.50 for a 5 oz. pour). Our meal started with the roasted beet, spinach and goat cheese salad with walnuts and a roasted lemon vinaigrette ($13.75). The chilled starter dish was delicious and flavourful with the mix of pickled and plain beets and light dose of dressing playing perfectly alongside the creamy dollops of goat cheese.
As one might expect in Italian eatery, our dinner party then moved on to the pizza and pasta offerings. The prosciutto, arugula, pesto and tomato pizza ($16.50) was loaded with toppings, including both sliced and chopped prosciutto pieces.
The thin crust was chewy and slightly crispy, and created a perfect base for the layer of goodies on top.
“The pizza dough that we produce is made with a bread starter called a biga,” Bone says. “We have kept our starter alive for over three years. This style of dough yields an amazing flavour.”
While the finely chopped prosciutto was a nice surprise, a handful of fresh arugula in addition to the baked leaves might have made the pie more flavourful. Next time we’ll try the popular margherita pizza, which seemed to be a consistent choice among fellow diners.
Next was the bucatini and meatballs ($13.50), which came in a personal serving size (unlike the pizza, which was easily shareable between two, maybe even three people). What, at first, appeared to be a small portion turned out to be just right thanks to the chewy noodles and trio of meatballs. The slightly spicy sauce was simple and enjoyable, but it was the juicy orbs of ground beef that were the star of the dish. Next time, we’d probably go for a side dish of the meatballs, they were that good.
The eatery also offers its
meatballs as the filling of one of its fresh sandwiches, which Bone says is a bestseller.
For dessert, our dinner party shared the affagato ($5.50) as well as the ricotta doughnuts ($5.50). Affagato, essentially a few scoops of gelato drowned in hot espresso was absolutely delicious. The cold ice cream absorbs the full flavour of the coffee, creating a soupy, sweet mix that had our table nearly fighting for the final spoon. The rich ricotta doughnuts may not appear too appetizing at first glance, but it was love at first bite. Fried to a crispy golden crust and coated in cinnamon sugar, the soft, pillowy insides were perfectly sweet and not too doughy or dense. Sitting in a shallow pool of warm caramel, the devilish delights provide the perfect ending to a pleasant experience.