NEIGHBOURHOOD NOOK
Second location serves up tasty handmade pizzas, pastas
Nook adds a second family friendly location, serving up tasty homemade pasta ( even gluten free!) and pizza on Yew Street in Kitsilano. RESTAURANTS
Nook 1525 Yew St. | 604- 734- 009 Info: nookrestaurant.ca
Open: Dinner, daily; brunch on Saturday and Sunday
Owner Mike Jeffs wisely placed his second Nook restaurant on Yew Street in Kitsilano, where it automatically feels like a neighbourhood attraction. The casual comfort food and cheerful disposition add to the appeal. Nook on Denman Street has a similar neighbourly feel, with legions of apartmentdwellers going for a walk- to meal.
Customers at the Kits location go all the way from kids and parents to middle- agers. A kid was screaming on one occasion, but, at least for me, it adds to a homey, real- people feel.
The room is divided into two areas, but most will veer to the left, the side that feels more finished and cohesive. The right side started out as a breakfast and lunch section, but it wasn’t working, and so now it holds a antipasti preparation area and some tables.
The Kitsilano menu follows the successful West End lead with pizzas and handmade pastas. The pizzas have a blistered, charred crust and are topped with good quality ingredients. The dough recipe, Jeffs says, is pretty much the one that came with the gas pizza oven. “We like to cure it for two days for more strength, texture and a better chew,” he says.
The bread flour is from Canadian wheat, but is milled in Italy. “Canadian bread flour is more coarse, and when I put it through the machine to extrude, it oxidizes quickly,” he says.
And, wouldn’t you know it, Jeffs has joined the ranks of the gluten free, only not by choice. His arthritic fingers were responsible.
“It was so bad I couldn’t squeeze a lemon. When I quit eating gluten, my fingers worked like a dream,” he says. He misses it and caves to his craving every few months. Nook has a corn- forward nongluten option for pasta, but Jeffs hasn’t found a suitable non- gluten option for pizza. “They’re horrid!” he says.
I’m Pavlov’s panting dog when it comes to ricotta anything, and when my eyes lit upon the whipped ricotta crostini with a drizzle of honey and sprinkling of hazelnuts on the menu, I did drool a bit. And the dish delivered everything I love about ricotta — good ricotta, that is. It was whipped into fluffiness and made nice with the honey and nut garnish.
The vegetable antipasti platters ($ 15 to $ 23) are great for sharing, but can take up precious gastro cargo space if you’re moving on to pizza or pasta. The platters are endowed with mozzarella or burrata or no cheese at all. The burrata, of course, was my option as that’s another Pavlovian trigger for me. Veggies included quinoa, lentils, beets, olives, cauliflower and chickpeas.
Along with ricotta and burrata, I’m a sucker for anything with an egg with runny yolk sitting on it, and was happy to see a pizza special one evening with a poached egg, pancetta and some greens. In my opinion, it should be a mainstay. Another pizza on the regular menu, with prosciutto, arugula and roasted garlic topping, had one jarring note — the overly salty prosciutto.
I tried casarecce pasta with Italian sausage, roast fennel, olives, tomato and chilies; the house- made extruded pasta noodles are made with semolina flour and water. This had a bit of chew, but some egg might have softened it for a more freshly made texture. The sauce was good and lightly covered the noodles. Casarecce, one of the many descriptive Italian pastas, means “homemade.” ( Perhaps the unkindest cut is the strozzapreti, a rolled pasta, which means “priest choker.”)
And now to dessert. Tiramisu might not be novel, but what’s wrong with familiarity if it’s delicious? This version is light and lofty with a bit of jiggle. The pannacotta is creamy, but light. Definitely doable after a whole pizza.
The room can get noisy with the hard surfaces and a full house. The music tends toward artists such as Led Zeppelin and David Bowie, but it’s not cranked up and tables are small so it’s easy enough to have a normal conversation, leaning in. “Sounds like my Grade 11 record collection,” my husband says.
Jeffs also owns Tavola, which evolved from Tapastree, one of the first tapas- style restaurants in Vancouver.
“As I get older, my cooking gets simpler,” he says. “I use good ingredients and restraint.” $: Less than $ 60 for two without wine, tip and tax $$: $ 60 to $ 120 $$$: more than $ 120