andrew coppolino

Vincenzo’s
150 Caroline Street S, Waterloo
519-741-1437
Open Monday to Saturday
vincenzosonline.com

[ Amuse-bouche: One of my favourite shops in the region when it comes to food. A lot of people grew up with Vincenzo’s, and at this, it’s third location now, it is bigger and better than ever. More room, more products, more delicious. ]  

I remember when I was a ragazzo, my father would take me to Vincenzo’s when it was the little shop called Italian Canadian Foods on Bridgeport Road in Waterloo. You drove up the driveway and parked around back. I thought that was odd—kind of like going to someone’s house for a visit.

And a visit it was. Dad would chat with Vincenzo Caccioppoli about food, including discussions about the castagna (I’m sure it was) and primarily if it was a good year for the chestnuts he still loves to roast. The Italian ones, not the California ones.

I listened to the creaky wooden floors, navigated the cramped space with aisles of food towering over my head, marvelled at the big white buckets of olives. I particularly recall the picture of the buxom Italian donna with the flowing black hair and in the white shirt tied at the waist on the big can of olive oil. I pondered how Vincenzo’s last name was so close to mine.

Italian Canadian Foods moved to Belmont Village where it was bigger and better. Recently, brothers Carmine and Tony moved Vincenzo’s to The Bauer Buildings at King and Allen streets. Bello. It’s a mercato with lots of Italian extras.

Great deli-counter, a butcher, sushi, a fishmonger, cheeses galore, pails of olives, and rows upon gleaming rows of food products both familiar and exotic. There’s housewares, gift baskets, groceries, a flower shop, and even food demonstrations.  

I love the meats you can find, including luscious coppa (pig neck meat) and lonza, back loin of pig similar to prosciutto (tell me, Carmine: is there any guanciale pork jowls there?).

My grandfather Gabriel was a devout carnivore, so that’s where I get my meat hankering. One of his favourite sayings in his Sicilian dialect, I’m told, was “Cu erba mangi sceccu diventa”—“The more grass [green vegetables] you eat, the more of a jackass you become.” Harsh, but when it comes to lonza and coppa—fatty, salty, delectable—I’m okay with it.

Vincenzo’s has soups, pastas, paninoteca sandwiches, and good homemade pizzas such as sausage and onion, or artichoke caponata and mushroom.

There’s myriad cheeses. I saw a seven-year-old Quebec cheddar the other day: on sale too. They stock Ruth Klahsen’s earthy Monforte Toscano cheese, moist but crumbly. I quite enjoyed the discovery of Fifth Town’s Cape Vessey created by Petra Cooper down Prince Edward County way.

There’s a host of salads: from tortellini to caprese—try the latter’s bocconcini (glorious little mouthfuls they are), tomato, basil, and olive oil for a shot of summer that seems so far away. Vincenzo’s sun-dried tomato caponata is delicious with a touch of garlic and nippy asiago, the cow’s milk cheese of Veneto. Even more interesting is the mild curry seven-grain legume salad including lentils, wheat berries, and mung beans.

Though there’s no creaky floors 30 years on, whenever I visit Vincenzo’s for cheese, olives, or a sandwich, I can’t help but look for the big cans of olive oil.

Reviews are based on anonymous and unannounced visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer’s meal. Listen to “The Food Show” Sundays at noon on 570 All News Radio. Andrew Coppolino can be reached at andrew@andrewcoppolino.com.



The Bauer Kitchen
#102-187 King Street S, Waterloo
Open daily
Lunch for two: $50
519-772-0790
www.charcoalgroup.ca

[ Amuse-bouche: Another strong addition to the Charcoal Group. The ambiance is warm while the atmosphere is hot. Lots of energy. Lots of activity. Form meets function in terms of retro-industrial décor meshing with upbeat vibe with young and old(er) chilling together. Best of all? Solid food from TBK’s kitchen. Why can’t downtown Kitchener have a venue like this? ]

 

Is there anything that the Charcoal Group of Restaurants doesn’t do well? To wit, the popular uber-urban Wildcraft and W Bar, the varied swizzle sticks of cosmopolitan Martini’s, the Mediterranean del Dente, and the half-century flagship Charcoal Steak House. And now The Bauer Kitchen.

TBK has urban energy. I love the brownfield, old-factory reclamation, and concrete floors, re-purposed wooden beams and old brick and pipes that form the restaurant’s bones. It’s a dynamic yet comfortable setting—you might even sit amidst cases of San Pellegrino water lined up adjacent to the bar.

Sidebar one: I dislike being forced to sling my coat on the back of my chair at a restaurant. So kudos to TBK for a gratis coat-check arrangement (and hardware washers as funky tokens to boot). Sidebar two: Hint to TBK—the ladies would like you to add purse hooks to the high-tops for convenience.

Service is generally fluid and competent, though on one visit there was some awkwardness in seating us at a row of high-tops alongside the bar. There were not candles in this section and it made it a bit tough to read the menus. Leave it to the Charcoal Group, though, to sort all of this out tout de suite.

As for the food, there’s a good energy emanating from the kitchen lead by exec chef Michael Hodgson. They toss around several good thin-crust pizzas (you can see the flames of the pizza oven doing their job from the dining room).

The arugula and prosciutto is a strong contender for my favourite—the salt touch from Mario Pingue’s charcuterie is stellar. Grilled eggplant is good too, but the pizza-winner is duck confit: it came, I ate, I stopped to think. Is that apple? No, pear. It conquered. Thanks to nip of Stilton.

Short rib gnocchi with a touch of wilted spinach is good too. Pork tenderloin comes in a cast-iron pan and is cooked to rosy pink—perfect for pork. Veg chef just needed slightly more attention paid to undercooked onion.

Good, too, are crab cakes with a lemony aioli as is crisp duck confit spring rolls with a balanced orange chili sauce. Retro bacon-wrapped scallops get a modernizing boost from chili-lime vinaigrette. A short rib ravioli is tender, pasta and beef both, and gets a kick from fried shallot. Nice move.

Born at San Francisco’s Meigg’s Wharf, briny and packed with nicely prepared seafood, daily-soup cioppino (which startles me because I think my surname has been misspelled) is packed with seafood flavour. Just a touch more salt for seasoning please.

At the end of the day—and at the end of the meal—service is always key. I’ve said it repeatedly in six years of critiquing restaurants in the region and adjacent areas: service excellence is paramount. There are only a few places in the region where that rings true, including Charcoal Steak House. That’s their métier, and it has meandered its way from Weber Street East to King Street South and TBK.

Reviews are based on anonymous and unannounced visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer’s meal. Listen to “The Food Show” Sundays at noon on 570 All News Radio.  Andrew Coppolino can be reached at andrew@andrewcoppolino.com.

Bogey’s Rustic Grill
123 Pioneer Drive, Kitchener
519-748-2404
Lunch for two: $40

[Amuse-bouche: Bogey’s Rustic Grill describe themselves thusly: “Relaxed Mood. Serious Food.” Neighbourhood bar and grill with a bit more focus on the food than the average roadhouse genre. Open seven days a week. Children’s menu, patio, catering, take-out, Bring-Your-Own-Wine]   

I had always known the restaurant was there, but the sign proclaiming Kobe beef burgers at Bogey’s Rustic Grill tickled my optic nerve and had me U-turning into the neighbourhood pub. 

Lucky enough to have savoured Kobe beef on a couple of occasions, both raw and lightly grilled, I think it’s amazing. And amazingly expensive.

Wagyu is a Japanese cattle breed and are granted the Kobe designation only if it comes from Japan’s Kobe prefecture and meets certain quality standards—the most tasty of which is intense fat-marbling. According to Bogey’s, their Kobe is supplied by a well-known North American foodservice company. 

Give full credit to Bogey’s for effort. The chef shops for ingredients daily for nightly features, and certain menu items say to me there’s genuine interest in food even if the restaurant is located in a little strip plaza. I can’t say if they always pull it off successfully every time, but what I might call “haute comfort food” is a notch or two above mundane roadhouse fare.

Before I discuss the food, a tip to the plongeur potwasher and/or prep guy: 1) drive a nail in the wall back-of-house and hang crisp, white chef’s jacket on it; 2) wear said clean jacket when bussing tables.

Bogey’s menu includes basics bolstered by extras: sea salt on duo of potato (hand-cut) and sweet potato (frozen) frites, homemade smokey ketchup mayo, house-made salad dressings, mini pork sliders on brioche.

There’s Angus striploin Gorgonzola pasta, three-meat ragu penne, and spaghetti and meatballs in a sauce “simmered for hours,” according to the menu. Homemade is the case in 90 percent of dish ingredients, Bogey’s says.

“Share Me Plates” include seafood nachos and béchamel, and poutine ramped up bravely indeed by Kobe beef doused with Woodstock’s Bright Cheese House cheese curds and homemade red wine gravy. 

Kobe, in fact, touches down twice in their homemade gourmet burger department. First there’s Kobe burger with caramelized onion jam (I perk up when I see something like onion jam) and homemade ketchup; then a Toyota Kobe burger with a soya wasabi mayo—you know, what grows together goes together: Japanese cows and Japanese horseradish.

There is also a burger that comes with goose liver pate (long live goose fat!), a burger accented with that onion jam, a pulled pork burger, what I guess is a Franco-Italian “quattro formage burger, and Jamaican jerk burger with guacamole and mango salsa. Nice combo.

Bogey’s poutine was good. Though I’m not a poutine fan, the feta was the key. The eight-ounce lamb burger was lean, feta-blanketed, and nicely seasoned. Served attractively on thick flatbread, it was a difficult sandwich to hold. The ovine flavours were there, but the burger itself was just a tad dry.

The Kobe burger, when I disassembled it and set aside pretty good caramelized onion jam and homemade ketchup, did have a full, meaty flavour and pleasing texture. It was a tasty, wholesome burger: I’ll let you and your taste buds decide if it’s worth $15.

Reviews are based on anonymous and unannounced visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer’s meal. Andrew Coppolino can be reached at andrew@andrewcoppolino.com.

El Rinconcito Mexicano
21 Ainslie Street N, Cambridge
519-623-4100
Lunch for two: $20

[ Amuse-bouche: Simple, no-frills Mexican meals freshly made with a grandmother’s touch. The filling nature of the food itself is amplified by the generous portions served. This small shop duplicates the little corner lunch stands that must abound in the teeming Mexico City metropolis—and in downtown Galt. ]

The taco joint in downtown K-Town has recently bitten the dust: its brief sojourn has been followed now by a muy, muy long siesta. Sad given that there are so few places serving Mexican food in the region. 

Fortunately, Cambridge’s Ainslie Street has El Rinconcito Mexicano. Rinconcito means a little corner or nook, and that perfectly describes the restaurant: it’s the span of your arms wide and twice as long, but it’s the right amount of space to prepare no-frills home-cooked Mexican food. 

Owner Patricia Solis, a native of megalopolis Mexico City has put together a basic menu of a dozen or so simple dishes prepared in cramped space and amidst shelves of Latin American food products. Flags and Mexican tchotzches (I recall a piñata once floating nearby) are applied liberally. And why shouldn’t they be? 

Even in tough economic times—and with no thanks to a Canadian government bonehead who once referred to something called “Mexican flu” not so long ago—the little nook continues to thrive. Solis was even able to open an adjoining space for a few more tables.

As for the menu, it’s simple and pretty darn good. She says her food is typical of home-style Mexico City eats. Everything, including the corn tortillas and a red and green salsa, is made here, she adds. And she doesn’t know of anyone else nearby serving gorditas—pork, coriander, onion, garlic, a feta-like cheese, and salsa in a corn tortilla.

Gordita, “little fat one,” is also a good way to describe the plump burrito packed with pulled pork, a dot of sour cream, and fresh orangey-reddish rice that’s been flavoured with achiote, the seeds of South America’s annatto tree. The spice lends a mildly heady and appealingly bitter flavour to the rice that blends nicely with fresh tortilla.

Tacos de carnitas (“little meats” either pork, chicken, or beef), quesadillas, enchiladas, sopes, tamales, and pupusas fill out the selections whose prices top out at $10. Wherever you find moist tender slivers of beef, chicken, or pork, mild white cheese and “refried” beans are close at hand alongside delectable and crisp corn tortillas.

Enchiladas, a rolled tortilla holding a protein and usually with a chili pepper sauce, are in themselves delicious (and filling) but what makes the dish is the soft, creamy frijoles refritos.

Chicken burrito is another good dish as is the tostada with those fried beans, cool lettuce, and the wonderful crunch of tortilla. Wash it all down with a Jarritos tamarindo Mexican soft drink and you’re in simple-lunch glory with lots in your estomago and lots remaining in your wallet. Students from the nearby University of Waterloo School of Architecture and office blokes alike will tell you as much.  

If there’s a knock against Mexican food, it’s the sameness of the various dishes and uniformity of flavours from one to another. But, hey, grandmother Abuela is cooking in the back, so eat up and enjoy. Leave the fussy French cuisine for another day. 

Reviews are based on anonymous and unannounced visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer’s meal. Andrew Coppolino can be reached at andrew@andrewcoppolino.com.

Manhattans Music Club & Pizza Bistro
951 Gordon Street South, Guelph
519-767-2440
www.manhattans.ca
Lunch for two: $50

Amuse bouche: Pizza. Jazz. Bistro. Club. Manhattans plays the pizza oven well and tinkles the ivories admirably. They’ve been around for a while now and have stayed true to their food and music ideals—nice. Sandwiches, panini, wraps, burgers, soup, and melts too. Decent wine list.

Isn’t live jazz just about the best way to enjoy a dining experience? Few places blend the art forms—that of the musician and that of the chef—much better than Guelph’s “manhattans pizza bistro. jazz club [sic].” Notice the (grammatical) notes that their business card didn’t hit: improvised lower case, missing apostrophe, idiosyncratic end-stops?

I’d love to be able to wax poetic on the virtues of the live bebop, 50s cool, fusion, hard bop, or smooth that play at Manhattans, but I have a tin ear.

The pizzas, though, are beauts. Thin-crust New York style pies, they’re inspired by the stars of the jazz firmament: Ella, Getz, Basie, Gillespie, Holiday, and Guido (which I assume is Basso and not Sarducci).

At either 16- or 20-inches, they arrive hot and luscious with not too much cheese—which can do nothing but overwhelm other flavours—and prices that range from about $22 to $32 (a 16-incher is a good size for two to share).

Gillespie is pesto, caramelized onions, chicken, spinach and a dizzying drizzle of honey. My Sicilian nonna was a great pizzaiola but her repertoire did not extend to honey, actually a Roman ingredient.

Ella, the first lady of pizza, features a scat of artichoke hearts, feta, and capicollo (salume of hog’s head and shoulder), while Getz is shrimp, snow peas and garlic.

Holiday is sausage, broccoli, and sundried tomatoes, but the Evans (which I guess covers Bill, Gil, Doc, or George) pizza performance was my favourite: mozzarella, parmesan, tomatoes, and fresh basil. It’s stellar with the cadences and phrasing of the traditional Margherita pizza that purportedly originated in 1880s Naples to honour the Italian Queen.

The crust was perfect and speckled with herbs making it one of the best I’ve had. And old-time pizzaiolo will say the best crust can’t be too thick or too thin; you should be able to fold it like you open and close your wallet: this pizza did just that. And it was packed with crisp Roma tomato acidity balanced by the basil’s licorice grassiness.

Manhattans has a good enough list of appetizers to choose from, including skewers of grilled tenderloin cooked perfectly with attractive cross-hatch markings and arriving hot and moist. Delicious “noodles” of zucchini and carrot bathed in a light vinaigrette were a fitting counterpoint to the tenderloin, though orangey dipping sauce was too sweet for my taste.

A generous mound of basic mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and a few almonds with a lemony vinaigrette serve as a base for a fillet of grilled salmon. The generous appetizer portion could serve as a main course.

The only criticism I have is that on this visit it took a bit long for the mains to get from the pass to the table. I know things can happen in kitchens to kick them into the weeds: maybe the pizza oven was crammed full of jazz heroes? That’s fine, but just let us know what’s going on—so we can sing the praises of pizza and jazz.

All reviews are based on anonymous and unannounced visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer’s meal. Andrew Coppolino can be reached at andrew@andrewcoppolino.com.