Venice in Vancouver? That’s the over-arching theme of Bacaro which features modern Italian food influenced by the bacaro. Similar to Spain’s tapas bars, the bacaro serves up arrays of small plates that change seasonally, and sometimes hourly, depending on market availability.
Vancouver’s Bacaro is found on Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel’s ground floor. It opened in 2020, not an auspicious year for launching a restaurant, but the eatery survived. Now it thrives.
Executive Chef Chantly Yen joined in late 2023. His impressive background includes service as personal chef to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Another star turn: his opening of Vancouver’s Nightshade (MICHELIN Bib Gourmand award for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023). Located in Yaletown, Nightshade serves vegan/vegetarian fare.
Bacaro’s menu
Cicchetti, or small snacks, begin at $6 and include crostini, topped with ricotta and pancetta, duck liver, or tuna crudo. There’s also freshly baked focaccia with pomodoro tomato and anchovy.
A nice bonus: a complimentary cicchetti for the purchase of a drink.
Lunch offerings range from $24 to $36. Dinner: $37 to $62. It’s worth noting the strong U.S. dollar. Anything you buy in Canada is about one-third off, a great reason to visit, although Vancouver has plenty of reasons to visit.
Chef Yen prepared a tasting menu for us, personally introducing the dishes. Inspired by travels across Italy’s Veneto region, the food included avant-garde concepts found in Michelin-star establishments.
First up: A Cicchetti flight. I first tasted the pan e lardo, a charcoal-grilled slice of sourdough with aged lardo, honey, and rosemary. It looked less interesting. I’ll get this out of the way, I thought. I doubted it was as good as the porcini cream puff or the Treviso radicchio (scrambled eggs, ikura, and basil). I was wrong.
The pan e lardo was a crispy crusty delight with flavors that just kept going. So much for optics. The cream puff was good, and the dollop of scrambled eggs was ordinary.
Squid ink adds a noir touch
Next up: heirloom tomato, whipped sheep milk ricotta, sumac, and shallot dressing with ramp oil. The tomato’s acid perfectly cut the flavors. It was served with focaccia that was curiously black (it’s infused with squid ink). Toasted fennel seeds and confit garlic completed the dish. And of course, clarified butter.
The menu marched on. A favorite: the albacore tuna with charred tomato and orange relish. Crispy kale introduced a bitter element that gratefully did not overpower. Calabrian chili oil gave it a nice little slap to the taste buds.
The scent of the spot prawn tagliolini wafted to my nose as soon as it was set down. It was served with saffron, tomato butter, basil, and chili threads. The basil was flash-fried, the perfect touch for this delicious dish.
The grilled lobster was similarly fragrant. Served with risotto all’onda, the textures were notable. We also loved the roasted lamb with a raisin mostarda, a northern Italian condiment made from candied fruit and mustard-flavored syrup. The combo, while seemingly at odds, was tasty.
Desert: Italian milk punch with a stone fruit compote, caramelized honey tuile, and olive oil. It was light and intriguing. The perfect topper.
Bacaro is a recent undertaking of the BC-based hospitality group, Kitchen Table Restaurants, which opened its first restaurant, Pourhouse, in 2009. It’s the only non-Italian member of the group’s dozen restaurants.
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Bacaro: 1029 W Cordova St. Vancouver, BC. 604.687.9887 / @bacarovancouver