Restaurant review: Pizza, pasta and beyond at Bufala in North Vancouver
Credit to Author: Mia Stainsby| Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2019 19:00:07 +0000
Bufala
Where: 3280 Edgemont Blvd, North Vancouver
When: Open daily from 4 pm for dinner
Reservations or more info: 604-770-2822, bufala.ca
Upon learning Bufala pizzeria was opening in Edgemont Village I did a fist pump. I like the one in Kerrisdale and the North Shore would like more of what Vancouver has in the way of food.
Then, another fist pump upon finding the menu’s better than Kerrisdale’s, going beyond pizzas with pastas, a few entrees and more starters. It’s operated by Gooseneck Hospitality, parent to Wildebeest, Lucky Taco, Bells and Whistles and the Kerrisdale Bufala.
North Vancouver’s seeing interesting restaurant action lately, especially in the pizza realm. Nicli Antica opened last year in Edgemont, Farina a Legna, earlier this year, and Nook will be opening at The Shipyards.
At Bufala, I tried dishes from all the menu categories and was happy with it all.
Bone marrow pizza from Bufala, in North Vancouver. Photo: Mia Stainsby.
First the pizza. The crust is the kind I like — leopardy char spots, poofed on the edges, a bit of chew, firm bottomed with good flavour from the 12-year-old sourdough starter and long proof.
“Our oven goes north of 900 F but we generally keep it under 600 F,” says Gooseneck’s James Iranzad. “I think we have a beautiful dough recipe. We’re not too fussed about San Marzano tomatoes or 00 flour. At the end of the day, we tested recipes and happily use what in our opinion was delicious. We want it crisp on the bottom so you can pick it up and want it to have bite and a breadiness and we want it in the oven long enough to harmonize flavours.”
They use bread flour for the dough.
“It has soft chew and blisters beautifully,” he says. That is, they’re not into Vera Pizza Napoletana.
We pounced on an unusual topping offering — bone marrow ($23). Say what? I love bone marrow but how the heck does that work? It turned out to be a regular kind of pizza with mozzarella, cotechino sausage, leeks, mushrooms and parsley but with a slice of toast in the middle topped with a roasted beef bone. The idea is to dig out the marrow and spread on the toast — there wasn’t quite enough to make impact but the pizza was everything I’d want in one.
If you’re lucky, you’ll catch the pizzaiolo twirling the doughs.
“Everything falls under Kevin Atkinson (the chef) but we have this amazing pizzaiolo. He stretches the dough by hand and throws it up in the air,” says Iranzad. “He can do four at a time. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
There’s no gluten-free pizza on the menu. Been there, done that in Kerrisdale but with little demand. However, they plan to put gluten-free pasta on the menu (good-quality La Rusticella brand).
Before the pizza arrived, we devoured a dish of crispy polenta ($7), cubed, deep-fried, atop salsa verde with a drift of grated pecorino Romano; really nice and light with refreshing notes from the salsa verde.
Pappardelle with smoked ham ragu from Bufala, in North Vancouver. Photo: Mia Stainsby.
You can do a half portion of pasta for a primi or a full portion as a secondi ($21). I loved the pappardelle and no wonder. Atkinson once worked at Ask for Luigi, a pasta head mecca.
“It worked out brilliantly,” says Iranzad of the hire.
The pappardelle had a lovely silky texture, emboldened with smoked ham ragu and Parmigiano.
Lamb shank with mushroom risotto from Bufala, in North Vancouver. Photo: Mia Stainsby.
From the mains, lamb shank ($32) worked out brilliantly too. The Two Rivers product was great and the kitchen nurtured its qualities, slow braising it simply and slowly. It was so tender and flavourful and served with the braise juices and a mushroom risotto.
We had ordered a contorni of artichokes with Romesco sauce but our server forgot to put it through. Blame it on early days, perhaps, but albeit cheerful, our server didn’t know the menu well, left our table unwiped of our sloppy eating and wasn’t the most efficient I’ve seen.
There was the issue of noise. That is, it’s a noisy room which wasn’t helped by a neighbouring diner with an operatic voice.
“We’ve been non-stop thinking about it,” says Iranzad. “We want the energy in there but don’t want it so loud to make people feel uncomfortable. At the risk of sounding cheesy, (the noise) is music to my ears but if it’s so loud you can’t hear, then maybe it was a mistake that night.”
Dessert! It was yummy. I loved the light and airy tiramisu with a hit of Amaro Averna ($11). I’m sure it’s a calorie hog but it was easy to imagine I was just breathing in air. Iranzad had a good idea — I’ve always wanted but avoided affogato (ice cream topped with coffee) because I like to sleep at night. Have it with decaf, he said. The Bufala affogato is made with soft serve ice cream and there’s shots of rum and Amaro in the espresso.
They’ll be adding a lunch menu, starting on weekends then going full bore. And they’ll bring on brunch in the New Year.
“Brunch will feature dishes like carbonara with a poached egg on top, pizza with sliced potatoes, egg and lardon or polenta and eggs,” says Iranzad.
Reds, mostly Italian, dominate the wine list, and there’s a fine selection of Italian whites and sparklers as well. Even the B.C. wines on offer are made with Italian varietals and styles. The cocktail list leans to modern classics and includes some on-trend zero-proof options. The list will change with the seasons, but they promise there will always be a Negroni. There’s also a well chosen range of local craft beers, and digestivos like grappa, vin santo and a number of amari.