Now it's a partnership between Tim Ferris (of Ferris's Oyster Bar), Dave Craggs (of the Ferris's as well) and Aaron Lawrence, formerly of the Canoe Club. I read this afterwards, but the big clue to the Ferris link is the 'Weekend Crossword' on the brunch menu. Or the advert on your Ferris bill if you've been there. Our server Kim was only too happy to tell us about the link, and how the Crossword is a signature dish of the head chef.
Catalano has been open over a year, and made waves in the Huffington Post as one of the top 20 places to eat in BC. Then again that list has Willies bakery at number 20, praising its brunch menu. Which pretty underwhelming. And they were writing about the Ciccihetti (basically Italian Tapas) and we were headed in for breakfast. So different strokes for different times of the day.
We were seated right at the back of the place, on the third of the three split levels, with on side of our table seated along a very comfy bench seat, at a trim and smart brown dining table. Views saw us looking out across the Union Club and peaking through the streets to the Ledge and the Empress. There's an array of booths and semi-private tables, with space for you and a half dozen friends to eat.
We got coffee, and the decaf double shot Americano was reviewed by Andrea as 'not the worst coffee she had ever had'. I think this was praise. And now I have fulfilled my contractual obligation to quote her this week. I had the standard pot coffee and it was warm and roasty. Not super dark, but good to kick start my braincells again after this mornings run along Dallas Road.
The brunch menu lifts from Ferris's with the aforementioned Weekend Crossword. This is poached eggs, creamed leeks, English muffin and crispy prosciutto lightly topped with Hollandaise. I ordered this, not sure what else I really wanted. It was damn tasty, with a good scattering of fried cubed potatoes. The poached eggs were about as good as you can make them, just oozing the yolk over my food, while the white was cooked to a quiver. If that's not the correct term, it should be...
I did pass on the breakfast tagine. Not feeling overly adventurous, but I am going to try and convince folks for a second visit to try it now I know the food is well done here. Other people tried the corn pancakes, which got demolished on both plates, and Andrea ate the Gina Lola. This was a very light omelette with vegetables, onions and goats cheese. With a side (topping?) of greens and toasted bread. The cheese was held back for Andrea and she did seem to be apprehensive when it arrived. Even though Kim, the server, claimed it was her go to. A few minutes later and I think Andrea said something like 'You should quote me more in this weeks blog'. And a few minutes after that 'That wasn't bad at all, I wasn't sure, but I kinda liked it after all'.
My fee for mentions of Andrea is quite high, by the way. She'll be getting an invoice.
Meanwhile, another friend who doesn't want to be quoted (I think) ordered the flight of bacon with his meal. This came put as a long narrow plate with six types of bacon, all labelled. Double smoked bacon, back bacon and lamb bacon were among the samples. Kim recommended he try the lamb bacon last. All the bacon was eaten apart from the back bacon, as this appeared to be twice the thickness of a normal slice, and a little fatty rather than a nice medallion of porky joy. The other five types were viewed a success. A flight of bacon! A taster of bacon! Why this hasn't been more commonly mentioned, I don't know. It's almost as awesome as the glass of bacon you can order at The Guild.
Overall, everyone emptied as much of their plates as they wanted (rather than leaving some because it wasn't good). We got the bills, and I was charged for Kim twice. Apparently she's only worth $0 though, and just there to track the orders. I'd say a little more than that to their bottom line, as she was chatty, engaging and informative. She also encouraged us to try out the happy hour, with half price Cicchetti between 4 and 6pm or after 9pm. If the beer menu is any good (looks okay to me), I'll try and encourage it to happen with the Brunette of my Acquaintance. Well done on her cross selling us as well, and in a way that worked rather than feeling like a push.
Overall, a place I'll add to my list of place to go and recommend to others.
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