Enoteca Cotto Pizzeria

Hours of Operation

Monday – Thursday 11:30am – 9:30pm
Friday 11:30am – 10:30pm
Saturday 11:00am – 10:30pm
Sunday 11:00am – 9:30pm

Ambiance: Casual/Family

Seating/Wait time: Plenty of seating, not very busy

Dress Code: Casual

Crowd: Everybody

Meal:

Complimentary Bread Dip

Calimari Fritto

Crispy fried squid, marinated roma tomato, salsa verde

$11.00

Pizza Salmone

Cold smoked steelhead salmon, fonduta, crispy capers, 63° egg, chives, hollandaise sauce

$16.00

Pizza Polpetti

Crushed Cotto meatballs, ricotta cheese, grana padano, spinach, tomato sauce, basil

$15.00

Personal Remarks:

This is my second time here.  Last time we ordered the "Pizza Prociutto e Uova".  It was forgetful, so this time it was time to try something different.  We had 3 people and we came here for brunch.  Their brunch menu is quite ingenious, the toppings for the pizzas were ingredients that you would normally eat during brunch.

Their complimentary bread dip was very tasty and we kept trying to guess what it was made of.  We were not able to figure out what it was made of because we finished it so fast.

Ordering 2 pizza's to share between one guy and two girls was too much.  We ordered too much food.  If you have three, an appetizer plus one pizza is enough for brunch.

The dough and crust is the thin crust style.  They try to keep things authentic here.  The taste of the crust is great at first but as the meal went on the dough became difficult to eat.  It became chewy and you had to give it a few extra bites and pull.  We do not eat slow either, it just seemed like the food got cold very quick.  Other than that the taste of the pizza toppings was decent.  The distribution of the toppings could have been more generous. 

While we were pulling the salmon pizza apart, there were a couple of occasions that we noticed not every slice got salmon.  So, some slices were just the sauce underneath and dough.

The Calamari was not spectacular for $11.00.  You could do without it. 

The Polpetti was not great or memorable.  I would tell you to order something else.  The salmon was good an unique that it is worth a recommendation.

Value: 4/5 Overall: 3/5

I Am Back

Blogging about food does not pay the bills.  

I apologize for taking such a long vacation.  Thanks for all the emails and support asking me to start writing again.

Just to let you know, while I was away I did not stop taking pictures and writing.  I've made a lot of notes and am happy to start writing again.  I have scheduled a writing block and picture editing block to make sure that I will be consistently posting again.  

Looking forward to giving some more guy style, guy eats, and some nutrition tips in the upcoming articles.  

Thanks again for your support!

P.S. We were unable to form a dodgeball team.  Despite my efforts, we just did not have enough people that were committed to forming a team.

Dine Out Vancouver 2012 $28 Menu Recommendations

Crispy Ling Cod from Maenam Dine Out 2012

With only 5 days left of Dine Out Vancouver 2012. I want to let you know my top $28 menu recommendations. My selection is based on the menu's presented by the restaurant itself relative to the next best choice.

Other blogger's reviews into consideration and the opinions and my friends' experience.

When people see the pamphlet no one considers the chain restaurants and immediately crosses out the Boathouse Restaurant and The Keg. 

Dine out is an opportunity for restaurants to put their best foot forward to entice you to come back and eat at their restaurant on non-dine out days. There is no point enjoying a dine out menu at a fancy restaurant when they serve you their "low end" food just to get you in the door.

I wouldn't waste my money and time at those places and I don't think you should either.

As there are 120 restaurants in the $28.00 menu my top recommendations in no particular order are the following:

1. Hapa Izakaya - Kitsilano/Robson/Yaletown
Menu: here
Location: 1516 Yew Street / 1479 Robson St / 1193 Hamilton Street
Phone Number: (604) 738-4272 / (604) 689-4272 / (604) 681-4272
Urban Spoon Rating: 85%/82%/82%

Everything looks beautiful and a creative dine out menu, even though they have multiple restaurants, it's a great place to go to.

2. Baru Latino
Menu: here
Location: 2535 Alma St
Phone Number: (604) 222-9171
Urban Spoon Rating: 88%

There's a good variety on their entree's, halibut, slow braised beef short ribs (usually lots of bones), and seafood mix

3. Maenam
Menu: here
Location: 1938 4th Ave West
Phone Number: (604) 730-5579
Urban Spoon Rating: 84%

Pro: Menu is really unique.
Con: Group of 2 only get to choose 1 dish from each category. Disappointing because you want to try other stuff too.

4. Edible Canada at the Market
Menu: here
Location: 1596 Johnston St
Phone Number: (604) 662-3606
Urban Spoon Rating: 87%

Pro: Rabbit Terrine and Elk! What a great chance to try something different.
Warning: Elk is a really tough meat for those that haven't tried it.

5. Xi Shi Lounge
Menu: here
Location: 1128 W. Georgia St
Phone Number: (604) 689-1120
Urban Spoon Rating: 100%

Pro: Dine out at a posh hotel, high standard of quality
Con: No variety on the menu.