Campagnolo Roma. A nice casual simple place. I like it.

I like Refeul, especially their burger.

I had one bad experience there.

I like Campagnolo on main.

Now I finally had the opportunity to check out Campagnola Roma on Hastings. The third restaurant in the Refeul/Campagnolo empire.

It seams like decreasing fanciness and increasing casualness as we go down this list.
Roma has a real simple mom and pop feel but with a trendy young edge. The menu is short and simple, a few apps a few pastas and a few pizzas. But then really what more do you need.
I had the diavola - spicy salami, tomato sauce, aged provolone  pizza. The crust was good a bit soggy in the middle but that's ok and the topping was a bit greasy from the sausage (99% sure the salami is made in-house at Refeul - I love when that happens) but then that's totally expected.

I like the pizza I would go back in a heartbeat and really thats all that matters as well.

A really nice casual simple place. I like it.

BTW, this is a great dinning corner of Hastings with Red Wagon right across the street. All this corner needs now is that the Churches Chicken  kitty corner convert itself into a soul food Chicken and Waffles joint and the neighbourhood transformation would be complete.

Nicli Antica Pizzaria: Prosciutto e Rucola

The dough has a nice thick shell, soft tender toothy interior.

The tomato sauce is soft subtle sweet.

The prosciutto is unfortunately over salty. I can't believe I'm even entertaining the idea but perhaps the pizza would be better off without this prosciutto. I don't have a list per say but prosciutto might just be in my top 10 favourite things of all time. I know, it’s a scary thought but somehow, the saltiness of the prosciutto overpowers the delicacy of the other ingredients.
Maybe it was the brand, I sometimes find the local grocery store prosciutto overly salty. The producer cutting corners during processing, it’s a lot cheaper to pump the hog full of salt instead of letting it hang and properly cure.

None the less there is lots to like about Nicli pizza. It’s fresh its lively its toothy and it is good.

I look forward to going back,  I've already picked my next order. Is that wrong?
Definitely on my favourite Vancouver pizza list.

My apologies on the photos. I didn't have my camera and my Blackberry was not cutting the mustard. Or maybe it was just shooting through it becouse it just wouldn't focus.

Trilussa Pizza and Pane

Trilussa is a small main street eat-in take-out wood oven pizza joint. It bills itself as Roman pizza and makes their pizzas in these long oval boat shapes with thin crust. There are a whole shwack of different flavors on display just point and they’ll cut a 3, 5 or 7 inch piece for you. Cool concept, I've never seen anything like it before and I love pizza and have seen alotta pizza and have eaten alotta pizza so this Roman is kind of confusing because the last time I was in Rome the pizzas were all on display in these big rectangular pans and the dough was decidedly thick. But then the liberal use of the term Roman Pizza is my only criticism of Trilussa. The place is casual comfortable and the pizza is fantastic crispy chewy crust, great toppings and lots of soft gooey cheese. I'm adding Trilussa to my favorite pizza list especially for a quick lunchtime stop.

The Bibo. Vancouver Take a picture next time.



I got so damn exited about the pizza I forgot to take a picture. But believe me it looked and tasted great.

Is it just me or are there a bunch of thin crust wood fired pizza places opening in Vancouver lately. I've got about 5 others on my to-eat list so stay tuned. I love good pizza and Bibo’s does it good. Even when it isn't good it's good. Let me explain; the server came over after we ordered our pizza to inform us that someone screwed something up in the morning and the dough wasn't to their standards. We could still order the pizza but we were to know before hand that it would not be up to Bibo’s standards. The pizza arrived and hell if this is sub par pizza then I’ve been eating truly crappy pizza all these years. The pizza was great, the crust was chewy and crispy and smoky and delicious. And the server was falling over himself to let us know that they could do better. Shit if this is the bad stuff I've got to come back for the good stuff and get my head blown off with flavor. Maybe I'm setting my self up for failure or maybe this is a restaurant ploy but I can't wait.

The meat platter is hands down how I like to eat, some cold cuts some prosciutto some olives lots of good bread and a drizzle of olive oil. If Bibo’s just served me this I'd be happy as it is munch on this and get your appetite ready for the main pizza douse.

I'm adding Bibo’s to my favorites for pizza.



Campagnolo Restaurant - Great Pizza

Campagnolo the back room

One of my favorite burgers in Vancouver is at Refuel in Kits. It's also a favorite more broadly as well. You can tell that there is a passion for food there, a passion for freshness and quality. It's not overdone it’s just good. Campagnolo is owned by the same people as Refeul. No burgers just Italian cooking here and easily one of the best pizzas in the lower mainland. Man, I am seriously craving one right now.

Pizza Prosciutto

The dough is chewy and crusty, the toppings are not overdone and then the while still piping hot the pizza is drizzled with good quality olive oil perfuming the whole restaurant with Adriatic aromas. The smells the flavor the look all reminds me of pizza you would get somewhere along the Adriatic coast, Italy or Croatia, your pick this is truly outstanding. I don't even care if the do anything else I'm going back for the pizza.

But wait there's more! Check out the home made charcuterie. I'm moving in next door at the Ivanhoe Hotel just to be close to this place. Yes it's a sketchy neighborhood but well worth the trip.

Charcuterie

Campagnolo has just expanded to a new location on Hasting at Nanaimo with Campagnolo Roma. I hope to check it out soon.

Octopus Salad my complaint: Not enough of it. There rarely is really, nor can there be, really.



Octopus Salad