Gia Vin and Grill opened in December and is known for their grilled meats, which unfortunately are only available at night.  It’s tucked away below the highway and in the shadow of the adjacent Home Depot.  However, once you get inside you’ll forget the location, except when you see the cars going by out the window.    Lots of light wood, marble, green tile, exposed ductwork and 60s and 70s music in the background.  A long bar also has seating in addition to the small tables.  As the name would imply they do have a lot of wines and the helpful servers (Tatianna was great) will guide your selection to go with the dishes you choose.  We enjoyed our lunch but I suspect evening offers a better selection of dishes.  They ranked #36 on the Best of Canada list.

Set-Up

 

Food

Focaccia was great with a wonderful texture.  The server offered olive oil for dipping which we accepted but found out we didn’t need.  The bread was well seasoned and plenty rich on its own.

 

Crocchette de poisson and aioli au yoghourt were fried fish balls with dipping aioli.  They came 3 to an order and had a very crisp exterior with soft center. The yogurt sauce was good with them and it didn’t overpower them, but I wouldn’t order them again.

 

Salad de tomates, stracciatella, câpres de Pantelleria was a tomato salad with capers, burrata, tarragon, parsley and other herbs.  An olive oil dressing nicely coated the selection of yellow, red and purple tomatoes which were a combination of cherry and full-sized ones.  All the tomatoes had wonderful flavor and the cheese was creamy to blend in.   Very fresh and full of summer’s best.

 

Gnocchi Pomodoro was a special that day.  They were very light and tasty with a good simple tomato sauce seasoned with cheese.  These were fun to eat.

 

Spaghetti alla ric de mare was spaghetti in a sauce of sea urchin that was supposed to be like lobster bisque.  The pasta was cooked a perfect al dente and the sauce had a bit more subtle flavoring due to the local sea urchin.  However, we ended up with 2 pastas both in a form of red sauce which didn’t seem the best plan.

 

Torta al cioccolata and chantilly was a flourless chocolate cake that was indeed quite chocolatey but not fudgy.  It was drier than fudge but very tasty and nicely moistened with the rich chantilly cream.  It was a good sweet ending and a real chocolate fix.