Caffe de Medici

[LordBalthazar]

Tucked away in the back of a courtyard on Robson just above Burrard, right next door to L'Hermitage, sits Caffe de Medici, one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city. It offers a nice, warm, friendly atmosphere devoid of pretensiousness. And, most importantly, the food is great.

I tend to be a creature of habit. When I find something I like it, I stick with it. On any other night, I would have started with my favorite appetizer: the ricotta and wild mushroom-stuffed ravioli served with poached pears, walnuts and truffle essence. Sublime. It's so good that, occasionally, I'll request it as an entree instead. But on this night, feeling adventurous, I decided to try the evening's feature appetizer. It was a Tuscan tomato and white bean soup - blended white beans, tomato, and apple served in a cup topped with a cuppuccino-esque white truffle foam. My wife and I both loved it.

My wife followed her soup with the house Caesar salad. I'm not much of a salad man, but my wife proclaimed it the best Caesar salad she's ever eaten. I had the foie gras terrine and seared foie gras with red onion marmalade. I wasn't a fan of the first, finding it lacked the melt-in-your-mouth quality I've come to associate with terrines, but the seared foie gras was exceptional.

We then moved on to our third course, choosing to split the maple butternut squash roasted squab risotto with double-smoked bacon, chestnuts and pecorino cheese. And, yes, it was as good as it sounds. This one is my new favorite entree.

Finally, dessert. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. As some of you know, I'm a HUGE fan of deserts. The chocolate variety in particular but not exclusively. However, I hate fruit with my dessert. There is the occasional exception (ie. carrot cake, anything with banana), but I find nothing more off-putting than something "tart" or "sour". I'm the type of diner who will ask for a sneak peek at the dessert menu so I can plan accordingly. In the case of Medici's, I rarely go "off-book". Their date pudding with vanilla ice cream is one of the best desserts in the city. I know, I know. You're probably saying to yourself "But isn't 'date' a fruit?". Yes, it is. And I was reluctant to try it the first time my wife ordered it - but it has totally won me over.

So there I sat, looking forward to my date pudding. The waitress came by to offer us coffee and I told her that we were ready to order dessert. She informed me that it had already been taken care of. We were getting a complimentary dessert. Well, I was at a loss. What do you do in situations like these? Do you decline? Do you order an alternate? I felt like I was a kid back at my grandmother's house, eyeing the little sugar jellies she had laid out for us when, in the back of my mind, I was considering rooting through her refrigerator for those leftover chocolate cupcakes. In the end, I said nothing and was served a lemon creme brulee. The "little taste" I took was enough to pucker my eyeballs. For her part, my wife enjoyed it and finished it off. Alas, much like the complimentary dessert I failed to enjoy at Tojo's a couple of night's earlier, the lemon brulee left a sour taste in my mouth.

Edited February 18, 2006 by LordBalthazar (log)

[Ling]

I wouldv've accepted the complimentary dessert and thanked them, then ordered the date pudding (I love sticky toffee pudding, btw) after I finished the creme brulee.

[LordBalthazar]

I wouldv've accepted the complimentary dessert and thanked them, then ordered the date pudding (I love sticky toffee pudding, btw) after I finished the creme brulee. 

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Have you tried it at Medici's?

[Ling]

No, I've only had it at Parkside and I also make it it at home.

[LordBalthazar]

No, I've only had it at Parkside and I also make it it at home.

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I make homemade ice cream. Now if we can only convince our fellow egulleters to whip something up, we could have a dessert party.

[McTee]

That sounds like a very good idea

[lauraf]

I can contribute cheesecake a la ma grandmere. . .

and icewine!

[Daddy-A]

[host]

Before this gets out of hand, I'm going to remind everyone about the eGullet Events Policy [CLICK] that does not allow for events to be organized in these forums.

Please, feel free to get together. I encourage it! But you need to organize purely social events via PM or email, not in forum. If however you'd like to organize a more "official" type event, please PM me and I can walk you through the process.

Thanks!

A.

[/host]

[LordBalthazar]

Usually, I like to wait a week between restaurant visits, but a co-worker had a hankering for fine Italian cuisine so we decided to pay Medici's a return visit. Started off with the white bean cappucino, followed that with the wild-mushroom and ricotta-stuffed ravioli (it and Don Francesco's squash ravioli with black truffle butter are my favorite pasta dishes in town), and had the maple butternut squash roasted squab risotto with double-smoked bacon, chestnuts and pecorino cheese. However, this time, I finished with the phenomenal date pudding (sticky toffee pudding) and vanilla ice cream.

A wonderful meal from start to finish.

[ElizR]

Good to see that Caffe de Medici has many admirers.

I love their take on Sangria - it is their signature drink and is called the Sangtini. Absolutely heaven to drink!

[Sam Salmon]

Hey I remember staggering outta that place-wasn't half bad either!