Orks

PASTAMELI

OF NEW YORK,
CAULFEILD VILLAGE, 922-9333. WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE.

PASTAMELDL OF
owner Bruce

New York®,
Meli digs in to a

serving of Riyatoni with Italian

Sausage Sauce

Salad.

and Caesar
The new Italian restau-

rant isa hit in West Vancouver.

ell in

5369 HEADLAND

VISA AND MASTERCARD ACCEPTED.

THE NEXT time you’re motoring around the upper
reaches of West Vancouver’s Caulfeild area pondering
where to invest your next half million bucks, make a point
of stopping at Pastameli of New York.

It is a wonderful slice of New
York Italiana come to rest in the
somewhat incongruous surroun-
dings of high-stakes West Van-
couver.

Specialities, for the intrepid
house hunter. or’ high- altitude
sightseer, include wonderful
breads; murvellous hearty. soups
and superb pastas — the perfect
accompanying repast for a day of.
breathing tarified West Vancouver

airs.

. Though Pastameli, as a pasta
and Italian food supplier, did not
really begin in New York, its ©

: founder Bruce Meli did. But in-
stead of carving out his own tenu-
ous slice of the Big Apple, Meli
,wound up in Canada and finally .

the best end of Canada, where he ~-

launched the first. Pastameli on
Robson Street.in 1983.

The operation began as a take-
home fresh pasta and fresh pasta
sauce supplier that has since
developed into a major commercial
supplier of Italian staples and con-
fections.

Pastameli *s Caulfeild outpost
combines all the operational com-
ponents of a booming Italian food
emporium: take-out, take-home,
eat-in, eat-out, sit-down, stand-up.

‘The restaurant also makes a
good adjunct to fellow Caulfeild
Village shopping centre tenant,
Safeway’s Someplace Special, a
humble name for a high-brow
grocery store that boasts gold
shopping carts and bejewelled cus-
tomers. 5

Pastameli’: 5 slice of Robson
Street pasta hustle and bustle
seems, at first, somewhat out of

place amid the upper financial and
social altitudes of West Vancouver
suburbia, but its vivacious com-
bination delicatessen, pizzeria, ice
creameria, cappuccino bar and res-
taurant would work anywhere and

“works extremely well in this nor-

mally somnolent area. -
In its boldly decorated back-end
restaurant, patrons could easily

_imagine themselves in a good in-

formal Italian restaurant anywhere
from New York to Montreal te

TIMOTHY
RENSHAW

table hopping

Varicouver.

. The only hint as to the restau-
rant’s location is the peculiarly
West Vancouver flair of
Pastameli’s clientele: take-out cus-
tomers arrive attired in berets,
tailored suits, designer jogging
suits and whisk orders of gourmet
pizza and pasta to idling BMWs,
Audis and Volvos.

Pastameli’s front-end activity
and booming central island of
chefs, pizza and pasta makers and
waiters preparing and ringing up
orders and take-outs make for
good diyersion and simple enter-
tainment as does the cavalcade of
Caulfeild area patrons.

The restaurant section is decked
out in bold reds, large looping wall

lights, accentuated air-conditioning -
. duct work and fast waitresses. A

library stocked with all manner of
food-related tomes will provide -
emergency entertainment for the
lone restaurant goer or the goer
accompanied with a tongue-tied
first date.

Though Pastameli’s menu em-
phasizes pasta ($6.50 to $9 for full

DRIVE,

size orders or $4 to $5 for ap-
petizer size), there is also a good
selection of soups, first-class
homemade breads, salads, pizzas
and entrees such as Eggplant
Parmesan ($6.95) and Veal Mar-
sala ($9.95).

Musical backdrop is a refreshing
blend of "30s; '40s and '50s origi-
nal and reprised classics.

Because of the noise and activi-
ty, Pastameli is also a good place
to take families.

Pastameli Minestrone ($2.95)
came garnished with a wheel of
lemon and a sprig of fresh basil.
The soup was a delicious broth

thick with beans, tomatues, green. _

beans, zucchini and slices of can--
nelloni.

For those bored to yawns with
regulation restaurant bread,
Focaccia is a must-sample. The
italian version of stodge is first
baked then topped with olive oil,
onions, garlic, Parmesan cheese,
oregano, basil and thyme and
grilled to make a superb appetizer
(combined with a bowl of
Minestrone, virtually a complete
meal).

Entrees put to the Table Hopp-
ing test were Rotelle with
Tornato-Clarn Sauce ($6.50 full
size} and Lobster Ravioli ($8.95
full size).

The former’s corkscrew pasta
was accompanied with a bright red
and refreshing tomato sauce plug-
ged with clams; the latter’s subtle
lobster flavors survived intact in a

Seo Critic
Pago 22

HERE’S WHERE THE
FUN STARTS

Belly Dancers
every Fri. & Sat. night
EVERY DAY
LUNCH SPECIAL
SOUVLAKI $35
(chicken or tamb}

DINNER SPECIAL
ROAST LAMB $795

107 W. ESPLANADE
986-6211

"NOW. OPEN EVERY SUNDAY FOR BRUNCH
and DINNER 11:30 AM - 9 PM
_ Parties up to 80 people: reservations 980-9508

== ANCHOR IN

1653 Columbla Street, North Vancouver, B.C. (at Lynuwood Marina)

19 - Fridays, February 19, 19%8 - North Shore News

NEWS photo Cindy Bellamy

“BEST FRENCH FOOD”

TIMOTHY RENSHAW

RESTAURANT
Come and see us for
lunch or dinner

1373 Marine Drive, Monday thru Saturday

West Vancouver

926-4913

117-260 W. ESPLANADE
NORTH VANCOUVER

986-2228