IN WEST  VAN-
COUVER’S increasingly
complex family of
restaurants, Carmelo
Ristorante Italiano is the
nephew recently arrived
from Italy, full of pas-
sion for that country’s
food, bursting with the
spontaneity of its
hospitality.

Carmelo is the result of an
artistic union between Jen-
nifer Villena and the restau-
rant’s namesake, Carmelo
Sortino. Pastel and water
color still life examples of
the duo’s various artistic
endeavors hang framed from
the four walls of the restau-
tant’s intimate interior. But
that exhibition is only one
facet of twin characters as in
love with food and its pres-
entation as they are with vi-
sual beauty and its pres-
entation.

Carmelo has taken up res-
idence in quarters formerly
occupied by the Cafe Des
Alpes at 1428 Marine Drive
‘West Vancouver. In its rela-
tively short two and one half
month stay, Carmelo has
built up a wide circle of
friends and devotees around
its amiable character and
skilful rendering of classical
grassroots Italian food.

The restaurant’ moves to
the off-beat rhythms of a
Ma and Pa style operation.

Jts* front-end,- handled ‘by .

Villena, a reformed travel
agent, emphasizes. sincerity
of personability over preci-
sion of service.

table
hopping

by Timothy

Renshaw |

TT

As a--result, t
atmosphere is both instantly
relaxed and unaffectedly
warm, a restaurant where
you feel in the family -em-
brace .of Carmelo rather

Carmelo’s.

-with olives and

62 - Friday, September 13, 1985 - North Shore News

From pastry to pasta

PROUDLY displaying an example of his culinary expertise surrounded by the warmth of his
new restaurant, Carmelo Sortino glows with the joy of cooking. Carmelo’s Ristorante
Italiano is ‘West Vancouver’ 's newest Italian restaurant,

ambitious attempt to
showcase the best in Italian
cooking from the world ac-
cording to Sortino.

The entree line-up makes a
conscious side-step around
the trite and the over-trod-
den: lasagne and cannelloni,
long since generic Italian war
horses, are replaced with 14
simple homemade pasta cre-
ations, all of which are
under $8: Maccheroni con
Salsa Piccante ($6.25), pasta

electrified with hot sauce

Italian‘ style; Linguini ai
Frutti di Mare ($7.25),
pasta’s thinnest repre-

sentative smothered in fresh
seafood and- tomato sauce;
and Tagliatelle ‘‘Expo 86’’,
a house speciality pasta with
salmon, crab, and prawns,
all dedicated to Vancouver’s
brash step into world-class
fun.

Sortino could have made
it easy for himself and stop-
ped there, but Carmelo also
features two chicken entree
selections, both $10.95, one
involving wild mushrooms
and cream sauce, the other
eggplant, ham, and
mozzerella; an impressive
six-headed fish zone which
includes Zuppa di Pesce alla
Messinese ($24.95 for two),
already well-renowned west
of Taylor Way, and a $14.95
Scampi alla Provenzale.
There is also a full-sized
meat rearguard that features
10. classic Italian meat

. dishes.

After .an opening stroll
through Antipasto

all’italiana ($4.75), a some- .

what’ barren offering of
Italian cold-cuts augmented
sliced

mushrooms, a_ three-man

than the cold clutches of the ©.

restaurant business. ;
Manning Carmelo'’s ovens
and ‘skillets..with the same
flourish He invests in paint
and brush, Sortino serves up
an impressively wide-ranging
and imaginative selection of
Italian dishes that never
“originate in a tin can.”’
Carmelo’s chef betrays the
vitality of culinary imagina-
tion that’comes from being a
fresh face in the restaurant
trade. Sortino has. been.
spared what can be numbing

tours of duty in front line °
culinary trenches spent firing .

off rounds of increasingly
stale recipes at the enemy.

Instead, he brings fresh ©

insights and fresh ingredients
fromi a 30-year career in the
pastry and bakery. trade.’ His

abilities, he says, demanded

a greater challenge. .
Carmelo’s menu, ‘all selec-

tions of which are made :

from scratch everyday, is an

_ See Something
“Page 63

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