Dining on Denman
As part 2 of my ‘Girls Spa Day’ (see previous blog) Jacquie and I went to Nook on Denman for dinner. I had been trying to get Jeff to give it a try for months but his ‘pickiness’ when it comes to food has kept us away. Like most restaurants on Denman you arrive early or wait in line. Since Jacquie is a regular she knew that we had to be there by 6:00 pm and she was right. We secured the last table in the tiny space and the line formed quickly behind us.
The Room
The space is as its name states a nook. The focus is a bar with about 15 seats filling one entire wall and the wood fire pizza oven at the back of the restaurant. Across from the bar are 8 – 10 tables with a bench along one side that could accommodate 20 or so guests depending on how arranged. The atmosphere is lively and the smell of food cooking was mouthwatering.
The Food
The menu is small and focused with an additional pizza, pasta and antipasto special offered daily. We chose to share everything so we could get a taste of more dishes. We started with the Escarole salad with walnuts (that were amazingly fresh), pecorino cheese and a very light lemony vinaigrette dressing. Yum! Then it was on to the gnocchi with baby meatballs and a pizza special. The gnocchi were cooked perfectly and I even ventured to try a meatball. They were so cute and delicious I actually ended up having three. Yum! The pizza of the night was pancetta with sweet onions and garlic. There were chucks of whole roasted garlic and the crust was thin but sturdy enough to pick up (just the way I like). Yum again! Top it all off with a bottle of wine and it was a great dinner! And very reasonably priced too!
Get in line
The restaurant is located at 781 Denman, between Alberni and Robson and opens at 5pm daily. The bar looks like a very fun place to sit. You should get there by 6pm unless you do not mind waiting in line, which actually seemed not too bad as those waiting were served drinks and chatting away. However, there is only enough space for 4 or 6 to wait inside so the rest of the line was outside. The owners also just opened another restaurant around the corner on Robson (in the former Tapestry space) which we plan to check out soon.
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