Restaurant Review: Piva Modern Italian

By Sherman Chan,
Special to The Post

The Meatballs and Arancini meatballs didn't look appealing, but they were moist and tender. The wild boar meatballs had mushrooms mixed into it. Hence, there was plenty of umaminess and aroma.  But it could have used more salt. However, the morel mushroom cream offered up another layer of woodsiness. Encased in a lightly and uniformly crispy breading, the arancini balls were really good.

The Italian Sausage and Egg consisted of spicy Italian sausage, ricotta, braised garlic, arugula, charred onions and oven-baked egg. There was a wealth of ingredients on a thin crust, which softened up quite a bit despite the proper charring and leoparding. The texture of the crust crunchy, chewy and well-salted. The whole cloves of braised garlic was intensely flavourful while the creaminess of the ricotta helped balance the slight spiciness of the meaty sausage.

We had the fettuccines which sported prawn, scallop, white wine and tomato sauce. As much as the tomato sauce was impactful and tasty. There was enough sweetness to balance off the tang from the tomatoes as well as equal parts garlic, onions and basil. The pasta was barely al dente. The best part of the dish was the seafood. The large scallops were buttery and soft with a tender chew. The prawns were meaty with a snap.

One of the best desserts was Nonna, which consisted of crispy layers of candied phyllo, cherry compote and vanilla mascapone. Although messy to eat, the shattered layers of phyllo were crispy and appealingly sweet with a candy-like coating. This was balanced by the creamy and thick mascapone as well as the lightly tart and sweet cherries.

It is a bit ironic that Piva is directly across the street from the Old Spaghetti Factory. One exemplified New West for decades while Piva represents the future with style and good food.

Piva Modern Italian

787 Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC

The Good:

• Upscale and modern

• Execution was pretty spot-on

• Friendly service

The Bad:

• Pasta could've been a bit more al dente for our liking

• We enjoyed the service, but it was a bit sparse at times

Sherman Chan is the #1 ranked food blogger on the Vancouver portal of Urbanspoon.com. Read more of his reviews at www.shermansfoodadventures.com.