Campagnolo ROMA

Saturday night, my lady and I found ourselves dropping into Campagnolo (2297 Hastings St. East) on a whim. It was dinner time and the spot was bustling but our hostess still found us a spot within minutes sans reservations. I ordered their Campagnolo Ale right off the bat and was treated to a nutty, bittersweet, almost winterish brew. Good start.

We started with the octopus salad which featured plenty of shaved fennel, black olives, chilled potatoe and braised octopus in a red wine vinaigrette. For anyone who thinks octopus is smelly and rubbery, this dish showcased the exact opposite. Perfectly executed.

Our mains were shared. The first was the rigatoni all’amatriciana, cooked al dente with hunks of pancetta, beans and pecorino romano cheese. Really hard not to eat slow. The second was the salsiccia pizza that was on special and not on the menu. This crispy pizza featured fennel sausage, pickled peppers, basil, pecorino and the best sparse yet tangy tomato sauce that I have ever tasted. I could have eaten 5 of these pizzas to myself.

The best part of this meal, tho, was their in-house chili concoction that’s more common with Chinese restaurants. Here, they roast and mix fennel seeds, chili flakes and cracked black pepper in olive oil. It’s meant to compliment the pizza but I put it on everything just short of the tiramisu, which was also fantastic considering the copious amounts of creme and very subtle taste of rum.

With drinks and dessert, this meal came in just under $80 for two which gets thumbs up from this guy. Be sure to check out this fantastic addition to the Sunrise neighbourhood.