Three years ago, I took my sisters for a family meal at Da Mario Ristorante Italiano in North Burnaby.
It was one of the last chances for the three of us to have a quiet meal without significant others, children, parents and friends.
Since that time, a new niece has arrived, one of my sisters has moved, albeit even closer to me, and I've continued travelling so much that rare is the time when all three of us are available for a meal together.
I wrote about that meal for The Vancouver Sun, and it remains one of my favourite restaurant review stories because of the company and the food.
When I went to visit Mario and Isabella Basile on a recent sunny summer afternoon, I was welcomed with open arms at one of North Burnaby's favourite eateries.
The Basiles have operated the restaurant on Capitol Hill for more than 13 years, and everything Mario learned in the 24 years prior to that at other fine Italian eateries in Vancouver and Richmond is on full display at the cozy Hastings Street spot.
Take, for example, the homemade pasta sauce that Mario makes every three or four days. He had just finished making a batch and was putting it into the fridge.
"I make it from scratch, and the secret is I let it marinate for at least a day before I serve it," said Mario. "It's my own special recipe."
When I asked him what he puts in his sauce, Mario is loath to reveal his secret ingredients.
"I put lots of good stuff in there," he said with a wink and a smile.
The sauce sure was tasty when Isabella brought out their rigatoni lunch special - $7.99, an unbeatable price Mario has kept for the past decade, but he is contemplating a small price increase soon. I can taste pork, veal and mushrooms in the slightly spicy tomato sauce, and while I'm sure there are other great ingredients in the sauce, Mario's secret will remain a secret for a bit longer.
I'm also salivating when another diner has the baked cannelloni cosentini ($12.95 for a dinner serving). Mario makes the tube pasta himself, and it's one of the best in the city. Even a known carnivore like myself appreciates the spinach and ricotta filling.
Another dish that I love at Da Mario is the gnocchi paesani ($12.95 for a dinner portion). The homemade potato dump-lings are the favourite dish of Burnaby Coun. Pietro Calendino, who told me that's a dish he always orders for out-of-town guests.
Mario Basile isn't the only Mario at Da Mario, as one of his lunchtime waiters is longtime friend Mario Turco.
Turco used to run his own restaurants but just couldn't stay away from the business.
"We speak the same language," Turco said when asked why he came back to work for Basile. "I work a little in the afternoon, and I can get away fishing."
It's that sense of family and friendship that will always make Da Mario a great place for a meal.
Isabella works the front room, and there aren't many faces she forgets.
While the couple tried to get their three children into the family business, working the long, hard hours of a small businessperson wasn't that appealing.
The passion Mario and Isabella have for their business extends to what they consider their favourite dishes.
"We love everything on the menu," said Isabella.
"I think people keep coming back because of the quality of the food.
Everything's homemade, and there's nothing on the menu we wouldn't eat ourselves," adds Mario.
As for the family atmosphere, Mario and Isabella take the trouble to say hi to all their customers.
"We're a restaurant for everybody," he said. "I like to think of all my customers as family."
Da Mario Ristorante Italiano is at 5601 Hastings St. It's open 11: 30 a.m. to 2: 30 p.m. for lunch (Tuesday to Friday), 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner, until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, closed Mondays. For more info, call 604294-1121.
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Alfie's Da Mario Dining Tips
- The stars of the hot appetizer menu are the oysters in a tangy tomato sauce ($7.95) and the smelts pan-fried with eggs and flour ($7.50). The oysters are fresh and tasty, while the smelts, which are a hard dish to cook well, are a Da Mario specialty.
- The smoked salmon ($8.25) is refreshingly good, while the best deal comes from the large tiger prawns ($7.25).
- The seafood linguine ($17.50) is the priciest item on the pasta menu, but it's well worth it. It comes with clams, scallops and shrimp. Mario said it's probably two pounds of seafood if you count the shells.
- I would be remiss if I didn't recommend the osso bucco, which comes in either a veal shank or lamb shank for $17.95.
