In the old telephone company building: House Piccolo.
A small place but at the same time, very comfortable. It’s been in existence since the early 90s which is a testament to the quality of the food…and a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2007 doesn’t hurt either!
To start, the warm gorgonzola cheese tart was recommended by a friend so that was my choice. The port wine poached pears made the dish….excellent! We also tried the scallop ceviche…very light and a bit tart and the warm scallop and prawn salad. This was the best of the bunch…the curried mango sauce with a hint of lime was so good you had to sop it up with your bread. Sop it up? A Southern term describing a more cultured way to leave nothing without actually licking it off your plate!
Next up were the mains: Sablefish meuniére, grilled salmon and the venison with juniper and lingonberry demi-glacé which was my choice. It was perfectly cooked and the sauce rich and flavorful. Salt was needed for the accompanying potatoes which were woefully in need of it which I rarely add but had to in this case. The salmon was fresh from the Pacific and perfectly grilled. The sablefish was good but the salmon, better. Then again, I’m partial to wild Pacific salmon.
For dessert we shared the creme brûlée which was well executed.
A Burrowing Owl Pinot Noir from the Okanagan VQA was our wine choice which was light in color and perfectly balanced. Tannins were also light and the wine was more toward an Oregon vs. a California Pinot overall.
You’ll likely need a reservation since there are only about 30 seats available. They were turning people away on the Friday night we dined.
Service was very good
