Bonterra Trattoria
1016 8 St SW
Mondays are usually slow for restaurants as people are all partied out from the weekend. As we strolled up to the doors of Bonterra Trattoria, my friend Jordan asked me if I made reservations. I laughed at him and told him it couldn't possibly be that packed. Wrong. Upon arriving shortly after noon, the restaurant was almost full with only a couple of small tables left. Now that I think about it, I should have made reservations. I could have gotten 100 points on OpenTable. Eff!
Behind the set of wooden double doors, Bonterra features soaring ceilings and an open kitchen. The use of wood and comfy couches exudes a relaxing atmosphere for the patrons. A giant wine wall offers an impressive selection to choose from. It's a shame that I had to go back to work after.
Our server was very knowledgable of the dishes and very helpful in assisting us with our order. The pretzel sticks that decorated each table were very crunchy and delicious. I nibbled on them as we browsed the menu. I can't make these types of important decisions on an empty stomach. When we finally placed our order, we were served a piece of focaccia bread. It was so amazingly soft. Maybe even softer than the CHARCUT focaccia bread. It's crazy! I feel like I've discovered a new element or mineral. The blend of herbs and spices was perfect. The olive oil with olives dip enhanced the flavours. I wanted to tackle the bread guy and steal all his focaccia bread. Some of you are probably thinking I'm crazy because it's just 'bread'. But that's how amazing it was. Bonterra takes bread to a whole new level.
So anyway, I had the linguine carbonara. There was two sizes to choose from; Starter and Entree. Under the recommendation of our server, I ordered the larger option. Definitely a good call. Despite being the entree size, it was still pretty small. What it lacks in quantity, it made up for it in quality. The aroma of bacon filled the air as our server placed the dish in front of me. Linguine pasta was fused with wild boar bacon, grana padano cheese and a medley of herbs and spices. So delicious. The bacon was, perhaps, a little fatty but it was very flavourful. I felt my arteries closed up for a second as I devoured every last chunk on my plate. You only live once right? I like to live my life with no regrets. No 'what ifs'. I don't want to be lying on my deathbed years from now, thinking to myself, what that chunk of bacon fat tasted like. You know? Now I know. Delicious is what it tasted like. Absorbing all the tasty flavours of the other ingredients. The black hole of the linguine carbonara if you will.
No regrets.
9 stars out of 10. Larger portions would have been nice. But for a lunch, I think it was decent. Any more would have been nap-inducing.
I really miss their pumpkin eggplant lasanga, I hope they bring it back!
ReplyDeleteThat's the one thing I hate about the fancy restaurants. They always change their menus! If I find a dish that I really like, I feel like I have to go everyday in case they decide to stop making it. Have you asked them to make it specially for you?
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