Sopra Sotto (Burnaby)

Here we go again, another restaurant that has opened up in my hood and I totally ignore it.  I've driven and walked past the Burnaby location of Sopra Sotto many times a week and nada.  Nope, just didn't stop and eat there.  However, one of the main reasons is that I've been to their original spot on Commercial Drive when it first opened.  I remembered it to be pretty good, but it just wasn't on my list to revisit anytime soon.  Finally, as the kids were craving some Italian, we made our way to the cozy Burnaby location.

As if we needed anymore carbs to our carb-heavy meal already, we went for the Fresh Made in-House Focaccia.  Although this looked like merely pizza dough repurposed with herbs and olive oil on top, it was still good.  With some leoparding while still maintaining a fluffy chewiness, this was nicely seasoned as well.  Now that was fine, but the actual pizza was better.  The Cacciatora Pizza was the most appealing to us consisting of braised short rib, shallots, black kale, mixed mushrooms and Alps cheese.  Due to the generous amount of ingredients, the crust was fairly soft underneath, but that was to be expected.  The crust was still nutty with leoparding while well-seasoned.  The kicker here was the short rib jus that really added meaty depth to the pizza.

We tried 3 of their pastas including one I've had at their Commerical Drive store which was the Chitarrine al Ragù.  This featured made-in-house square spaghetti with bolognese sauce.  I would say this was 100% better than the one I had last time (at the other location).  First off, the colour was much richer and what I was expecting.  Secondly, the ample meat flavour and texture was apparent.  Lastly, we could really taste the time spent on cooking the meat sauce.  To top it off, the pasta was beautifully al dente. The featured pasta of the day was the Gnocchi with fontina and speck.  As rich and creamy as it appeared, the dish wasn't unbearably heavy.  The large pillowy gnocchi were soft enough without losing its bite.  Salt content was supplied by the strips of speck on top.

Probably my favourite pasta of the bunch also featured short rib.  The Tagliatelle in Sunday Sugo was well-executed with al dente made-in-house pasta (which was also properly seasoned).  Loved the rich and hearty tomato as well as the fatty meat taste of the sugo.  There was also just enough moisture to coat the pasta without creating a watery mess on the plate.  As you can see, the pastas were solid at Sopra Sotto, even better than the first time I had it at their original location on Commerical.  Pizza was good and it being soft in the middle was expected due to the ingredients.  Besides, it isn't supposed to be crunchy anyways.  Solid addition to the Heights and when this Covid-19 thing is under control, I hope it keeps going strong.

The Good:
- Solid pastas
- Nice people
- Decent portion size

The Bad:
- Very small, not good for big groups
- Parking is a bit hard to come by