Bar Bricco

FOR MOST OUTSIDERS, Edmonton is synonymous with hockey and petroleum, not Italian cuisine. But it should be: some of Canada’s best Italian cooking can be found at any one of chef Daniel Costa’s three restaurants: intimate Corso 32, joyous Uccellino or moody Bar Bricco.

The three stand side by side on downtown’s Jasper Avenue, and they easily overturn any assumptions that Alberta’s capital city is a repository of all things prosaic. Bar Bricco, the middle child of the three, would be equally at home in any Italian piazza as it is in Edmonton’s windswept downtown. Inside a glass door with a sign that reads “no reservations,” Bar Bricco presents a dark yet cozy escape. Bar seating predominates, while a few tables sit beneath a mural just visible through the shadows. The food epitomizes Italian simplicity.

What could be purer than a humble plate of culatello (the crème de la crème of prosciutto), folded and arranged like translucent pink handkerchiefs? Or eggs cacio e pepe, scrambled so gently with cheese and pepper that they melt, like butter, into bread? Tender, house-made agnolotti arrive with a ramekin of sage-scented melted butter and a mound of fluffy shredded Parmigiano to sprinkle on top. The wine list is exclusively Italian and accommodates a wide range of price points, while a thoughtful handful of cocktails includes Italian standards like the Aperol spritz and Negroni, which illustrate Albert Einstein’s admonition that “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Sunday to Thursday
5:00 PM until 11:00 PM

Friday to Saturday
5:00 PM until 12:00 AM
Photos by: Curtis Comeau

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No. 45

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