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This is my go-to Burnaby risotto dish when I need my toes curled

My love affair with rice goes back a long way. I can’t get enough of it. Brown, black, white, green (yes, I’ve had green rice), yellow – I don’t care what kind of rice it is, I’m 99.9% sure I will love it.
BACI RISOTTO
The risotto del mare at Baci Restaurant in North Burnaby. Chris Campbell photo

My love affair with rice goes back a long way.

I can’t get enough of it. Brown, black, white, green (yes, I’ve had green rice), yellow – I don’t care what kind of rice it is, I’m 99.9% sure I will love it.

Pasta is good, but there’s nothing like a fine bowl of rice full of goodies.

The single-best rice I ever tasted with rice with goat cheese in a restaurant in the tiny town of Manzanita, Ore.

I remember these kinds of things. Great meals make for great memories.

Which brings us to the topic of risotto, a northern-Italian rice dish that is orgasmic when it’s done well and soul-crushing when done incorrectly.

I have had my soul crushed numerous times because a lot of chefs just don’t know how to get the right consistency. It shouldn’t be crunchy and it shouldn’t be a big pile of mush. You have to get it just right.

Baci Restaurant on Hastings in Burnaby Heights gets it right.

They have a dish called risotto del mare that includes prawns, mussels, clams, fish and – most importantly – just the right amount of saffron to make my tongue dance. (Saffron is listed on many sites as the original spice added to risotto when it was first created. Baci is most definitely old school.)

This is the beauty of risotto – you can add all sorts of things to it to make it different each time.

Personally, I love seafood risotto. It’s one of my all-time food pairings if it’s done correctly.

As I said, Baci does it correctly and it’s a hearty, although not cheap feast.

Throw in Baci’s excellent tiramisu and you have a pretty good little Friday night.

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44 and read his Bite. Me. Blog every Friday or Saturday (depending on how motivated he is to finish it).

DISCLAIMER: I have not been paid by the restaurant in question to write about it. They don’t even know I’m writing about it.