A Quest for the Best Meatballs

Meatballs are a staple on many menus not only here in Vancouver, also in many parts of the world. We often would find these little balls of goodness on the menu at an Italian restaurant on their own or served with spaghetti or in sandwich shops stuffed in a roll or baguette.

In January I began a Meatball quest to find the best meatballs in Vancouver, this was a task that seemed impossible to conquer, I quickly discovered that aside from all the Italian restaurants that had meatballs on their menus, the Greek restaurants had them too, as did many of the Asian eateries and this quest was going to take me years to finish. I decided to limit my quest to finding the best classic traditional meatball that fell in between Italy, Greece and Spain. I then discovered that each of the restaurants meatballs weren’t only made with beef, some were made with pork or lamb and some were made with beef, pork and lamb, how on earth was I going to be fair to finding the best meatballs in Vancouver.

Note: You may not agree with my opinion as my taste may not be your taste. The prices indicated exclude tax and were for one Meatballs dish. I only visited places in Vancouver, I did not venture into the suburbs on this quest.

Here are 4 of my favourite meatballs Mediterranean style, in no particular order:

1)    Italian Kitchen – Spicy Kobe Meatballs – $10.50

Italian Kitchen

Style: Italian

Location: 1037 Alberni Street

Beef meatballs (3 balls on plate) perfect dense texture, fresh tomato sauce made with roma tomatoes and roasted garlic, chilli and cracked black pepper, slice of grada padano cheese on top of each meatball.

 

2)    NU Restaurant — Keftedes Lamb Meatballs – $9.50

NU Restaurant

Style: Greek

Location: 1661 Granville Street

Keftedes lamb meatballs (3 balls in the dish), tomato sauce, dried olives, chive oil $9.50  tasty, melted in my mouth, tender with a wonderful tomato sauce. 3 balls in a rich tomato sauce.

3) Judas Goat – Beef Brisket Meatballs – $6

Judas Goat

Style: Spanish

Location: 27 Blood Alley

Beef Brisket Meatballs (4 balls on the plate) with Rustic tomato sauce, topped with grated ricotta cheese. Outstanding and well presented.

4)    Q4 al Centro — Polpette al Centro – $12

Q4 al Centro

Style: Italian

Location: 780 Richards Street

House made meatballs (3 balls on the plate), smoked caciocavallo, marsala basil pomodoro ragout, tuscan crostini. Delicious, rich, smothered in sauce.

Which restaurants Meatballs are your favourite from a restaurant around Vancouver or in the suburbs?

Feel free to add your comment here and name the place and their location, the cost of each excluding tax and why you think they are the best!

By: Richard Wolak

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