Tutto’s Negronis, Reimagined: Pizza, Chocolate & More
Negroni Week is coming and we were invited down to Tutto, Yaletown’s classic Italian restaurant for a sneak peek of what they will be offering to celebrate.
Negroni Week is a global celebration that gathers thousands of bars and restaurants around the world to celebrate the Negroni while supporting Slow Food’s mission to foster a more equitable and sustainable world of food and beverage.
As taken from the Negroni Week website, “Slow Food is a global movement of local communities and activists across more than 160 countries seeking to change the world through food and beverage. Slow Food envisions a world where everyone can enjoy food and beverage that is good for them, good for the people who produce it, and good for the planet.”
We were invited down to Tutto 10 days earlier to see what Tutto Restaurant has in store for Negroni week. This year Tutto is taking this classic Italian cocktail and flipping it on its head with three different negronis. One to represent an appetizer, another entree, and the third dessert. A clever idea and a great way to promote their food to pair as an add on.
As one of the first people to try this, we were then able to provide their bar manager Allan feedback and our honest thoughts. The Sloe-groni is described as sweet with botanist gin, elephant sloe gin, campari, and muddled cherry. I loved that this was also dipped into the savoury side and served as a great way to open up the appetite. This was such a well conceived cocktail. Built with layers I continued to go back for more to re-experience the first taste.
The food pairing was the Caprese Burrata with vinaigrette, burrata, pesto, and tomatoes. An aromatic classic with lovely herbal notes from the pesto. The citrus in the cocktail brings out the freshness in the vegetable here.
I was most excited for their Pizza Negroni, but sadly it did not remind me of a pizza. I was expecting tomato tang and fragrant oregano to mimic its iconic scent and taste. Instead, the m ingredients listed read bolder and tastier than what I drank. Parmigiano reggiano-infused botanist gin, olive-infused sweet vermouth, campari, tomato water, olive, and spicy salami. The goal was to create a tomato based cocktail that didn’t remind you of a Caesar. It had the viscosity of a negroni that was thin and light on the lips and in flavour. It felt like but a whisper, especially in comparison to our zesty pizza food pairing below.
The Diavola is one of their most popular pizzas with spicy soppressata, olives, fior di latte, and pickled jalapeño. There was a lot going on here, so no cocktail similar could compete. I thought the appetizer negroni would have done well here, with its more savoury notes acting like an extra seasoning during its wash in between bites. I didn’t not find the floral gin all that complimentary and thought vodka a better feature liquor.
My favourite cocktail of the three was the Espresso Cacao with botanist gin, espresso-infused campari, sheringham chocolate liqueur, and salted caramel gelato. It drank like dessert with the ice cream pairing well with the bittersweet cocktail. It was Espresso forward, and blind folded I would not be able to tell that this was not a creamy coffee cocktail.
And for the dessert it had to be their traditionally done tiramisu, matching yeh flavours of espresso and chocolate in the cocktails.
In conclusion this was a great reason to visit, a must try for all those like negronis and a great novelty, like myself.
Tutto Restaurant & Bar
901 Homer St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2W6
+1 604-633-8868
tuttorestaurant.ca
