Il Gallo Nero features tasty and contemporary Italian delights

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Il Gallo Nero

What do you do when your partner retires and your restaurant is sold to someone else? Why, you open up your own place on the same block! That’s exactly what former DaPaolo’s partner Claudio Carnali did when the restaurant was sold and DaPaolo himself headed off to Italy to take some time off.
    Carnali decided to open his own restaurant, Il Gallo Nero, just a few doors down from the DaPaolo’s location on 17th Avenue S.E. It’s a hop, skip and a jump from the Stampede grounds. You can’t buy that kind of walking traffic, and Carnali says that a day didn’t go by during this year’s festivities when the restaurant wasn’t packed during lunch and dinner. While many restaurant sales include clauses about the sellers opening competing restaurants nearby, this sale didn’t, and Carnali took advantage of the area he had been serving all these years.
    For the year and a half that followed his previous restaurant’s closing, Carnali put all his efforts into turning Il Gallo Nero into a reality. Bad luck with contractors and a trail of fired workers left Carnali close to a million in the hole, and he and his wife finally took over the majority of the duties to complete the work and prepare for a grand opening. It was a true labour of love to put that much time, money and effort into the restaurant.
    The love shows through in the warm and inviting space. Deep shades of brick red are complemented with touches of cozy cornflower blue and textural accents like brick and river rock. Heavy cherry-wood furniture and floors add robustness to the space — classic Italian with a contemporary attitude.
    We perused the leather-bound menu that features a mid-size range of options. To start, we decided to share the antipasto misto all’Italiana ($20) for two, an assortment of cured meats and various cheeses. The dish featured hunks of sharp and pungent parmigiano reggiano, a soft, buttery gouda, paper-thin slices of salty prosciutto, chewy, cured capicolla and genoa salami contrasted by two pungent black olives and a couple of juicy cherry tomatoes. The offerings were all tasty and each one complemented the other, but the portion size of the platter was slightly disappointing, with very small pieces of cheese and meats.
    Looking for that Italian familiarity, my dinner companion chose the tortelli di zucca ($16.50), fresh pasta made distinctive with hearty roasted squash, pine nuts and sage in a creamy parmigiano reggiano sauce. The pine nuts and sage provided a nice alternative to boring tomato sauce and the roasted squash gave it a comfort food feel. It was a hit with both of us.
    I ventured for something slightly more contemporary with the brasato di manzo ($25). The dish offered tender, fall-off-the-bone braised Alberta beef short ribs that were juicy and contained just the right ratio of fat to meat for excellent flavour. Sun-dried tomatoes added an intense sweetness against the savoury meat, accompanied by freshly grilled vegetables and a creamy and subtle saffron risotto. It was a great medley of tastes.
    After basking in our dinner, our server tempted us with the dessert menu. We were easily persuaded, so we decided to share the sogno di cioccolato ($8), a sinfully sweet warm hazelnut brownie drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauces, cooled by vanilla gelato. It was a gooey, delicious mess by the time we had devoured it, but a nice finale to the evening.
    Il Gallo Nero is located at 211 17th Avenue S.E.; phone, 237-9077.