Cardinale

If you love modern Italian cuisine, you’re in for a treat when you dine at Cardinale.   One of Calgary’s Top 25 restaurants in Avenue Magazine,  Cardinale is located in East Village in a beautifully restored historical building.

The Historical Space

The historical space is quite remarkable with exposed red brick walls both on the exterior and interior.  As you enter the restaurant, you are immediately greeted with a fabulous bar where a lineup of cocktails have been created by General Manager Graham Teare, consisting of Italian spirits and ingredients from the kitchen and perfectly paired with pasta dishes.

Just beyond the bar are 3 dining rooms spacious enough to host several small groups or offer large groups the option of privacy.  The cozy patio adjacent to the bar is where we enjoyed our delicious meal.

Made From Scratch Pasta

Mezze Maniche – egg yolk “carbonara”, bone marrow, Hayden Block smoked bacon

With perfectly al dente large round noodles the carbonara offers rich and creamy goodness with wonderful bacon flavours straight out of the smoker from its sister restaurant Hayden Block, another one of our favourite dining spots in town.

Spaghetti – capers, olives, anchovy, pangrattato

The Spaghetti Puttanesca is perfectly balanced with each intentional robust flavour complimenting one another. The noodles have seemingly imperceptible slight ridges from the fresh pasta making process, grabbing the tomato based sauce enhancing the al dente noodles.

Surf & Turf

Gamberi – salt baked prawns, jalapeño, pickled fennel, basil, garlic aioli

The antipasti prawns are large and cooked just right with light flavours of mint, lemon and is subtlety salted.

Vitello – veal ribeye, Italian bbq sauce, grilled lemons

The large plate veal ribeye is tender and juicy served with a tangy yet sweet Italian version bbq sauce.

Room for Dessert

There’s a another room at Cardinale and it’s the one you need to save for dessert.

Panna Cotta – yogurt cream, honey grappa, blueberries

The divine Panna Cotta is creamy and soft with a depth of slight sourness that allows the sweet berries to shine through and balance the tasty dessert.

Ricotta Al Caffe – espresso, sweet ricotta, amaretti cookies, lucano caffe, whipped cream

Beautifully presented, the tiramisu like dessert alternates layers of light ricotta cream and biscotti like crumbled cookies gently dipped in rich espresso.

Dining at Cardinale left our taste buds longing for more so we will definitely go back to experience more must-try dishes soon. Highly recommended for those who crave Italian cuisine and want a truly delightful and satiating experience.

Cardinale is located at 401 12th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta.

Cardinale Website

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* This post was in partnership with Cardinale.  All opinions are my own.