La Pentola surprises with Famiglia Supper Series

Half the fun of attending a Famiglia Supper Series dinner at La Pentola is the element of surprise. The theme of the evening is revealed ahead of time—most recently it was chicken from Abbotsford’s Rossdown Farms—but what actually comes out of the kitchen is a mystery until the plate lands on your table.

The multi-course, family-style dinner takes place on the last Sunday of each month. Chef Lucais Syme prepares 10 courses, including appetizers, pasta dishes, and dessert, and all plates are shared between those seated at the table. Food allergies are taken into account at the start of the meal, so everyone is welcome.

I attended the July 28 dinner as a media guest. Dinner started promptly at 6 p.m., which might seem early for some people, but the meal lasted three hours. The mood was relaxed and lively, as Sunday supper should be.

The chicken at Rossdown Farms is no ordinary chicken. Their birds are organic and free-run, and it’s true that you can taste the difference. Canapés of housemade chicken liver pâté started off the meal and went nicely with Italian cocktails, such as negroni and bellini.

As the meal got going, a salad topped with chicken hearts and thinly sliced radishes was an early highlight and felt sophisticated next to a mountain of fried chicken wings—although the chicken wings seemed to be a hit at every table. Chicken and potato croquettes with a limoncello sauce, a little while later, were like the savoury equivalent to doughnut holes and pleasantly addictive.

While shared plates are large and rustic, Syme’s plating style never once veered towards sloppy. The chicken rotolo served with apple-foie gras sauce is a good example—the carefully rolled meat was presented over a foamy butter-yellow sauce, with delicate micro-greens scattered over top.

The first of two pasta dishes provided the sole break from chicken (besides dessert). A simple farfalle pasta tossed with basil and cherry tomatoes was immediately followed by chicken- and ricotta-stuffed ravioli cooked in sage-butter.

By the time dessert arrived, after the chicken grand finale—roasted chicken breasts served with a quartet of traditional Italian accompaniment—I was definitely chickened out. Luckily, not even an egg was present (although that would have been cheeky) on dessert platters: a medley of aerated white chocolate, blueberries, elderflower pearls, and nasturtium flowers and leaves.

La Pentola’s Famiglia Supper Series dinner is $55 per person, not including tax, gratuity, or beverages.