A delicious dynasty: Uccellino Italian fare has food critic drooling

Daniel Costa's food dynasty continues to expand on Jasper Avenue.

The local Italian chef, and owner of Corso32 and Bar Bricco, has opened up his third restaurant on the block, Uccellino.

And Edmonton AM food critic Twyla Campbell says the latest addition to Costa's culinary empire is both an impressive business feat, and a delicious addition to the downtown street.

"Uccellino means little bird, and it was simply chosen because it was a fun name," Campbell said."There is not a bad dish on the menu. I'm drooling."

Uccellino stands apart from its sister restaurants.The new eatery has all the flavour without the fuss.

'Spur of the moment kind of place'

While Bar Bricco is a place for drinks and appetizers, and Corso32 is a restaurant reserved for hours of fine dining, Campbell saidUccellino is both casual and relatively inexpensive.

"It's a spur of the moment kind of place, which is great. Because they leave half the restaurant for walk-ins. Hallelujah."

And the menu is spot on.

"You're still getting some of the best Italian food in the city," Campbell said.

"It may be casual but it'sstill exquisite and it's refined Italian fare. Yes, the recipes seem simpler but he uses fresh quality ingredients, and that makes a huge difference."

Campbell started her Italian feast with two kinds of crostini. The first was topped with ricotta guanciale, a savoury cured pork jowl, sweet spring peas, and finished with a smattering of herbed lemon zest. The second appetizer was laden with seasoned and whipped pork lard.

'Insanely delicious'

"It was a tad decadent," Campbell said. "But insanely delicious.And the portions are surprisingly large."

Campbell also sampled from the pasta menu, twirling her fork through two types of traditional fare.

And she fell in love with the maccheroni, which was served with pig's head,prosciutto, and parmesan.

"Because of the cheese and ground meat you get this creamy consistency. This is a ragu I will think about for a long time.

"True comfort food."

After a feast of carbs, Campbell said dessert was divine.

"In a word? Wow. You can't make a bad choice here."

And Campbell said she is already salivating for her nextmeal at the new restaurant, and advises Edmonton foodies to follow suit.

"The service was outstanding," shesaid."Daniel Costa is a such master."

You can hear Campbell's reviews onEdmonton AMevery second Friday. You can also see more of her reviews on her blog,Weird Wild and Wonderful, and can follow her on Twitter at@wanderwoman10.