Vangioni's

Good evening! Welcome to Vangioni’s! Have you dined with us before? No, well, I will tell you a little bit about our menu:

Here at the front we have our tapas, which are Spanish-style small plates – simple dishes that are great for sharing as a starter. Then we have our pizzas, which are definitely a favorite here. They’re classic, Italian-style, and they’re 30 cm, so they’re big enough to share, depending on your appetite. Finally we have our Mains, and I just want to point out that the mains don’t really come with any substantial side dishes, so if you are interested in a vegetable or a salad, those are listed at the back of the menu. And, oh yes, please check out the blackboard over there for tonight’s specials.

Alright, I will give you a few minutes to think things over, and I’ll get back to you!

I’ve worked at Vangioni’s for three weeks, and I have probably said those words a hundred times already. I’m trying really hard not to sound like a robot when I say it, or to say it a bit differently from time to time, but…that’s my shpeil (I have never tried to write that word before – how do you spell it?)

Vangioni’s is a “Mediterranean” restaurant, which I think is a fancy way of saying it’s Spanish and Italian cuisine. The tapas (which I think my father could find a way to accept, especially because they’re served as appetizers here) are things like bruschette, escargot (I’ve not tried this yet, though it looks amazing – the snails come out in this hot, bubbling, butter sauce, and it smells divine!), scallops, prawns (lightly fried with this scrumptious tangy, sweet and soury kind of sauce), calamari and potatoes (and probably the best calamari I’ve ever had – not fried, just pan-sauteed), and oh yes, the most mind-boggling tray of mixed olives I have ever seen. I never knew an olive could be so good.

Our pizzas are (in my personal opinion) our best-sellers, and we may just have the best pizza in this small town. The pizzas are special because they’re different or, as Bjorn says, “This pizza has CHARACTER!”

The Helena pizza has Ham, Pineapple, and Blue Cheese, and I know it sounds a bit weird, but this pizza is really freaking good. Especially if you like blue cheese, which I do.

The Akaroa has fresh Akaroa salmon on top of mixed greens. The Kiwi has marinated lamb with yogurt sauce. The Chorizo (YUM!) has…chorizo and is a general meat-lover’s dream. The La Reine has ham, mushrooms, and olives (YUM). I could go on, but I’d need a menu, and it’s pretty early in the morning here, and I doubt anyone’s up over there yet. But, there are about 15 of these pizzas, each one unique and delicious. People go crazy over the pizzas.

The main dishes are fancy-restaurant dishes like rabbit, lamb shanks, seafood risotto, and we always serve local salmon in some form, as well as another local fish of the day. And the sides are things like oven-roasted vegetables, gratin of cauliflower (basically just cheesy and baked and bubbly and all things good), roasted potatoes, garden salad, green salad, greek salad, etcetera, etcetera.

Is anyone’s mouth watering yet?

Well, let me tell you about our desserts. The dessert menu changes every few days, but one thing that seems to consistently stay on there is the chocolate pudding. No, no, my North American friends. This is not chocolate pudding as you know it. Not even close. It’s this ridiculous, dark chocolate cakey kind of thing, baked to order. It looks something like a brownie when it’s served, but when you dip your spoon into it, you find this amazing, soft, but not quite gooey, warm chocolate pudding inside. And we serve it with vanilla ice cream, which is made on the premises.

We also frequently have some kind of bread pudding – recently we’ve had strawberry, raspberry and rum, and brioche. Apple crumble, New York cheesecake, and homemade blueberry and mint sorbet have also graced the dessert board recently.

So. I have become slightly obsessed with food. Hm. Maybe I should say, it has come to my attention that I am and have been for a while obsessed with food. Good food. Foods with strong tastes. Olives, cheeses, good wines, strong coffee. Chocolate pudding! So I feel right at home working in the restaurant, surrounding myself with one of my favorite things in life.

When my tables are taken care of and I have a bit of idle time, I go stand at the counter into the kitchen, and just watch. I am so envious of people who can cook, who can chop vegetables properly and without cutting their fingers off, who just decide to “make something up”. Steve, the owner, noticed my extreme interest in food and asked me if I liked to cook. Well, I like food, I said. I LIKE to cook, but I am a butcher my vegetables, cut my fingers off, cling to my recipe, kind of cook. Sigh.

Don’t worry, father, I am not going to go to chef school or anything crazy like that. Though it did cross my mind at least once over the last few weeks.

Vangioni’s is a FUN job. To me, it is an ideal summer job. And in the last two weeks, I’ve been taught how to work the till (the cash register, basically), so some nights, I don’t do any waitressing at all. I stand behind the bar, fix drink orders for the wait staff, and keep track of the tables’ bills. I am also learning how to make fancy coffees with the fancy coffee maker. I have probably wasted 10 liters of milk this week alone, honing my milk-frothing abilities. But! If I can become a pro at the coffees, I will be a total asset to the restaurant, AND, I will be able to work day shifts when we start opening during the days. (We are currently just open daytime on Saturday and Sunday). And then, Bjorn and I will be on the same schedule. And that will make me happy!

Okay. I will stop this food blog entry now. I hope that answers your question, Suzers.

Good news! Bjorn and I BOTH have today and tomorrow off. So, as soon as he wakes up (yes, I got out of bed at 7 AM this morning to write my blog), we are going to hop in the car and head to Hanmer Springs, which is a 2-3 hour drive northwest of here. It’s supposed to be a really nice spot in the mountains with lovely thermal baths! We’ll spend the day there today, camp around there tonight, and then head to Christchurch in the morning (back in the direction of Akaroa). We will do a bunch of grocery shopping there (because the store here is crazy expensive) and probably take in a movie and a nice dinner as well! Bueno!

Love you all. Hope all is well.