GOOD TASTE

A taste of Italy

NOX: a West Coast spin on “nonna’s” kitchen

WORDS GAIL JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY LIA CROWE

If sights like the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel and Venetian canals are among the top draws to Italy, so is the food. One of the world’s most popular cuisines, it leaves people swooning with its rich, rustic flavours. With the global pandemic putting a pause on travel to this delicious destination, we can still get a taste of Italy through local restaurants.

Coming soon to Vancouver is a new dining spot that will focus on the varied fare of the Bel Paese (“beautiful country”). However, NOX will do things a little differently, putting a West Coast spin on traditional dishes. If the mantra of every Italian grandmother is: “Mangia! Mangia!”— this is not your nonna’s kitchen.

Expected to open in November, NOX takes its name from the Roman word for Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night. The Coal Harbour restaurant comes from the same team behind El Santo, an acclaimed contemporary Mexican restaurant in New Westminster. Helming the kitchen is corporate chef Sam Fabbro, whose grandparents hailed from Sicily and Florence, and executive chef Michael DeGrazia, whose parents are from Calabria. Together, they’re crafting a menu that’s inspired by their roots and that celebrates seasonal, local ingredients.

“We’re trying to present Pacific Northwest-style cuisine through our filters as first- and second-generation Canadians from Italian-immigrant families,” Michael says. “We’re not going to be a pasta house or make pizza; we’re showcasing the variety that there is in Italian food. These are dishes that your mom and grandmother could have made, but are stylishly correct for where we are on the map.

“I’ve cooked a lot of Italian food in my career, but I think this is my first opportunity to really put my personality into it,” he adds. “It’s not necessarily the food I grew up with, but it’s food I love to eat. It’s great working with Sam, because we share this common perspective as kids of Italian immigrants. We have similar family backgrounds and similar backgrounds in terms of training. It’s exciting to get to bring that perspective to the table and not in a red-sauce, American-Italian way. This is distinctly our thing.”

Sam, who’s been cooking since he was tall enough to reach the kitchen counter, first stepped into a restaurant kitchen in high school. Upon graduating from the culinary arts program at Vancouver Community College, he gained experience at Restaurant 62 in Abbotsford and Vancouver’s Raincity Grill and CinCin Ristorante and Bar. He joined El Santo in 2017 and also headed its sister restaurant, plantbased Amaranthus. (Located in River Market in New West, Amaranthus opened in 2019 but recently shut its doors due to the impact of COVID-19.)

Michael, meanwhile, trained at Ontario’s Stratford Chefs School in Ontario. After working in restaurants in his native Toronto, he headed to Europe, ultimately spending a year at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris. Upon returning to Canada, he has worked across the country building his 20- year career.

While ingredients like octopus, oxtail, pancetta, pine nuts, sour grapes, stone fruit, fregola and figs might show up in dishes, the authenticity of NOX’s food will be largely in its spontaneity. “As an Italian family would go to the market and select the produce that looks freshest and most vibrant, take it home and cook it, we will do the same in our menus, working with purveyors and, as much as possible, farmers directly,” Michael says. “That means herbs and vegetables grown in our own gardens or on our friends’ farms in Abbotsford; pork and chicken from the Fraser Valley; and fish and seafood from local boats in local waters.”

“We’re showcasing the variety that there is in Italian food. These are dishes that your mom and grandmother could have made, but are stylishly correct for where we are on the map.”

All of the bread and pasta will be made in house, and the wine list will feature premier Italian and BC labels.

Also making NOX unique is its location: the restaurant will be situated in the Cardero building on West Georgia Street that will also house And-Co, a private office collective and business community for professionals and entrepreneurs. NOX is a standalone spot with a dining room and lounge, while And-Co members will have access to exclusive menu items and will be able to order in-office catering for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With shared office spaces looking like the workplace of the future, it’s an innovative and, quite likely, pandemicproof model.

“I’m really excited to be partnering with And-Co to bring an Italian restaurant to Coal Harbour,” says Alejandro Diaz, managing director of NOX and owner of El Santo. “Just like we do at El Santo, we’re using traditional ingredients, but we want to give diners the chance to experience a well-known cuisine in a new way.”