Pink Tea Latte: Brunching at Spade Cafe with Owner Sammy

Spade Cafe | The Meat Breakfast Sammy

Sammy Piccolo has been teasing me about his vision of a new type of restaurant in Vancouver and he honestly kept me guessing right up until opening day. Spade Cafe is a hipster caffeine fuelled cafe by day and a charming Italian restaurant in the evening. Things really do kick up a notch when the sun goes down because there is a full cocktail menu too, but more importantly, dessert!

It is really great to see Sammy embracing his Italian heritage and adding to the pasta scene on Commercial drive. The funny thing is, I was going to give Sammy a shout and ask him if he would have brunch at his new cafe/restaurant with me, but this man never misses a beat and literally beat me to it.

Spade Cafe is named after the Italian Spade Card which stands for swords. If you look carefully at the Spade logo, you will be able to spot two swords in the very middle. I really loved the use of the warm wood against the chic white walls. There is a massive dried moss Spade on the wall and preserved plants along a ledge from the ceiling. The coolest piece is probably the magnificent table made from old wood.

It is pretty well known fact that I love cake and will choose cake over savoury food every single time. I was still pretty shocked though when Sammy told me he had his chef make a chocolate cake covered in my two favourite fresh berries, raspberry and strawberry. It was epic and I cannot even put it into words how special I felt that the owner of Prado Cafes and Spade Cafe had a special cake made just for me?! No big deal, guess I am just cool like that bahahaha The cake was on point, extremely moist rich chocolatey goodness that was balanced by the refreshing berries. My only request would be that instead of icing, I think a generous layer of unsweetened vanilla chantilly would have really complemented the robust espresso coffee that was used in the chocolate cake.

Sammy is like an Italian Nonna who just wants to stuff you full of food and so the table was filled with items from the Spade Brunch menu. I got the Eggs in Purgatory which is two soft poached eggs sitting in a delightful spicy red tomato sauce and sprinkled with fresh herbs. Since no delicious sauce should ever go to waste, the Eggs in Purgatory comes with two slices of buttery sourdough bread to sop up all of that glorious tomatoey goodness. I am a sucker for Italian marinara; therefore, I am not surprised how much I enjoyed this dish. I appreciate it not being inundated with cheese since cheese often masks the flavour of the seasoning.

Sammy's favourite creation are his breakfast sammys, both a meat and vegetarian option are available. Both come on a gorgeous fluffy brioche bun and feature a soft poached egg. The Meat Breakfast Sammy is layered with ham, aged cheddar, basil mayo, onion jam and arugula. The Vegetarian Sammy is artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper, basil mayo, arugula and blanketed with gooey provolone cheese.

I did not get a chance to try the Berry Toast since there was already a ridiculous amount of food at the table, but you can never go wrong with house made raspberry compote on a crusty sourdough toast. For drinks, of course I had a latte, but this time an espresso based one since Spade does not have my beloved matcha. But eh, Sammy is the coffee guy, so of course we are doing coffee at his place. I also had a really pretty Prosecco Margarita which was done authentically, so there was no slushy, but instead was garnished with frozen blackberries, orange slice and rimmed with sugar.

We finished brunch with a slice of the special chocolate espresso raspberry cake and a ginormous Dulce de Leche cookie. Sandwiched between two chocolate espresso cookies is a rich creamy Dulce de Leche buttercream. My favourite sweet treat still remains the Raspberry Oat Bar from Prado Cafe. I would honestly squeal in delight if I had a whole tray to myself of those yummy squares - seriously go and try them ASAP because they are delicious.

It was a splendid brunch and I expect myself to be returning for their supper menu. Me and pasta get along really well and I still need to try the Apple Crisp with Chantilly Cream.

BYES