My Mom's Birthday at Q4 al Centro

For as long as I've remembered, my mom is a huge fan of Italian food. So it was a no-brainer to take her to one of my favourite places for her birthday. We've been to the Q4 on West Fourth (and now on W. Broadway) many times, but thought a change to the downtown Vancouver scene might be worth a shot. I have gone a few times for lunch, but this would be a first for dinner.   We always start off with Antipasto Platter which is an amazing assortment of great Q4 favourites. Going clockwise from the top, we have some Cured Salami and Brushetta. There is their famous Grilled Radicchio Bocconcini. There is also some Lamb Sausage, Zucchini involtini, Lemon Prawns, a baby Caprese Salad and some Smoked Salmon. There are also lots of Olives, Artichokes, Roasted & Marinated Mushrooms, & Cipollini Onions strewn throughout the plate. 
This is their Bolognese, normally served with their rigatoni, but for that night, they substituted it with another short rolled pasta. Still fun to eat, and their bolognese is slow cooked with veal, pork and lamb. 
One of the things I really like about Q4 al Centro is the way they serve food family style, just like a traditional Italian family. We went with three main entrees, and they were all served on a gigantic platter. What you see here is the Tagliatelli Aragosta, essentially, a Lobster Tagliatelli. I really loved the knobs of lobster meat on the plate, and the sauce was almost a light rose, which really helped to let the freshness of the lobster come through. 
Anyone who reads this blog regularly would know how much my mom loves fish, so she just had to get the Fish Feature, witha large piece of Halibut on a bed of Risotto. People who read this blog also know how much my mom loves her carbs. This was great for sharing and really made her day. We also got the Lamb Chops to share, but with all the seafood around us, I totally forgot to take a closeup of the lamb itself.

 

For Dessert, we ordered the Tiramisu, and it was amazing. I love how they use ladyfingers and you can actually see the different layers of everything, it's not just a jumble like at other places. It was super moist due to the eggs and mascarpone cheese, and the layers were just so rich. The ladyfingers were soaked through with coffee and you can really taste that as well, so it wasn't just a mess of sugar. Really well done. 

 

They also treated us to a dessert, but I just managed to get a shot of it before it got devoured pretty quickly. I did like how the presentation was so different for each dessert, I like the originality shown here.
This was a really large meal for four people, but the flavours were clean, crisp and very distinct. And because we went easy on the pasta, we actually left feeling "just right".
Take Note: 

• Not open on Sundays
• Antipasto Platter is a Must! (3 orders is usually enough for 4 people)
• Free Valet at dinner time