Eat This Now: Brunch Pizza at Elio Volpe

By now you’ve probably heard of the buzzy Cambie Village restaurant known for its seafood-forward Italian menu. Heck, with how busy the room often is, there’s a big chance that you, too, have enjoyed piles of Elio Volpe’s house-made pasta, expertly-cooked proteins and crisp, Roman-style ‘za. 

As delicious as the mainstay dinner dishes are—I’m here to talk brunch. Yes, your new favourite Italian restaurant also serves weekend brunch and it’s everything I’ve ever wanted to consume between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The entire brunch menu at Elio is thoughtfully constructed, from a generously portioned lobster eggs Benedict served with deeply golden fried potatoes ($38), to the instant-classic crisp potato latkes ($18) topped with smoked steelhead, fragrant dill and crema fresca, to the dessert side of the menu where a rotating selection of cream-filled apollini are available and amaro-spiked maple syrup is drizzled upon a quenelle of cream sat delicately on a liege waffle—there’s not a miss in sight, including the selection of morning cocktails.

The vibrant (almost neon) Italian Greyhound ($15) is a bright and punchy mix of vodka, Aperol, Aranciata Rossa and fresh grapefruit while the Lambrusco Spritz ($16) is reminiscent of sangria (my current fave summer drink) thanks to a balanced mix of Medici Ermete Lambrusco, aperol, soda and orange. 

Like I said, not a miss in sight. For the drinks menu alone, I would come back again and again. However—there was one dish that stood out. One dish that captured a piece of nostalgia and flung it into the future. Breakfast pizza. 

I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’ve never had breakfast pizza before. You probably have too. But, no, I don’t mean cold leftover pizza eaten the next day while contemplating the stages of a hangover (though that’s delicious in its own right). I mean breakfast-y ingredients on a pie. 

The ‘za whipped up at Elio went far beyond my (already high) expectations. In fact, all other pizza may just be ruined for me now. Thanks to expertly roasted mushrooms, made-in-house bacon and thinly sliced potato, there’s a distinctly pierogi vibe goin’ on. And it is welcome; encouraged, even. The addition of hollandaise (that somehow didn’t break in the oven? What is this magic?) and calabrian chili sent the pie over the moon. All of these delicious-on-their-own ingredients could be make an all-star dish in many different combinations, but delicately distributed over a crust that’s coming in at a cool one-millimetre thickness and still maintains its crispness? This pie becomes downright obsession-worthy.  

On my first trip to Elio I declared to my partner that I wanted to come back as soon as possible. Now that I’ve tried its brunch, I think I’m officially moving in. It’s just too delicious not to. 

Elio Volpe
540 W 17th Ave.