Whenever I go anywhere near Burnaby I always make a point of hitting up Cioffi’s Meat Market to restock my pantry with uber authentic Italian items such as San Marzano canned tomatoes, Arborio rice and olives. I’ve often grabbed a sandwich or one of there prepared items and some sort of meat was always on the menu that night for dinner. Recently the Cioffi’s opened a Cucina in the spot next store to the market at  4142 Hastings Street and I made a point of getting out there for lunch immediately.

They’d always done some catering, but recently ramped it up volume wise and had run out of space so moved that into the new location. The Cucina offers authentic Italian dishes, such as pastas, pizzas, calzone, veal parmigiana, soups, pannini to grap or munch on right there and many hot and cold items to take home. Stop in for fresh or frozen lasagnas, pasta sauces, pesto, or pizza and feed your family a healthy meal made from scratch.  

Cioffi’s is taking part in Vancouver Foodster’s Big Melt Challenge until the end of the month with a four cheese melt organic beef short rib panini with crispy onions and arugula and it’s UNREAL. They better keep this one on the menu!

Pictures are courtesy of Kristy Cioffi. Both Cioffi’s are family run operations led by Rino, his wife Kristy and brother Sergio.