For immigrants, leaving family behind can be one of the hardest parts of starting a new life abroad. For Chef Simona Bonelli of Vancouver's DALINA, an appetite to wander the globe has not only led her to follow in her family's foodie footsteps, but also create a sense of family in a very fitting place.
When DALINA opened in late 2016 at the foot of Bosa's BlueSky condo tower in Chinatown, the idea was to offer the community and the development's new tenants an all-day cafe and boutique grocery store. The concept has been steadily evolving since then, however. More seats have been added in the rear of the space, making room for the uptick in customers who are falling in love with DALINA charming Italian fare.
A take on a Nicoise salad at DALINA (Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome)
Bonelli came on board at DALINA in August of 2017, tasked with expanding and elevating the existing menu and ensuring the deli case was always stocked with fresh items for grab-and-go customers, and that guests with a bit more time had more to choose from on the menu that spans the breakfast/brunch, lunch, and dinner hours.
From breakfast sandwiches to seasonally-driven salads, housemade baked goods, and comforting hot dishes like gnocchi, DALINA is now fulfilling more than its original vision as being a hub for the community.
Bonelli has been building community in her kitchens for well over a decade, having started her career almost by accident several years ago when she was living in Denver, Colorado, and became the Italian who could help out in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant staffed by non-Italians.
Gnocchi at DALINA (Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome)
"It was like second nature," Bonelli says of that moment. That's because Bonelli's family tree is laden with branches deeply rooted in various parts of the food business. Her grandmother had a deli in the Emilia-Romangna region. A cousin has a beachside bar. Dad was a butcher. Her grandfather and and uncle were bakers.
Bonelli was born in the small seaside town of Terracina, where she grew up eating with the seasons with a hefty dose of local seafood and the Italian staple ingredients: Tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and basil. School holidays were spent with relatives, and Bonelli remembers pulling fresh orbs of mozzarella from freshly-delivered buckets and eating them right away, or helping her uncle fill bread orders, or stocking shelves in the deli.
Still, the world was calling, so Bonelli set off for the United States. Once she fell into cooking, it seemed being skilled in the kitchen was like a passport for opportunities. Moving back and forth often between the U.S. and Europe, Bonelli was drawn to Canada about a decade ago when she worked all over Ontario with both the Oliver and Bonacini group, and Jamie Oliver.
Though Bonelli remembers visiting Vancouver in 2008 and having a sense that she might like to live there, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that she landed here, moving into the very high-volume Glowbal Group as Executive Chef of the Italian Kitchen. But it didn't feel quite right, and luckily DALINA came calling.
Deli salads at DALINA (Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome)
With a fairly new home in Squamish, and almost a year at DALINA, Bonelli says she's feeling settled--well, as settled as anyone as prone to wandering as she is can be.
"As an immigrant you're never completely satisfied," Bonelli explains. "You love where you live but there's always a part of you that misses home. There's a constant struggle sometimes of where your home is. I think I found my new home."
Home is a driving force in her cooking, which is why you'll find comforting dishes like a simple gnocchi in marinara sauce and a seared tuna salad on the DALINA menu, and virtually no butter or cream.
One of DALINA most unusual dishes is called Farinata. It's based on the Ligurian street food chickpea "pancake," which Bonelli has adapted for DALINA very limited kitchen, then topped with roasted cauliflower, a cashew cream, za'atar, and salsa verde. The dish is naturally gluten-free, and also happens to be vegan, which works out very well for many customers.
Farinata with cauliflower at DALINA (Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome)
While Bonelli's childhood food memories also include square trays of Roman pizza, or handmade pastas like the annual family activity of making heaps of tortellini for Christmas, which are served traditionally in a brodo (broth), DALINA's oven wasn't suitable for pizza, so Bonelli bakes focaccia with pizza-like additions instead. For the pasta, well, Bonelli says she's working on figuring out how to make that happen in the space.
"If I had a bit more space, I'd have twice as much food," jokes Bonelli, who is anticipating the onslaught of spring to bring about a seasonal refresh to the menu.
It might be close quarters in the kitchen, but for Bonelli it is a sense of family, and that's really what DALINA is all about.
"We're always trying to figure out what DALINA is," explains Bonelli. But the answer has been there all along. Named for the owner's mother, Dalina, the vision was to create a neighbourhood spot that could be close to people's heart, serve the building's residents and the community.
"That's what DALINA is," says Bonelli. "It's family."
Inside the marketplace at DALINA (Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome)
Cannoli at DALINA (Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome)
House made scones at DALINA (Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome)
DALINA is located at 687 Main Street, Vancouver
