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Best Italian restaurants in Toronto

Zucca

2150 Yonge St., 416-488-5774 For 2 decades, this upscale Midtown haunt is the standard for Italian food that is special. Chef Andrew Milne- the restaurant’s professional servers could educate Parkdale’s cool youngsters a thing or two, and Allan was doing local, seasonal cuisine long before it had been trendy. Made in house every morning, the ever changing pastas are an apparent strength, such as the hand-cut red wine tagliatelle in a duckandbunny ragout—a beautifully pastoral dish. Sophisticated plates, such as the seared muscovy duck breast with bitter treviso roasted figs and also a lemon risotto, showcase the kitchen’s deftness at balancing flavours. A good wine list is broken down by area of Italy, and classic desserts like affogato panna cotta and biscotti are perfect endnotes to a romantic meal.

Bricco Kitchen and Wine Bar

3047 Dundas St. W., 647-464-9100 With its midcentury Scandinavian furniture, whitewashed brick and intricately patterned ceramic plates, this lovely 45- in the Junction is readily among the prettiest spots in town. The polished-but- aesthetic that is unfussy applies to the cooking at the same time, with nuovo rustico dishes from your Piedmont area emphasizing both trendy demo and flavours that are substantial. The antipasto board departs from the typical meat-and-cheese spread to incorporate chickpea fritters, blue cheese–filled dates, outstanding lonza and prosciutto-wrapped bread sticks. Lemon rind balances creamy Arctic char that is uncooked, and large, fluffy gnocchi bring support that is starchy to your rich braised rabbit. Wine rotates every fourteen days, and the trios of two-ounce pours are a great strategy to try the many organic, little-producer alternatives being offered.

Tutti Matti

364 Adelaide St. W., 416 597 8839 Don’t let dinner jazz playlist and the outdated decor only at that Entertainment District trattoria dissuade you— long as you’re starving, there’s no better place to be. Servers are simultaneously efficient and laid-back, a blend that implies an all too-uncommon awareness of authentic hospitality. The menu features humble Tuscan basics—tons of beans— of boar and loads but the dishes arrive to the table exquisitely conceived and expertly cooked. A well-timed glug of amber vin santo catapults chicken livers and sage butter, tossed with golden house-made tagliatelle and briny capers, into a divine plane. While the short ribs are popular, the rabbit entrée is superlative, its meat gently cooked sous-vide before being dusted with flour, deep fried and plated with fingerlings that are lemony and broiled greens. It’s a sly showstopper, memorable just because of its simplicity that is brazen , masterfully executed. Which, come to consider it, additionally describes Tutti Matti to a T.

F’Amelia

12 Amelia St., 416 323 0666 The kitchen of this Cabaggetown favourite continues to wow with its originality, while preserving the Italian heart of simplicity. Appetizers are amazing: lightly battered and grilled calamari comes brushed with garlicky pesto, and an delicious fig salad is livened up by smoky grilled radicchio. Chef Riley Skelton offers an original take on carbonara—possibly the most sacred dish in the Italian canon— adding sautéed red onion, crisped prosciutto and spinach, and using handcrafted tagliatelle in place of spaghetti. Creamy eggplant is the star of a hot lamb sausage pizza. In warmer weather, the patio doubles the size of the eatery and is the perfect place to drink a glass of wine and take in the neighbourhood sights.

Best italian restaurants in Toronto

Ardo

243 King St. E., 647-347-8930 Chef Roberto Marotta’s Sicilian-inspired dishes offer a degree of sophistication that puts this new St. Lawrence area above many of the city’s trattorias. Acciughe—punchy white anchovies and roasted red peppers on crunchy herb butter–soaked crostini—are an ideal two-bite snack (or spuntini, as the Sicilians would have it), and sourdough starter makes an exceedingly bouffant pizza crust. It’s a welcome change from the Neapolitan tyranny.

Bar Buca

75 Portland St., 416 599 2822 Several steps chef Rob Gentile’s King West osteria, from Buca suitable, is casual Bar Buca and his relaxed. Carve the gran fritto misto, a two-tiered bite tray stacked with lightly battered and deep-fried baby artichokes, rock shrimp, tiny smelt and twists of pigskin. Each bite is perfectly crispy and flecked with fennel -flavoured salt or chili. For dessert, there’s old-fashioned Italian pastries: ricotta-stuffed cannoli, lace-patterned pizzelle and sugar -dusted apple butter bombolone.

La Cascina

1552 Avenue Rd., 416-590-7819 Abruzzan chef Luca Del Rosso’s menu changes daily, but his main tools are constantly salt, olive oil and time —each dish is cooked slow, long and soft. The antipasti class brings a series of mini-masterpieces, including creamy pan fried potatoes paired with salty capers and tart tomatoes; slow-cooked lentils and carrots; and a fluffy scramble of eggplant, eggs and ricotta.

Mistura

265 Davenport Rd., 416 515 0009 The handsome, grey-on-gray room is scanned in the comfort of a plush booth. Chef Klaus Rourich sends refined interpretations of classic northern Italian dishes out. A vibrant salad of orange slices, uses ricotta and niçoise olives for seasoning and shaved fennel, and almonds for texture. Octopus, without a touch of mush, is counter by earthy puttanesca. Textbook bolognese, barely bound with milk, is strong with flavour.

Buca Yorkville

53 Scollard St., 416-962-2822 At Rob Gentile’s new Yorkville restaurant, the focus is on top-notch fish and seafood. The “ salami,” made with scallop octopus, swordfish or tuna blood combined with pork fat, are like wonderful headcheese, though nowhere near as popular as deep-fried exotica like Atlantic cod tongue or puffed dumplings dyed a deep black. The day’s catch, cooked in a carapace of salt, is cracked tableside and presented like a devotional offering. Everything is perfect, including the zeppola—an Italian doughnut— stuffed with a rich pistachio and dusted with confectioner’s sugar -mascarpone cream.

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