I guess this thread pushed me in an Italian direction tonight.
I headed to Enoteca Sociale.
Tonight was a little brisk on the unheated patio. I suspect this was my last patio dinner until April.
I enjoyed the puntarelle salad with anchovies, capers and pecorino ($17), the mushroom agnolotti with lemon butter ($28) and the torta Caprese ($14) Espresso is $3 which is probably the most reasonably priced espresso at a nice restaurant in Toronto
One recent Italian discovery for me is Porzia’s on Oakwood Ave. Their red prawn pasta and ice cream tiramisu were both very good
Their lasagne is amazing, too.
They were! We even brought it home afterwards since it is such a large portion
We were attending a concert on King St. E. and decided to try nearby Gusto 501 a second time. They have both a streetside patio and a rooftop one, though how much longer is anyone’s guess. Overall the food remains very good, but the volume is loud (both the music and the yelling by other customers).
For wine we tried glasses of their Gusto Bianco - Pinot Grigio (very acidic, pear, honeydew, white flower), Gusto Rose - Argentina Malbec (green strawberry), and the 2021 Luigi Righetti, Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore, Veneto | Corvina | Rondinella | Molinara (light and pleasantly fruity).
The Pizza Carbonara (fior di latte, guanciale, pecorino, egg yolk, black pepper) was our favourite the last time and is still lots of fun, with runny egg yolk and very smokey guanciale. The crust is thin, with nice chew and flavour.
Because we haven’t met a mortadella pizza we haven’t liked, we tried their version (mortadella, taleggio, pickled peperoncino, pistachio butter). Unlike some versions, the mortadella was cooked with the pizza, concentrating the flavour. The pistachio butter gave it a lovely nutty richness.
In the spirit of the more carbs the better, we also tried the Risotto Verde (hen of the woods mushroom, pine nut, herbs), which was essentially a fragrant pesto risotto decorated with dry-roasted mushrooms.
For dessert, we ordered one cocktail: Coco Colada (Malibu coconut rum vanilla liqueur, lime, coconut milk, sour cherry syrup). It was fun, but should have been called a Cherry Colada as coconut is always part of a colada and the cherry flavour was pronounced. We also had the Torta Di Mandorla (warm ground almond cake with peach compote, vanilla mascarpone cream, and pistachio), which was not too sweet and showcased the last of peach season.
Looks good.
I much prefer mortadella or prosciutto added on top of the pizza after the pizza has been cooked, to keep its texture.
I prefer that too. The mortadella pizza that Stock TC had for awhile was my favourite version.
That carbonara pizza looks so good!
My friend and I stopped by Pasta Forever today. Nice shop.
We tried the leek and taleggio arancini. I also bought a small sesame focaccia to go.
