A Taste of Italy: Vivoli

I went over to little Italy on College street early Friday arriving around 10:40. Many Italian restaurants were already filling up with Italian fans including Vivoli.  I claimed a table for three on the patio and patiently waited for my friends to arrive.  The street beside Vivoli was closed down and had been taken over by the restaurant on the other side.  Their patio extended into the street and a DJ was already set up and cranking out music.  As I waited, every so often I could smell basil on someone's food and it started to make me hungry. 

30 minutes prior to the game starting the hostess was getting antsy.  My friends hadn’t arrived and she started to threaten to take the chairs even though I knew they were on their way.  A little more time went by and she started to threaten to take the table.  So I called the waitress over and ordered our food and drinks.  Perhaps that is what the hostess was hoping for but either way I wasn’t giving up the table.  One of my friends arrived a few minutes later and the hostess didn’t give us any grief about the table after that.  My second friend arrived after the game had started and then spent the first half on the wrong side of the patio fence.  Apparently they were at capacity and couldn’t let her in until someone left so her chair sat empty until she could enter.

Back to the good stuff.  I ordered the classic caprese salad.  After smelling the basil earlier I had to order something with basil in it.  There was also a buffala caprese salad but I figured there would be enough cheese on the classic for my liking as it used bocconcini.  The salad was good and I made sure I enjoyed the basil.

I also ordered the sanremo pizza.  The pizza was classic thin crust pizza, just the way I like it.  As we ate it, I noticed my Italian friend using the balsamic and oil dipping sauce for the bread to dip her pizza crust in.  I never thought to do that but that is a brilliant idea.  I bet all Italians do this, I just never noticed before.  The next time I don’t feel like eating my pizza crust I will implement this trick. ;)

My Italian friend ordered a red sangria to drink.  She generally drinks red wine and sangria and Vivoli’s sangria is her favourite.  After seeing the drink and knowing this was her favourite place to get it, I decided to order one too.  I don’t drink much red wine or sangria but I really enjoyed it.

Aside for the difficulties with the table (which I’m not overly surprised by as this sort of thing happens a lot everywhere for events like this) the rest of my experience, i.e the food and drink, was good. 

A Taste of Italy: Pizzeria Libretto

I've been to Pizzeria Libretto twice now. Both visits were a while ago which makes this post overdue. Luckily I made some notes after each visit.

The initial drive to go to Libretto was that everyone kept talking about it. Also, since I had been to Queen Margherita's Pizza (view my post) which is often spoken of in the same breath as Libretto, I figured I had to go.

The one thing I always heard about were the wait times to get into Libretto so I wanted to try and go at a time I thought would be quieter. The first time I went was on Tuesday right at noon and it was delightfully quiet. I took a seat at the front window so as to give my something to look at while I ate, as in people watch. The man that greeted me noticed that I might need something to occupy myself with and offered me a paper. It's not that often that restaurant staff seem to think of this for single patrons so I was impressed with the service right away.

I ordered the mushroom pizza so that I could try to compare with my Queen Margherita's Pizza experience. There was plenty of flavour in Libretto's pizza. There was also plenty of garlic. I actually took some of it off since I'm overly conscientious about my breath. I definitely enjoyed the pizza and I thought it may have had a little more flavour the Queen Margherita's. This pizza also suffered from tip sag, not that I personally care but some other people obviously do. I do care about thin crust pizzas and it was nice and thin, just the way I like it.

The second time I went to Libretto I got to try 4 pizzas since there were 4 of us sharing. The thing I was most impressed with on that visit was actually the arugula and pear salad. It was really good. I might just go back and have more of that. The wait staff was also good on the second visit and offered lots of advice as we enquired about items on the menu. On that visit I went on a Monday evening at 5:30 and there was no line. Perhaps the hype is starting to die down or perhaps the beginning of the week is the best time to go to avoid a crowd.

Overall I like the place. It's a little out of the way for me to get to though. Their new location on the Danforth isn't any better for me.

A Taste of Italy: Queen Margherita's Pizza

(I actually wrote most of this blog earlier this week but am only getting around to finishing and posting it now.)

Yesterday evening I headed out to a burger joint on the East end with a friend that wanted to try it. The place was called the Burger Priest. When we arrived we discovered the hours for Sunday were "Church", as in they were closed. Neither one of us had bothered to check the hours but we still wanted to eat out. There was a pizza joint in the neighbourhood that had been on my list of places to go for a while. I checked the hours (thanks to my handy iPhone), confirmed they were open and took a stroll down the street to Queen Margherita's Pizza.

When we got there we stepped into a small bar area full of a lot of dark rich wood and was greeted by one of the staff. Since we didn't have a reservation we were told we would need to wait for the maitre d'. In a few moments she appeared at the top of the staircase to the right side of the bar, came down to glace at the reservation list, disappeared back up the stairs then returned and motioned us up.

The exterior walls of the dinning area were architected with very large windows that would provide a significant amount of natural light. Although the sun had already set they gave a unique feel to the space. The back of the dinning space contained an open kitchen with the pizza oven in plain view. The front of the counter seemed to have been decorated with chopped firewood.

A prefix menu was available but we each opted to order our own pizza. I don't eat a lot of dessert so I typically stay away from prefix since I'd be getting something I didn't want or need. There would have to be something spectacular looking or unique on the dessert menu to get me to order it. Of course peer pressure sometimes works too. ;)

Within no time our pizzas were being served. It was shocking how fast it was. The waitress said it takes about 90 seconds to cook the pizza thanks to the oven they have.

I had ordered the mushroom pizza called Matteo. It had a nice thin crust, just the way I like it. Although the pizza did suffer from tip sag (a phrase I've only just heard of) it was still a good pizza and filling. The prefix would have been too much food for me.

There is a debate going on as to what the best pizza is in Toronto. The contenders are Queen Margherita's and Libretto. I haven't been to Libretto yet but I hope to get there soon. The one pizza that sticks in my mind is Vesuvio's over in the junction but it's been so long I can't remember if it was the pizza I liked or the hype that came with it by eating it with my friends. I may have to do a pizza night or weekend trying all three to properly compare.

Either way I would like to go back to Queen Margherita's, but, now I'm not sure if it is for the pizza or the unique space. Hmm. I better start paying more attention to these things.

I'll "Tell You" About Another Taste of Italy: Dimmi

This week I had supper at Dimmi Bar and Trattoria.  They have a small patio out front that they seem to have made the most of filling it with an arrangement of tables for two that can easily be converted into tables of 4 or 6. It's a great patio for people watching with the constant flow of traffic along Cumberland and from the side alley from Yorkville.  The two men sitting two tables away from me certainly enjoyed the view, stopping their conversation to ogle a blonde bimbo with a very short skirt as she passed by.  The patio is also good for car watching.  You get almost every kind of car going down the street from the clunkers to luxury cars.  There were the lower end BMWs, Audis and Mercedes to the high end Porsches, Bentleys and Ferraris.  I'm sure many other luxury cars make an appearance on Cumberland but those were the ones I saw while I was there.

For supper I ordered the "Fettucine Alla Riviera", a seafood fettuccine in a tomato sauce.  The waitress delivered a basket of bread while I waited for my food with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping.  There was way too much bread for me and I kind of felt bad for wasting it. My pasta arrived and smelled excellent.  On tasting it, all the seafood seemed very fresh.  I liked it.  I didn't use my good camera to take the picture even though I had it on me.  I didn't want to be one of the people that everyone was watching.  The waitress also put some parmesan on it before I took the picture so I tried to mix it in a bit so it wouldn't just look white in the picture.

Their patio is great in the evening for people like me since it sits in the shade of the building.  It also has a retractable awing which was extended when I first got there.  They retracted it before I left and seemed to turn on some water misters just as I was leaving.  I took a stroll down the side alley that so many people were traveling through and discovered a side patio to the restaurant.  It's narrow and can only accommodate a few tables for two but away from the street traffic in case you don't like car watching. ;)

The one thing about eating on the patio is that you never actually see the inside of the restaurant unless you take a washroom break.  There could be a whole different dynamic to the dining experience inside.  I guess I'll have to go back another time and check it out.

Side Note:  If the online dictionary is correct dimmi means "tell me", hence the title of this article.

Day 4 - A Taste of Italy

Netherlands VS Denmark
Japan VS Cameroon
Italy VS Paraguay

I really wanted today to be A Taste of Netherlands. My hometown of Chatham has a good Dutch population and there were some great bakeries in town because of them. Growing up most of my birthday cakes came from the Dutch bakery Wiersma’s (which is no longer there). I fully expected there to be Dutch bakeries and restaurants in Toronto. That appears to not be the case. There is a Dutch Dreams ice cream store near St. Clair and Bathurst and The Holland store on Weston Road but no bakeries and no restaurants. So I had to go with my second choice for the day, Italy.

I think we can all agree that there is no shortage of Italian restaurants in Toronto. An obvious choice would be Terroni. It’s good but I’ve been there. I prefer to try some place I haven’t been before and just around the corner from Terroni are two more choices, Mercatto being one of them.

As soon as the final whistle blew in the Japan/Cameroon game I was out the door to try and beat the lunch time rush. When I arrived at Mercatto the place was already bustling inside and out with the lunch hour crowd and I just managed to snag one of the last tables on the patio.

There were a few lunch specials but I went with the gnocchi in a simple tomato sauce with ricotta and basil. When it arrived the portion seemed a little on the small side. I guess you are meant to fill up on the bread that is served, but I’m not much of a bread person. On the bright side, the small portion is probably better for my waistline this month anyway. :) Once I got over my portion issues I was able to enjoy the meal at hand which was simple and delicious, the way Italians proclaim their food to be.



My choice appeared to be a popular one as I noticed three other people on the patio eating it. The woman sitting at the table next to me proclaimed that the restaurant was her favourite after her dining partner discovered she had been there two days before. For now I will keep the place on my shortlist and will give it another try when I have a craving for thin crust pizza on a patio.

I wonder if I have any Italian snacks in my apartment.



(If anyone knows of some Dutch bakeries or restaurants in Toronto, I’m all ears!)