Best Italian restaurants in downtown Toronto

Buca

604 King St. W., 416-865-1600
Few places encapsulate Toronto’s dining culture where executive chef Rob Gentile prepares a few of the city’s most original and elaborate plates in a bare-bones industrial room. Smoked burrata tops spicy pig’s blood spaghetti with sausage and rapini. Truffle shavings adorn ricotta-filled fried zucchini blooms—a dish that’s described (accurately) by a nearby diner as “better than sex.”

Mistura

265 Davenport Rd., 416-515-0009
The handsome, gray-on-gray room is scanned in the comfort of a plush booth. Chef Klaus Rourich sends classy interpretations of classic northern Italian dishes out. For seasoning, a bright salad of orange slices, shaved fennel and uses ricotta and niçoise olives, and almonds for feel. Earthy puttanesca, without a touch of mush, offsets octopus. Textbook bolognese, hardly bound with milk, is deep with flavour.

Toca

181 Wellington St. W., 416 572 8008
The Ritz-Carlton’s fine eatery has finally found its basis. A pair of scampi perch that is hardly cooked of burrata on soft curds held in place from the natural bowl of an artichoke heart. Bitter, mellow sautéed mushrooms in a warming autumn salad tame vibrant red radicchio leaves. Arrayed and slit throughout the bone, the supremely tender, slightly amazing steak Fiorentina is just one of the city’s great cuts. Smooth and airy Roman gnocchi, made with semolina rather than potato, make a wonderful accompaniment, as does a bowl of glistening braised escarole studded with hazelnuts and raisins.


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F’Amelia

12 Amelia St., 416-323-0666
The kitchen of this Cabaggetown favourite continues to wow with its creativity, while maintaining the Italian soul of simplicity. Appetiser are excellent: lightly battered and grilled calamari comes brushed with garlicky pesto, and an already delicious fig salad is livened up by smoky grilled radicchio. Chef Riley Skelton provides a distinctive take on carbonara—maybe the most holy 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 spicy lamb sausage pizza. In warmer weather, the patio is the perfect area to drink a glass of wine and take in the neighbourhood sights and doubles the size of the restaurant.

Aria Ristorante

25 York St., 416 363 2742
The room is a showstopper, with tremendous starburst light fixtures and floor-to-ceiling windows. Translucent pink sheets of soft veal dressed with tuna, anchovy and caper sauce make for the city’s vitello tonnato that is finest. Desserts are lusciously traditional (a pistachio tart with macerated strawberries) or brilliantly unusual (a creamy popcorn, pine nut and sweet corn ice cream bar). Unless there’s an occasion at the ACC closed Sundays.

Bricco Kitchen and Wine Bar

3047 Dundas St. W., 647 464 9100
With its mid century Scandinavian furniture, intricately patterned ceramic plates and whitewashed brick, this wonderful 45- in the Junction is readily among the prettiest areas in town. The polished-but- unfussy aesthetic applies to the cooking as well, with nuovo rustico dishes from the Piedmont region highlighting substantial flavours and both trendy demonstration. The antipasto board departs in the conventional meat-and-cheese spread to include chickpea fritters, blue cheese–filled exceptional lonza dates and prosciutto-wrapped bread sticks. Lemon rind balances creamy Arctic char that is raw, and big, fluffy gnocchi bring a rich braised rabbit support that is starchy. Wine rotates every fourteen days, and the trios of two-ounce pours are a great method to sample the many all-natural, small-company alternatives on offer.

Zucca

2150 Yonge St., 416-488-5774
For 2 decades, this upscale Midtown haunt is the standard for exceptional Italian food. Chef Andrew Milne- the restaurant’s waiters that are professional could instruct Parkdale’s cool youngsters a thing or two, and also Allan was doing local, seasonal cuisine long before it absolutely was fashionable. Made in house every morning, the ever changing pastas are an evident strength, such as the hand-cut red wine tagliatelle in a duckandbunny ragout—a delightfully pastoral dish. Elaborate plates, just like the seared muscovy duck breast with roasted figs, bitter treviso and 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 some romantic meal.

La Cascina

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