Paese Ristorante: Inspired in Italy, Made in Canada

Inspired in Italy, Made in Canada

That’s the motto of Paese Ristorante, which in my books is definitely better than Americanized(Canadian)-Italian cuisine because a lot of restaurants claims to be Italian when they don’t know how to classify their food. Furthermore, I can understand that certain ingredients for cuisines such as Chinese, French or Italian are not locally available, but it is not an excuse to produce food of sub-par quality. Especially, as we live in a world of globalization.

An effort should be made ensuring dishes originating from certain regions of world be made as close as possible to the real thing; if you classify and proclaim your restaurant as belonging to the style of a specific region.

So, whenever I am in the mood for Italian food and don’t want to head downtown I head over to Paese on Bathurst St. 
(Other location: King St. W.) Because they follow the farm to table philosophy, where the ingredients they use in most of their dishes are locally sourced from Canada. Most importantly, they understand fancy does not mean perfect.

Paese always starts you off with their house-made focaccia bread accompanied by their tapenade. 
The tapenade depends on what it’s in season and I guess what the Chef felt like making that day.

The appetizer that I always suggest people that they must order at Paese is the Octopus, yes it’s true you can make octopus at home, but something about it you can’t replicate at home. I don’t know if it’s the char on the octopus itself, fried capers with escarole or the aioli, despite being a simple dish if you know what you are doing then it’s perfect.

Next, we ordered a veal ribeye I think, don’t quite remember exactly as it was one of their specials. But, I do remember it perfectly done to medium-rare and very juicy. Every now and then, they have various specials and they are always different, but the servers will tell you what they are. 

*Funny, it reminds me of the Chef’s Special in Chinese restaurants; the only difference being Chinese servers will be very hard sell in pressuring you…lol!

The goat cheese ravioli was decent, but nothing special. Normally their pasta are good so maybe it was an off day for fresh pasta.

Lastly, you have to order their tiramisu regardless of how “stuffed” you are. Because, even though I wouldn’t call it “the” best, but it is definitely one of the best tiramisu in Toronto.

*The servers and manager are friendly and accommodating. I noticed that they are even very accommodating to patrons who require the use of a wheelchair, because they have a metal ramp specifically designed for wheelchair users to access the step in their front entrance.