Italian food – Around the World in 196 Plates

Country 093 – San Marino (Speducci Mercatto)

Published on October 6, 2019October 20, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 46 Milford Avenue, North York
Website: https://speducci.com/

San Marino is kinda like Vatican City, in that it’s a tiny little country that’s entirely within Italy’s borders (it is, however, considerably larger than Vatican City). Along with Vatican City and Lesotho in South Africa, it is one of only three countries in the world that’s entirely surrounded by another country.

So there you go, there’s your obscure bit of geographic trivia for the day. You’re welcome.

Obviously, San Marino’s cuisine is basically Italian cuisine; between that and Vatican City, I’ve had an excuse to go to three different Italian restaurants for this blog.

Speducci Mercatto is a snazzy little deli / Italian restaurant in the middle of an industrial area of North York. If I hadn’t specifically read about it, there’s no way I would have discovered it myself.

They’re mostly known for the various Italian cured meats that they make in-house; you can buy them to go from the deli counter, or in the restaurant in a sandwich or a pizza.

I went with the prosciutto sandwich, which comes on its own (i.e. just prosciutto in a roll), though you can add various toppings for a small upcharge. The waitress recommended bocconcini cheese, arugula, and tomato; even with the toppings, it came up to $13.50 for a very hefty sandwich, so it’s a great deal.

They cram a serious amount of meat into the sandwich. It might have felt like an overwhelming amount of prosciutto, but it’s so incredibly delicious that this is never an issue. The meat is super tender, the fat is silky, and the flavour is delightfully complex. It’s definitely some of the best prosciutto I’ve ever had.

And the waitress was absolutely spot-on with the topping suggestions; the creamy cheese, the peppery arugula, and the fresh tomatoes all complimented the meat perfectly. The bread was a typical Italian roll and nothing to get too excited about, but the prosciutto was so tasty that it really didn’t matter.

Country 084 – Vatican City (Sugo)

Published on December 16, 2018September 22, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1281 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.sugotoronto.com/

I might be cheating with this one.

Okay, I’m definitely cheating with this one. The food they serve at Sugo isn’t Italian, per se; it’s Italian American. That’s actually a pretty huge distinction, but let’s face it — Vatican City is barely even a real country anyway. Certainly, there’s no such thing as Vatican City cuisine. So why shouldn’t I cheat a little bit?

Mostly, I was just looking for an excuse to check out Sugo, which I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about.

I’m glad I did — it’s as delicious as its reputation would lead you to believe.

The menu is pretty basic: three pastas, a few different sandwiches, and a handful of appetizers.

I tried a couple of the pastas, which were both saucy as hell and exploding with flavour. Certainly, “subtlety” is not a word in this restaurant’s vocabulary (that’s not a bad thing).

My favourite of the two was the rigatoni, which features a creamy pink sauce (a mix of tomato and alfredo) with a satisfyingly zingy flavour. I also tried the spaghetti with meat sauce, which has a meaty substance, but is lacking in the assertive flavour of the rigatoni.

And of course, you can’t come here without trying the baseball-sized meatball, which has a slightly mushy texture, but is otherwise quite good. It compliments both pastas quite nicely.

Country 021 – Italy (A3 Napoli)

Published on November 29, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 589 College Street, Toronto
Website: http://a3napoli.com/

Given that A3 is a collaboration between Porchetta and Co.‘s Nick auf der Mauer and Pizzeria Libretto‘s Rocco Agostino, you’d just sort of assume that it’s going to be really good. And you would be correct. You would be 100% correct.

The menu is an even split between crispy goodies coming out of their fryer and piping hot pizzas from their enormous, impressive 900 degree pizza oven (which is pretty much the centrepiece of the restaurant).

We started with the “Land” assortment of fried deliciousness, which came with decadently gooey arancini, flavour-packed meatballs, fried mozzarella that would put any mozzarella stick to shame, and perfectly cooked slices of sweet potato. It included a little cup of marinara for dipping, but everything was so tasty on its own that it was mostly superfluous.

They serve a sandwich that changes every couple of weeks, served on what is essentially an undressed pizza that’s folded over. It was meatball when I went, but it’ll probably be something different by the time you read this.

First and foremost is that bread, which has an addictively chewy texture and just the right amount of char from the inferno-hot pizza oven. Can I have all of my sandwiches in this bread? Because I want all of my sandwiches in this bread.

The inside of the sandwich was a perfect mix of rich tomato sauce, creamy pesto, and peppery arugula. That’s not to mention, of course, the toothsome and abundant meatballs. If I had to come up with the top five meatball sandwiches I’ve had in my life, this one would probably be on there.

We finished with the Zeppoli — little cinnamon-and-sugar-dusted doughnuts that are essentially like the best Timbits you’ve ever had, which come with a heady chocolate hazelnut sauce for dipping. That sauce, I should note, was so good that my dining companion was compelled to drink the remains.