ISSUE Nº1 T FALL WINTER 2010 TERRONI MAGAZINE

Giddy-up: the goods on horse meat

Got 14 hours to spare over the holidays? Then do we have the menu for you!

Our regulars dish on what's hot for Fall

In the kitchen with Carlo Rota

A verbal flight of 's wine: just in time too because our barolos are here

Skinny Bitch Italian-style: Lose 30 lbs in 30 days on our all-proscuitto diet!

Balsamic vinegar gets graphic 3

T Contributor’s TERRONI MAGAZINE Carolyn Pioro / Carolyn Pioro, former circus-aerialist turned aspiring Publisher editor, is currently completing Ryerson’s Magazine Publishing Elena di Maria program. She copyedits, writes, and speaks publicly for the Canadian Paraplegic Association. Poised to write a fashion-forecasting column Editor-in-Chief for IZ (designer Izzy Camilleri’s new adaptive clothing line), the robot-enthusiast, Jessica Allen University of Toronto graduate, and former all-star Terroni server incorporates her new interest in health and technology with past loves of fashion, the arts and all- Design things whimsical. Small

Assistant Editors Meagan Albrectson, Stephanie Palmer / This Mom, Wife, Restaurant Manager, and Once Tara Downs, in a Blue Moon Photographer, was introduced to her mother’s Pentax Rick Kang K1000 at the age of 16 and fell in love. The affair, in all its ambitious yet unrequited glory, continues. She completed her Honours Bachelor Copy Editors of Arts in Mass Communications & French Studies at York University in 1996 and Carolyn Pioro, in 2000 she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Christopher Allen Design. Stephanie currently lives in Toronto with her husband Larry and their two bunnies. She’s been with Terroni since 1998. Visit stephaniepalmerphotography.com Columnists Giovanna Alonzi, Max Stefanelli Jessica Brooks / When she isn’t in the kitchen baking up a storm, Admin. Managers Jessica is serving at Terroni and reading and tweeting about food. She Patti Shaw, received her formal journalism training at Humber College, from where The Karina Watson she holds a postgraduate degree. She’s worked as an assistant producer for iCast News at the United Nations in New York and as an online producer at The Berkshire Contributors Canadian Press in Toronto. But it’s the edible news that really gets her going. Follow “Collection” Jessica Brooks, her on Twitter @Brookscooks. Rick Kang, available Sandra Kang, exclusively Cosimo Pagliacolo, Stephanie Palmer, Rick and Sandra Kang / They say good taste runs in the family. Rick at Terroni Natalie Urquhart, and Sandra Kang (and their mother) would have to agree. Both siblings Jim Norton, worked at Terroni at one time or another. Sandra is a graphic designer Tony Lanz, living in New York City; Rick is a copywriter living in Toronto. Both Ashley Denton still proudly represent Scarboro.

Thanks to Steven Di Donato, Simon Gadke, Jim Norton / Jim doesn’t know that we’re writing this, but we can’t let Albion Macleod, his generosity go unmentioned. This photographer, whose work can be Anna Mammoliti, found in Canadian Living, Food & Drink, and Homemakers magazines Cosimo Mammoliti, (to name a few), can be found most evenings sitting with his lovely wife Vince Mammoliti, Tonya at the Terroni Queen Street bar. When we asked Jim to do the cover shoot for Ian McGrenaghan, our inaugural issue, he jumped at the chance—and so too did his assistant Tony Lanz Eva Michon, and food stylist Ashley Denton. We couldn’t have done it without them. Cassandra Mosher, Hanna Puley, Jill Riley, John Szabo, Printed in Canada T Magazine Contact Us Alex Tellez Headquarters For all inquiries, Printed on Rolland 720 Queem St. W. please email: Enviro 100 Paper Toronto M6J 1E8 [email protected] Contains FSC certified 100% post-consumer fibre Certified EcoLogo, Processed Chlorine Free and FSC Recycled THE TERRONI INDEX 4 5 DISH IT OUT

EAT YOUR HEART OUT by Meagan What Terroni Regulars Albrechtson compiled by Jessica Allen & Tara Downs are Obsessing about This Fall

Number of years Parma has been making Parmigiano Reggiano cheese : 800 Richard Baldwin, Current food obsession: I enjoy blue new dish is Agnolotti di Manzo con Managing cheese and red wine combinations. I Burro e Salvia. Kilograms of Parmigiano Reggiano used at Terroni every month : 96 (three wheels) Partner, Mathews suggest Cosimo’s father-in-law’s fabulous Devotee since: The Victoria Street Number of European countries finding German “mozzarella balls” that had turned inky blue :14 Dinsdale Law Montepulciano Merula (Salento Rosso) restaurant opened in the mid-1990s. The Firm with any light or medium blue cheese. service, food, and wine at all locations are Total number of mozzarella balls that had turned blue : 70,000 Terroni addiction: Pappardelle alla Iosa is always first rate. my favourite comfort food. My favourite Number of subsequent red ricotta cheese sightings : 1 Litres of milk produced by a lactating mother in one year : 330 Chris Kelos, Current food obsession: Not an salad. Senior Marketing obsession, but I bought a Misono Chef Devotee since: I started going to the Average number of caffè sold annually at Terroni restaurant :18,492 Manager, Coldwell knife from Knife on Queen Street. Queen Street location the first week it Number of lactating mothers it would take to provide Terroni with milk for one year : 12 Banker Case Realty Terroni addiction: I love the A Fagiolo opened. Yeah, hard core regulars. Average number of litres of wine an Italian consumes in a year : 26 Cyril Kendall, Current food obsession: I really enjoy the the Santo Spirito. PhD, Professor harvest and the fresh fruit and vegetables. Devotee since: Terroni Queen Street since Average number that a Canadian consumes : 15 w Nutritional Terroni addiction: or Gnocchetti it opened. I first noticed it from across Percentage of Americans who’d choose drinking over other vices if there was no health risk involved : 5 Sciences, alla Norma –love the Mezze Maniche. the street while sitting in the old Squeeze University of BRING IT BACK. In terms of food, what Club. Percentage who’d choose eating whatever they wanted : 43 Toronto got me hooked was the , especially Calories and grams of fat in a small cheese pizza from Pizza Pizza : 1080 / 50 Laura Serra, Social Current food obsession: Every Fall I make number one. I will also say this: I’ve been Calories and grams of fat in a Margherita pizza from Terroni : 626 / 22 Page Editor, The gnocchi with my Nonna and of , known to order two servings (don’t judge) Globe and Mail we make it by hand. One of the steps is because I just can’t get enough. A close Percentage of Italian population reported by the Organization for shredding the potato (my job) and it’s the second is the Santo Stefano pizza. Economic Co-operation and Development to be “obese” : 10 part I loathe the most—it’s back-breaking Devotee since: I’ve only ever eaten at the Percentage of Canadian population reported by the OECD to be “obese” : 18 and dangerous! I recently used a potato Queen Street location and only ever will. ricer instead and it worked like a charm. So It’s in my neighbourhood, some of the staff Number of Domino’s Pizza locations in : 0 now I use it for everything! feel like family, and it feels like a second Terroni addiction: I’m a simple gal—the home. Terroni has been part of my life for Average number of minutes Canadians spend eating daily : 60 Spaghetti ca’ Pummarola n’Goppa is my almost five years. And I love it. Average number of minutes Italians spend : 110 Simon Sutcliffe, Current food obsession: I have always I enjoy its unique flavor and texture and I Number of editions of the Italian cooking bible, The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well : 111 13 year-old son of loved corn grilled on the barbeque, which think this is their best dish! Average number of vacation days Canadians received in 2009 : 19 architects Brigitte has gotten me hooked on barbecuing with Devotee since: I have been coming to Shim & Howard charcoal and wood and the great smoky Terroni with my parents since I was a Average number of vacation days Italians received in the same year : 31 Sutcliffe flavor it adds to food. Our family cottage is newborn. I also enjoy La Bettola but there on an island and we have a classic Weber is no Spaghetti al Limone on the menu Number of days that the Uffizi in Florence was closed in 2009 : 55 black kettle BBQ. there. I am hopeful this may change Number of days that the Canada's Parliament was not in session for 2009 : 232 Terroni addiction: My all-time favorite sometime soon. dish at Terroni is Spaghetti al Limone. Days that Terroni on Queen Street was closed in 2009 : 3½ Erinn Langille, Making I’m a big fan of the Average number of minutes per day that Italian men spend in leisure more than Italian women : 80 Current food obsession: Terroni addiction: Manager, preserves. The big enamel pot, the jar Smendozzata pizza, though it’s hard to Average number of sexual partners Canadian men have in a lifetime versus Italian men : 23 vs. 19 Oddfellows lifters, and all those jars—perfect for pick. making use of the harvest of the garden Devotee since: A devoted customer of Average number of sexual partners Canadian women have in a lifetime versus Italian women : 10 vs. 7 and prolonging the season’s best through Queen street location for at least six Number of years since La Dolce Vita was released : 50 the winter. years. I love sitting at the bar in the late afternoon! La Dolce Vita’s ranking in Entertainment Weekly’s 100 Greatest Films of All Time : 6th Amy Cormier, Current food obsession: I finally just Tried and true classics. Average number of prosecco glasses rose at Terroni each year : 14,619 Director of invested in some good kitchen knives so Devotee since: The late 90s, back when Average number of glasses broken at Terroni in one year : 1,446 Publicity, Simon & I’ve been obsessed with improving my there were only a few tables and a bar Schuster Canada chopping skills. You should see me dice a along the back and you could watch your Year that Annie Lennox’s Walking on Broken Glass reached number one in Canada : 1992 carrot: I’m faster than the speed of light! food being made while heckling the poor The two dishes that staff who pretended they thought you were Year that Terroni opened on Queen West, Toronto : 1992 Terroni addiction: I adore are the Spaghetti ca’ Pummarola witty. I was 12. n’Goppa and the Margherita pizza. Someone’s in the Kitchen with 6 N: He sleeps so much at his parents’ house. rest is history. CARLO ROTA C: It’s like I’m a narcoleptic there. I just N: This sounds very…Greek. come up for food and then I eat and drink. C: After Orso was Noodles for me (Carlo’s I’ll lie down anywhere. father’s restaurant at Bay and Bloor, where Pangea is now), and that’s where a young, Secondo Piatto: Fegato alla incandescent Cosimo Mammoliti had his Veneziana con Verdure al Forno first restaurant job. C: I’m loving this liver. One of my fondest J: Did you get him the job? memories of working with my dad in the C: Yes—he was selling shoes at Yonge and restaurant business was seeing him in the Eglinton and I asked him if he’d rather afternoon cleaning things. That’s when he have a job working in the restaurant. He was doing his mis en place. That’s when said, “Really? Can I?” We put him straight his chef’s training would really come out. behind the bar where he became a very J: And this would be at one point in his popular fixture. The older women loved career? him. C: At Da Dante up on Lawrence. A whole Cos: Let me tell you, I was bartending at 17 liver would arrive on Monday—they’re and wasn’t drinking or partying so I would huge, you know. They come with a tiny work, work, work and all I was thinking little bit of fat on it that you trim off and about was saving up enough money to go there’s also a membrane that basically back to Italy. I wanted to meet girls. You tears away. And then you portion it out. At know what I’m saying? Da Dante’s we served it like little steaks. C: But he wanted to meet the right girl J: You ended up coming to Toronto from (looking at Elena). London, England because your dad was Cos: In those bartending days, we had a offered the job of Executive Chef at the clientele—advertising dudes—and they newly renovated King Eddie and that sort would come down with their gold Amex Jessica Allen Carlo: This is the first time here. Now, Carlo and Nazneen, you of grounded your family after years of cards and bring all their secretaries and tries to get a I’ve had spelt . both traveled extensively in your youths. moving around the world. Was that in the all their staff and at 5 o’clock they’d drink word in edgewise Jessica: Whose idea was it to Nazneen, did those travels include Italy? 80s? and drink. Those were the days when when newlywed have liver tonight? Nazneen: I’ve been all over Europe, and C: It was 1982. martinis were really made and these guys actors Carlo Rota Cosimo: Carlo actually I went to school in England, but I’d never Cos: Excuse me but do you remember the would drink Manhattans, Rusty Nails, and Nazneen suggested that we have it. been to Italy until I met Carlo. We went for liver we used to make at Orso? That was and Martinis not because it was retro but Contractor visit C: Quite frankly, I was going to suggest the first time together in December, 2007 fantastic. because that’s what you did. old friends Cosimo osso buco if we weren’t going to do the and since then we’ve been back five times. C: That was fantastic actually. Cosimo J: That sounds glorious. Mammoliti and liver, but that’s something you prepare the It was really special. And it was the first and I worked together at Orso. Now, it’s a Elena di Maria day before. time I met his parents too! Friar and Firkins or something. The evening’s fourth bottle of wine is for dinner. On Cos: I would have made that happen, if J: Where exactly do your parents live Carlo? J: Excuse me but I need to understand opened, a 1998 barolo. the menu? Spelt they ate meat, but they don’t eat meat. C: They’ve settled in Monferrato—it’s your restaurant timeline here Carlo. Cos: I mean, if you’re not going to drink risotto with porcini C: We don’t eat meat but we are going to between Casale and Alessandria. It’s a C: So do I! this kind of wine with your friends, who are mushrooms, be eating this liver and I’ll tell you why: lovely area. When I arrived in Toronto a J: So your family moves to Toronto and going to drink it with? followed by liver because I already ate a couple of lamb few days ago there was a chill in the air your dad is working at the King Eddie, J: You’d end up opening it up by yourself and onions, and chops at my wedding the other night and I and I really felt like getting on a plane and then you ended up working at Joe Allen’s one night, depressed, maybe watching plenty of sweets. ate the lasagna alla bolognese too. going to Piemonte because it’s so beautiful and that was your first restaurant job. And Glee. That sounds pretty good actually. And barolo—lots of J: (To Carlo and Nazneen) Are you two there right now: the food they have in the then you got sent to Manhattan to help C: One thing for sure is that it’s really barolo. splitting your time between Toronto and markets in October is just amazing. They open up an Orso there, and then you come difficult to come to a Mammoliti dinner L.A. now? have these massive porcini mushrooms— back to Toronto and you open up an Orso with a wine that’ll match anything that C: We are mostly in L.A. but I’m keeping just tables full of them. We bought one as down the street from Joe Allen’s, and is Cosimo has in his cellar. That’s why I my place in Toronto, I love it. Toronto is wide as Nazneen’s torso. You cut into them that when you met Cosimo? bring something completely different, like like home for me. and you just fry them like a steak. You Cos: Way before that! champagne. I remember once bringing a Cos: That champagne, are we going to can have it with some puré, which is just C: Yes, way before because he was living couple bottles of wine and when I came drink it sometime today? mashed potatoes with a little parmigiano across the street from the house my back a month later it was still sitting on the C: It’s not very cold but— in there, and that’s dinner. parents bought. counter where I’d left it. Cos: We’re drinking it. N: We ate that porcini mushroom for four Cos: And he saw me when I was wearing Cos: You know, times like this, this is what days. my shorty-shorts and— counts. Do you really want to spend that Primo Piatto: Risotto di Farro C: We have these lunches at my parents’ C: And it was love at first sight. time drinking bad wine? con Funghi Porcini al place in their kitchen with the persiane Cos: I remember he was cutting wood in J: I don’t normally drink barolos with Cos: This here, you’re never going to want open and my dad has this cooperative the backyard. He had no shirt on. dinner so this is quite nice. But I’m to have it with rice again. The texture is wine that he just goes and gets by the J: And you had your short-shorts on? supposed to be working here. Carlo, you’ve amazing. barrel load. It’s very light—you can drink Cos: I did have short shorts on. And he been going to Terroni since day one? Elena: Well wait, it’s not like you’re never two, three, four glasses and not feel it. had no top on. C: Literally, since day one. It’s been a big going to want to have risotto again. That’s what you end up doing at lunch. C: And it was November. part of my life. Cos: Okay, okay, but this is nice, I prefer It’s fantastic. You have a little antipasto, a J: So you saw him cutting wood? Cos: I think about 40 per cent of people it. And it’s healthier too. Can you taste the main course, a little dolce, a caffé, and then Cos: That wasn’t the first time, but it’s think he owns Terroni. truffle? it’s like, What should we do right now? How what stands out. C: And I never deny it. J: I’m supposed to be asking the questions about a little nap? C: He saw me cutting the wood and the TASTING PIEMONTE 8 9 TASTING PIEMONTE

Max Stefanelli, our Terroni L.A. wine-obsessed commander-in-chief, explains why Piemonte’s nebbiolo grape is king. But brace yourself Getting intimate with Italy’s because he does it in a way only Max can. most noble wine region Nebbiolo is the most important grape in Piemonte worried about not being able to choose the right one. by Jessica Allen and if you ask me, it’s also the most important grape And since there are already plenty of shitty barolos in in my life. Nebbiolo is the reason why I love my job. this market, we were just waiting for “the one.” I don’t think I could ever work in a restaurant that Finally, Sergio Germano from Ettore Germano doesn’t have this varietal on the list. For winos, it’s the winery came along. Sergio is the ideal barolo King of the Italian grapes. producer: he has the modern scientific understanding It took us several years before we decided to of winemaking that his forebears lacked while still bring in a barolo—which is made with 100 per cent respecting the traditions that they developed. nebbiolo—to Terroni. I guess we were kind of shy or

Barolo Serralunga Ettore Germano Docg 2005 Serralunga is one of the villages in the Barolo area. It’s filled with younger vines and grapes are traditionally fermented and aged in smaller cooperage. This barolo has all the classic nebbiolo ① #35 on The San On his way to deal with some unruly Gauls, right, they produce some of the world's elements: medium garnet color, distinctive aromas of red currants, strawberry, licorice, and violets. Pellegrino World’s 50 Julius Caesar made a stop in a small town most sought after wines. It’s good to pair with lamb and beef dishes and cheeses, of course. Best Restaurants is called La Morra in the northwest of Italy. That includes barolo and barbaresco, in Piemonte: Combal. He'd heard of the remarkable wines being both of which are made with 100 percent Barolo Prapo’ Ettore Germano Docg 2005 Zero, located in produced along the slopes of this hilltop nebbiolo grapes. Both of these wines The Prapo’ vineyard planted in 1967 is just beneath the winery facing south on the Cerretta hill. It Torino’s Museum of commune and knew it would be obscene to also require quite a bit of official time Contemporary Art, is has a gorgeous orange peel and marmalade aroma. It’s elegantly styled and has beautiful acidity. up seven spots from pass by without a taste. in the bottle before being ready to drink Round and feminine, complex and complete, this is a silky and graceful wine. last year’s list. Some two thousand years later, La (three and two years respectively). But Morra, along with neighbouring slopes don't worry – the Piemontese, who take Barolo Cerretta Ettore Germano Docg 2005 in what is now the region of Piemonte, is eating and drinking very seriously, grow This two-hectare vineyard that was planted in 1978 is also up on the Cerretta Hill with a south still producing fine wines– arguably some a variety of grapes ready to be bottled in exposure. But this wine is more masculine then the previous single vineyard Sergio makes, of the best in the world. Piemonte, which the interim. Take barbera, for example, meaning it’s bigger in body and is the perfect alternative to all the boring amarone you people translates to "at the foot of the mountain" the most widely populated variety in the drink up there in the Cold Land. It’s hot and elegant at the same time. Cheers. (the Alps), is a region so intricately tied to region. It produces bright red berry, low the bounty of the land – think arborio rice, tannin, high acid wines that are ready to When we choose a wine, we always try to look for one terroir means first, that 90 per cent of the ultimate white truffles, mushrooms and hazelnuts– drink almost immediately (although it can that fully represents the terroir, which means the area wine is created in the vineyard, and second, that the that their food and wine mimic each other stand up beautifully after several years in in which it’s made and the composition of the soil, role of the winemaker is to let the wine make itself. ② , that in their forestale, or forest-like qualities. the bottle). climate, winds, altitude, and distance from the sea. Marco Porello’s wines are for me a good example of glorious fortified wine Although it's the second largest And dolcetto – that "little sweet one" For our friend Neal Rosenthal (one of the most this. His are very good wines and fully represent the that goes into making region in Italy by area, only 30 percent of which ripens the earliest but still manages independent importers, and with respect to current area where they come from. a Manhattan and a Piemonte's land is suitable for growing to produce tannic, low acid wine with deep, wine culture trends, contrarian tasters, in the U.S.), Martini, among other grapes. But that small percentage of land, spicy fruit – is good to go right out of the things, was invented with its limestone-rich soil and high vat. Then there are the whites like cortese in 1786 in Torino, Piemonte, by Antonio altitudes, boasts more DOC/G regions, 57 or arneis, and lesser-known reds including Roero Arnais Camestri Marco Porello Docg 2008 Benedetto Carpano. at last count, than anywhere else in Italy. grignolino, bonarda, and freisa, all ready to Pale yellow with a green glint, aroma of grass, herbs, tangerine and wet stones. Its body is a Hot, dry summers and mild autumns, with placate eager palates while the barolos and medium one with good lively acidity. Perfect with branzino (sea bass), vongole (clams), or try it as fog that dreamily cascades up and around barbarescos mature in cellars. an aperitivo with semi-hard pecorino cheese. Beautiful, long and clean finish. those hills, make for ideal grape-growing This spring, Terroni L.A. manager Max conditions. This might explain why 90 per Stefanelli and Terroni owner Cosimo Nebbiolo d’Alba Marco Porello Doc 2007 cent of Piemonte's wine comes from this Mammoliti sniffed and swirled their way This nebbiolo, even in this accessible version, is still a nebbiolo. It might not be a king but for ③ The earliest pocket of land in the south, particularly through hundreds of wines at Vinitaly – the sure is a prince. It’s less tannic than the versions from the Barolo zone, has a medium body with incarnation of Nutella those areas in and around the Langhe hills annual five-day international wine expo in good acidity, along with strawberry and cocoa notes from aging in smaller wood. Try this with was invented in the including the slopes of La Morra, Barolo, Verona that beckons oenofiles from around some of our cold cuts: That is a perfect pairing. 1940s by Piemontese Alba, Asti and Barbaresco. the world to come sample Italy's vini. pastry maker Pietro These conditions are especially well The toils of their labour are 15 wines from Roero Torretta Marco Porello Docg 2007 Ferrero. He was trying suited for the region's most celebrated four different Piemontese producers that to stretch out his small If you are looking for a good nebbiolo but you don’t want to spend the money for the King or even supply of chocolate, grape: nebbiolo. This noble variety, Terroni is proud to offer exclusively here in for the Queen (barbaresco), then roero is for sure the way to go. The sandy soil of the Roero hills which was being which may have been named after that Ontario. Max has even profiled six of these yields an intense red wine that differs from most great Piemontese wines in that it quickly attains rationed during the Piemontese fog, or "nebbia", gets compared wines on the next page. good balance, while the others require aging. War, so he mixed it a great deal to Burgundy's pinot noir, and So please, do as Caesar did and stop Marco’s Roero has a thick, sophisticated scent, with fruits, underwood, and withered rose notes. up with locally grown with good reason. Both are late ripening, by to sample some of Piemonte's finest. hazelnuts. Mineral notes of spices and tobacco are added when it gets older. It has a warm and surrounding a little finicky, austere, even difficult to Caesar loved what he tried, and we suspect taste, with good tannins and balanced acidity. At the end some cocoa and licorice notes arise. approach. Yet when the conditions are just you will too. Lamb is the way to go but beef works. Same with the Smendozzata pizza. eating PIEMONTE 10 eating PIEMONTE

① The Arcigola association, the precurser to The Slow Food Movement founded by Carlo Petrini, was formed in the Langhe district of Piedmont in 1986. This past summer was the first in a long the typical northern classics—like bollito, time that we—my fiancé, his 12 year-old agnolotti, risotto and polenta. He also son, and myself—didn’t vacation in Italy. remembers more antiquated specialties Instead, tempted by adventures in the that were only available from the local wilderness of Cape Breton, not to mention Osteria—such as snails, frog’s legs or the appeal of the ocean, whales and moose, stewed rabbit. we opted to travel to Nova Scotia. We Vittorio has savoured many of these enjoyed many meals of boiled lobsters and dishes outside of Italy, but there’s one Giovanna Alonzi, Executive Chef snow crabs, fresh Digby scallops, oysters edible delight that’s always best at home: and fish cakes. However we soon grew a Giandujotto. These pyramid-shaped of the Osteria Ciceri e Tria, weary of having little access to good wine, Piemontese chocolate hazelnut gems used rediscovers one of Italy’s of always eating the same things, and of to be available exclusively in Italy. It’s only dining before 8 o’clock in the evening. the precise moment when he finally gets richest culinary regions, & Spending time in Halifax cheered up the sweet delight out of its wrapper and some of our gastronomic woes, and it tastes it that Vittorio can say, “Now I am serves up a lavish Piemontese- also helped to highlight Italy’s different home.” approach to food. I had been studying the He also has a phrase that he uses to inspired menu region of Piemonte so the comparison recognize other Piemontesi dispersed in came easily and it clearly offered a stark the world, “Du poivron bagnat nell’u” which contrast. For thousands of years food, wine, means “two peppers dipped in oil.” If they culture, history, and geography have been are true Piemontesi, Vittorio says they’re so intricately bound in this northern Italian able to repeat the intricate phrase right region that eating here has never been back to him. only about nourishment. The influence of This saying, besides revealing the the Savoia monarchy, royal exchanges with undeniable French influence on the the courts of Europe, its ties and proximity region’s dialect, also describes a popular to France, its strong rural population, eating past time: dipping a variety of and its migrants from the South of Italy foods in warm olive oil, or bagna cauda. have all contributed to the region’s origins lie in Medieval Provence where richness. And it’s a place where food salt mine workers dipped bread in olive continues to play an all important role: not oil infused with and anchovy. only was the Slow Food movement born With time, the Piemontese version of here, but there is also a wealth of annual bagna cauda developed into something food festivals celebrating everything from resembling the recipe I’ve included in garlic and chestnuts to white truffles and the menu that follows, which I had a blast agnolotti. Nova Scotia is simply too young creating, planning, and researching— and too geographically-challenged to offer particularly the history and evolution of any match. the dishes. Consider the geography of Piemonte: Piemonte’s high culture of food, cucina from the hills in the South of Monferrato ricca or monarca, started in the 1700s come fresh vegetables and white truffle; when professional cooks and pastry chefs from Vercelli’s damp terrain, rice and diversified their skills in order to lure, to dishes such as frogs in guazzetto; from compete with, and to impress the courts the North, polenta, chestnuts, game meat, of Europe. By the 1800s, it was the food of and fresh water fish; and from the Langhe, the cucina popolana, or common people, fabulous wines. that took centre stage in Piemonte with My old friend Vittorio Venturi was their less then noble cuts of meat and the born in Torino, the regional capital of vegetables and rice that they grew and Piemonte, and although he’s not lived harvested. This menu, which includes an there for 37 years, he visits often. Many of antipasto, a choice between two primi, a his memories involve food; for example, he secondo and a dolce, borrows from both remembers that there was never any olive of these traditions. That is, after all, what oil. Like most kitchens in the region at the makes La Cucina Piemontese. time, lard or butter served as the staple fat. The dishes that he recalls most are — Buon Appetito. ‡ All images & cover by Jim Norton RECIPES PIEMONTE 14 15 MAIN COURSE

Bagna Cauda Zuppa di Pane Piemontese (You will need four terra- (serves 4 to 6) cotta, or oven-proof bowls) Ingredients: Procedure: Ingredients: Procedure: Horse Meat 10 garlic cloves In a pan, gently warm the 2 bunches of kale Wash and slice the kale. stock and bake at 180 C 10 anchovy fillets (packed garlic cloves, anchovy fillets 70 g of butter Then, over medium heat (about 350 F) until the in salt) and extra virgin olive oil. 50 g of lardo (guanciale or melt the butter and lard. Fontina is golden brown Toronto’s leading chefs 400 ml of extra-virgin Clean and blanch the green pancetta will do) Add the kale, and a sprinkle (about 30 to 40 minutes.) olive oil beans and wash and cut the Parmigiano Reggiano of salt and pepper. Cover Finish with fresh truffle are on track but not everyone is game Vegetables for dipping: other vegetables. Pour the (grated) and steam until soft and shavings and serve hot. by Jessica Brooks 8 heirloom carrots warm oil with anchovy and 1 clove garlic tender. Add nutmeg, 8 celery stalks garlic into a pot, 1 pinch of nutmeg cinnamon and cloves. Toast 8 radishes and arrange with all the 1 pinch of cinnamon the rye bread. Lightly butter 4 Belgian endives vegetables surrounding it. 16 slices of rye bread the terracotta containers. 1 fennel bulb 200 g (about ½ lb) Fontina Alternate layers of bread, On a trip to Italy this past summer, I made order they proudly pulled out a piece of 2 red and 2 yellow bell 1 ½ L of beef broth sautéed kale, Parmigiano, a last minute decision to fly into Venice. I gorgeous ruby-red tenderloin. My eyes peppers Salt and pepper and Fontina, repeating at wasn’t going for a gondola ride, or to peek widened as I asked how to cook it. 200 g (about ½ lb) green Fresh truffle shavings (or least twice and finishing into the ballrooms of the Ducal Palace: I “It’s easy,” says Marcello in booming beans a drizzle of good quality with a layer of Fontina. Italian. “Just get the pan hot, take the meat, truffle oil) Cover the layers with the was determined to buy, cook, and prepare for myself a type of meat readily available sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and oil. and typical to the region, cavallo. That’s Then do the same on the other side, and Tajerin con Fegatini (Tagliolini in liver and Brasato di Cervo al Barolo (Braised deer in Barolo) ① Brigitte Bardot, right, the same thing cowboys ride – horse. cook!” Raising his fingers to his lips, he e Pomodoro tomato ragù) French actress and In Piazza San Marco—ten minutes from pinched them so they met in a triangle, Procedure: animal rights activist, my rented Venetian apartment—with kissing them before he threw his hand in Ingredients for the Pasta: Procedure for the pasta: Procedure for the ragù: Ingredients: Marinate the deer shanks has been protesting my back to the clock tower and my face the air. “Buonissimo.” 1 kg of Italian flour 00 Either in a stand up mixer Over medium heat melt 1 kg of deer shanks for one night in the wine against eating horse (all purpose may be or over a sturdy wooden the butter and oil. Add the 2 onions (finely chopped) with all of the herbs and meat for years. to the sea, I took a left and then crossed The two fillets set me back 12 euros. substituted- slightly more board, combine the eggs diced onion and rosemary. 1 carrot (finely chopped) spices, black pepper and three bridges before making another left. Feeling like a true Venetian, I ran back or less flour may be needed and flour and work into Add the chopped liver 2 celery stalks (finely NO SALT. The next day, Following the canal, I finally came to the to my apartment and followed Marcello’s depending on type of flour a soft dough. Knead and brown lightly. Add chopped) remove the deer shanks address that matched the one from my instructions to a tee. He was bang on. used). for at least 15 minutes. a sprinkling of salt and 60 g guanciale (or pancetta) and allow to air dry. Reduce Google search: Macelleria Baldan. In the When I returned to Toronto I noticed 7 egg yolks Allow the dough to rest pepper, and then deglaze bay leaf the marinating liquid to 4 whole eggs for 15 minutes at room with white wine. Add the pinch of thyme about ¾ of its volume. In window, beside pale pink cuts of meat and that horse meat was staring at me in the (Alternatively, use store- temperature, wrapped in tomatoes and gently bring white wine (just a splash) a pan, sauté the onions, otherworldly looking tubes of white tripe, a face: While this iron-rich delicacy is easy to bought fresh tagliolini or cellophane. Using a bit of to a boil. Adjust with salt celery and carrots with the sign scribbled in shaky longhand bore the find in certain regions of Italy, particularly fettuccine made with egg) flour and a rolling pin, roll and a pinch of sugar. Keep Marinating liquid: guanciale, bay leaf and word cavallo. Veneto and Puglia, I wasn’t expecting to the dough out to about a to a very gentle boil for half 1 ½ L of barolo (or another thyme until very soft and Marcello and Oscar, two lovely fellows find it on Toronto’s most exciting menus. Ingredients for the ragù: ½ cm thickness, making an hour. Meanwhile, boil sturdy red wine, like a lightly golden. Lightly flour with grins as wide as the Rialto Bridge, After all, in North America, eating horse 200 g fresh chicken liver a circular shape. Let the the pasta in salted water sangiovese or barbera) the deer shanks and pan fry (roughly chopped) dough sit out to dry for 10 until very al dente (about 50 g lard (guanciale or in butter, lard and oil in an welcomed me inside. After I placed my meat is still considered relatively taboo – a 500 g crushed plum to 15 minutes. Roll the three to four minutes.) pancetta will do) oven friendly baking pan or tomatoes (roughly, a 28 oz dough into itself from two Add the drained pasta to 1 onion enameled cast iron pot until can, drained) ends. Cut tajerin into ½ cm the ragù. Add most of the 1 sprig of thyme lightly browned. Deglaze 80 g butter wide noodles. Form little Parmigiano (reserving 1 bay leaf with white wine and add the white wine (just a splash) nests averaging in weight some for the end), and just 50 g butter reduced marinating liquid 2 tbsp of extra-virgin olive between 80-90 grams. a touch of butter. Serve with salt and pepper and sautéed vegetables. oil a sprinkle of Parmigiano pinch each of Cover and finish in the oven 1 yellow onion diced Reggiano on top. juniper, cloves, nutmeg, star for 2 ½ to 3 hrs. Serve the 1 sprig of fresh rosemary anise shanks hot and covered in 80 g grated braising liquid. ParmigianoReggiano salt and pepper

Torta alle Nocciole e (hazelnut and bitter Cioccolato chocolate cake)

Ingredients: Procedure: 400 g hazelnuts Preheat oven to 160 C (or Bake for 40 minutes, turn 400 g dark chocolate 320 F). Toast and then grind oven off and let the torte (chopped) the hazelnuts. Beat egg rest for 15 minutes inside. 300 g sugar whites until soft peaks form. 1 pinch of salt Melt the chocolate. Beat 10 eggs (separated) the butter, sugar and salt Zabayone: until very creamy. Add the 6 egg yolks melted chocolate. Add egg 6 tbsp sugar yolks one at a time, then 6 tbsp of Marsala add the ground hazelnuts and fold in the egg whites. Pour into a lined baking tin, 28 cm (11 in) in diameter. MAIN COURSE 16 MAIN COURSE

decidedly modern point of view. It wasn’t easy though: his first shipment ② 82% of respondents actually inspired by one of his server’s Our Stone Age ancestors had no came from Michigan before the U.S. ban. in a 2007 readers’ poll ④ Horse meat can trips to Italy. Seared and smothered with ideological issues with gorging on the Since then, La Palette has sourced horse in Time Out supported be bought in most hot sauce, it’s a dish he’s been trying to flesh of wild horses. Even after they were meat from Alberta, Ontario and most celebrity chef Gordon supermarkets chains take off the menu, but customer demand Ramsay’s decision to in Quebec. domesticated in about 400 B.C., most recently, Quebec. serve horse meat in won’t let him. societies still ate the handy helpers who Because of the U.S. ban, Canadian and his restaurants. But not all of the patrons get excited pulled their carts and carried them into Mexican slaughterhouses inevitably get about the profusion of horse meat on the battle. It wasn’t until the eighth century sent American horses, including retired menu. One, recalls Van Gameren, left the when Pope Gregory III issued a public race horses and unwanted pets, that must restaurant because of it. Her husband decree banning all consumption of horse endure long and inhumane transportation of occasion. Alonzi, who was born in the explained that his wife’s grandma was fed meat that it became taboo. environments across borders that have region of Lazio, has a very particular horse during the Holocaust. “I respect But when famine hit Europe most chose animal advocacy groups understandably equine memory: “I had it as a kid outside people have various opinions,” says Van eating horse over starvation. With the aghast. a soccer stadium in Bari with Coke. I was Gameren. fall of the aristocracy during the French North Americans, however, seem to be ③ In 2009 Canada with my dad, he had a beer and I had this He has his, too, which includes a Revolution, the working class championed more leery about the idea of eating horse, beat out Italy in horse ⑤ In a 2007 Time horse sandwich made with a really rare strong belief in trying to use as much of horse meat, as they could afford neither rather than the politics surrounding its meat production by magazine article, cutlet,” says Alonzi. “I didn’t think it was any animal as possible. It’s why he avoids beef nor pork. But it was Dominique consumption: “I would say that for every 2000 tons (18,000 Joel Stein writes, weird at all until much later.” She recreated only ordering tenderloins so as not to put vs. 16,000 tons) but Jean Larrey, inventor of the ambulance table of six, there is one person who is “In our country the that dish, offering it on the Osteria's menu a strain on one meat industry. He’s even beating them both was thought of eating and Napoleon’s surgeon-in-chief, who absolutely mortified that we serve horse,” Mexico with 78,000 horse is so taboo as a secondo, by sandwiching the horse attempted to buy a whole horse, but with really pushed the French to get off their says Amlani, “and four people that are tons. that the American meat between and calling it little luck. high horse and eat it instead: Larrey was curious to try it, and one person who is Horse Slaughter panino con fettina di cavallo. He’s also trying to do something about amazed to see the quick recovery rates of thrilled that we serve it. You do get the full Prevention Act was Alonzi didn’t stop there. She’s paired the lack of a dedicated breeding program the wounded soldiers who consumed it. spectrum.” just reintroduced in carpaccio, thin slices of raw horse for horses like those that exist for pigs That’s not surprising, considering And while the restaurateur says he Congress--although tenderloin, with figs and pine nuts. and cattle. Van Gameren, along with there are even fewer horse meat is leaner than beef, and higher understands vegetarianism and agrees horses eaten than And she’s marinated horse tartar with other Toronto chefs, has written letters to in protein, iron, and glycogen, which in with not eating meat at every meal, he flags burned. Despite celery, capers and sometimes juniper or the Canadian government encouraging simplest terms provides humans with questions where to draw the line: “How our reputation, it turns anchovies, topping it with shavings of them to better organize and regulate long-term energy. So why then are athletes can we eat cows and pigs but turn our out we are actually a pecorino or cubed porcini mushrooms. the industry. And he’s also approached and foodies alike not scrambling to get this noses up at eating horse?” And besides, nation that thinks like “It’s interesting because it’s so sweet,” farmers asking them to raise horses solely superstar meat? Apart from its tumultuous he says, “Your average cow or your average a 14-year-old girl.” says Alonzi. “You can either counter it to supply his restaurant – albeit with little history, it’s got a few more strikes against pig, well, what kind of petroleum bi- with something spicy, or accent it with success. “Most of the farmers have kids,” it. For starters, it’s a cloven animal, which product does it contain? They are corn-fed something sweet.” he says. “They use horses for work and Judaism denounces. And horses need vast and pumped through with hormones.” For the most part, customers love it don’t necessarily see them as something pastures in order to graze, which makes This year Amlani opened a second La too, although Alonzi recalls one woman to eat.” them environmentally inefficient to raise Palette on Queen Street West, hanging bursting into tears and leaving the Neither does Globe and Mail food critic for human consumption. But strike three? a lucky horseshoe above the door and restaurant when she learned that horse was Joanne Kates: In her April, 2009 review It’s mainly in our heads. adding more horse to the menu. While on the Osteria’s menu. “She had grown up of the Black Hoof she admitted to eating The rise of cowboy culture in North both locations serve horse tenderloin riding horses as a child,” shrugs Alonzi. “other four-legged animals, so it’s not a America catapulted the horse to iconic marinated in hay and served with oats, If you need further convincing that moral issue, but thoughts of Flicka and status: they became a romantic symbol carrots and apples (alluding to what horses horse meat is de rigueur in this city, have National Velvet make the idea of raw horse of heroism and the transportation of eat on the farm), only the new Queen a look at the Black Hoof’s menu. Chef impossible.” choice for handsome men in spurs. Street locale offers Quack and Track, a and co-owner Grant Van Gameren has She couldn’t bare to eat horse this Their star turn in books and movies like four-ounce portion of horse tenderloin and ⑥ In 2006, France been hard at work since 2009 pushing the September either, when she reviewed La Black Beauty and The Horse Whisperer, one leg of duck confit. consumed 25,380 gastronomic envelope in his bid to get the Palette 2. If Kates has trouble consuming made it naturally difficult for North While Toronto’s food culture is only metric tons of horse city to eat esoteric meats. Judging from the cavallo, a woman who’d be happy to Americans to sink their teeth into some now growing into its britches, outside meat. The U.S. lineups, it’s paying off. “I think people have indulge in cow’s tongue or slurp bone consumed none. of their most beloved characters. When North America horse meat is neither a certain infatuation with eating horse or marrow, then there’s not much hope for in 2007, the United States shut down all shocking nor a recent development. Marco eating an exotic meat. It’s not something the masses. Indeed, just this September, horse meat slaughterhouses deeming it Celio, a manager at the Osteria Ciceri e that you find on everyday menus. When animal advocacy groups staged protests illegal to slaughter horse meat for human Tria who came to Canada three years ago, they come into the Hoof, or La Palette, they across Canada in front of restaurants with consumption, the taboo seemed cemented. remembers eating horse meat regularly want to experience new things.” horse meat on their menu in support of As history proves, however, prohibition growing up in Padova, a city in Veneto. Van Gameren has gained a reputation a private member’s bill that has recently and curiosity go hand in hand. Shamez Today, however, Padovians eat horse only for experimenting with less popular horse been put forward that would make it illegal Amlani, owner of La Palette, has seen three or four times a year. But when it’s parts, like the heart and tongue which are in this country to transport and kill horses Toronto’s equine curiosity grow from served, “everyone gets really excited,” served with fried frites that are cooked in, for human consumption. the starting gate: He claims to be the says Celio. “It’s not like chicken. When you guessed it, horse fat, which, he insists, Despite the growing revolt—or first to serve horse meat in the city at his they’re having horse, it means it’s a special “makes the most amazing frites”. because of it—there is no better time to Kensington Market eatery about ten years occasion.” There’s also horse tartare and even initiate yourself into the mysterious cult of ago. “We cracked that market open,” says Giovanna Alonzi, executive chef at the horse salami, but perhaps most popular is eating cavallo. For those who can’t get past Amlani. Osteria, is trying to recreate this sense his straight up Horse Sammy, which was the taboo though, there’s always tofu. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH 18 But pull it off he did and on budget But the food, prosecco, talk of Italy, to boot. And although the Queen and his family, have only momentarily Street Terroni location has seen many distracted Larry from his fire inspection renovations since (all overseen by Larry), anxiety. Momentarily. the heart and soul of what he built for “F—king fire inspector.” Larry has reason those two young guys remains. to be weary: three years ago when he was Getting Several years later when Cosimo and overseeing the construction of Terroni’s Paolo walked Larry through a Chinese 300 seat Adelaide location, he encountered to know schnitzel house on the other side of town several unexpected hurdles before opening that had potential to be the location for day. Larry “Six to nine months Terroni number two, he was asked the That’s when Patti Shaw, a devoted D’Andrea of hard work, same question, “Larry, can you make it Terroni employee, first met him: “I problem solving work?” remember walking into Adelaide and it by Stephanie Palmer and following plans And once again, he did. By the end of was in shambles. I thought, What have and architectural the project Larry had grown so close to the I gotten myself into? But then I found drawings to a partners that they asked him to help them Larry downstairs in his makeshift office tee boils down run Terroni on Victoria Street. with clip boards on the wall, and neat to four weeks of “I just really believed in Cosimo right piles of paper. It was like a lighthouse scratching my from the start,” he explains. “I liked the in the middle of a storm, and I knew that nuts waiting for an idea of bringing the flavours and scents of everything would be OK.” inspection to pass.” Italy to Toronto, the ones I remembered Our spaghetti arrives, perfectly cooked, from summers spent with my grandparents and it's gobbled up. Larry’s continues: in the village where my mom grew up, and “I’ve come to realize that these inspections It’s 9 pm on the dot and still bright have the spaghetti al . How ③ With his passion for her mom grew up, and so on. I felt that are out of my control and I always have to outside as we approach the corner of about you Steph?” duck hunting and fly would be a fun challenge, working day to be prepared to expect the unexpected,” he Victoria and Richmond. It’s a perfect I let the bartender know that I’ll have the fishing, Larry has a bit day with these guys, helping them realize says thoughtfully. Toronto summer’s eve and we’ve been same and I ask for two glasses of prosecco of an inner Elmer Fudd. their dream.” That’s the thing about Larry: one minute Although he might be invited to the opening of Terroni’s latest which appear in a matter of seconds. too busy to indulge in As Larry polishes off the last of his he’s talking with bravado about gorgeous project, La Bettola. By my side is Larry “Salute—to a fantastic job!” I whisper. outdoor adventures these prosecco he continues, “Cosimo, Vince women and the next he’s eloquently D’Andrea, General Manager of Terroni “Uh, uh,” he says waving his index finger ① While Larry’s classic days, he’s made some (Cosimo’s younger brother who co-runs philosophizing about life. on Adelaide and the man responsible for in a gesture usually reserved to scold a good looks are a gift from great memories in remote the business) and I take the time to sit Just when I think I can’t eat another all Terroni construction and renovation four year old. “It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady his Friulian father, his regions of northern and have lunch together at Terroni nearly bite, two panne cotte with caramelized projects. sings.” fastidious stomach comes Ontario, including guiding every day. We eat, drink and laugh which peaches are placed in front of us. “Six to from his 100% Ciociara the delightful Gianna After months of planning, scheduling Back in 1992, when Larry did his first mother. She was born and Nannini—an Italian rock at times makes us feel like we’re home in nine months of hard work, problem solving and building-to-code headaches, Larry is renovation job for a couple of young raised in a small mountain icon—on a fly-in trip. She Italy, if even for a minute. In a nut shell and following plans and architectural going to finally be able to sit back, relax Italian guys who were opening a grocery village nestled in the Val was in town for a concert that’s what Terroni has always been about: drawings to a tee boils down to four weeks and enjoy the fruits of his labour…or will store, he would have celebrated after the di Comino region of Lazio, and walked into Terroni for creating that experience for all of our of scratching my nuts waiting for an he? Beneath that mane of salt and pepper last light bulb had been screwed in. But where Larry himself now a bite to eat when she met guests.” inspection to pass.” hair and behind his sparkling blue eyes after 18 years and a boat load of Terroni spends family summer Larry. They hit it off and It’s during these lunches that Cosimo That’s another thing about Larry: he’s holidays in the house his she asked him to take her there brews a storm of epic proportions. renovations later, he’s learned not to jump nonno built to make olive and a few others up north realizes how lucky he is to have Larry on got a way with words. He is stewing about the yet-to-be-passed the gun. oil in. where they spent several board: “I give him the space and he gives It’s late and he needs to get home to fire inspection. Despite the flood of Larry takes a deep breath, content in the days fishing, camping, and it back to me exactly with the vision I had sleep because he’ll be back at La Bettola well-intended congratulations and warm fact that his new ‘best friend’, chef Luca singing by the fire. imagined. It gives me peace of mind,” he early in the morning to wait for the fire regards, Larry knows that it’s not a done Stracquadanio, will soon be preparing our says, “because you ask Larry once and inspector. Besides, he never likes to be deal until the inspector gives the official food. And then, a bit out of character, he things are taken care of. You never need to the last one at the party, maybe because seal of approval. begins to tell the story of how he joined ask him again. He’s the most trustworthy, he’s a behind-the-scenes sort of guy who “They yield all the power. We are Cosimo and his team of Italian culinary loyal friend a guy could ask for. For me, it’s likes that nobody really knows who he completely at their mercy,” Larry says, dream weavers. like having one more brother working with is. We do know a little something though: slightly exasperated. We scope out a place “Cosimo and I used to run in the same ② Larry had been working ④ “Larry is constantly me.” that Larry’s world is like an Italian opera. to sit but there’s not an empty spot in sight. circle of friends, although he was a bit in the construction putting out fires—big Our food arrives, and within 60 seconds He physically builds stages where life’s With a room this spectacular that’s buzzing younger than me, so I knew him—but we business for over 20 and small. Whether Larry’s devoured the entire dish. He dramas unfold. with chatter and clinking with glasses, no didn’t exactly hang out. We had a mutual years and had built over at Adelaide or on a relaxes back in his chair. “Italians have it We’re outside La Bettola now. It’s a hundred homes before construction site, he is the one seems very interested in giving up friend who I was very close with—and he met Cosimo in 1992. man that gets things done, all figured out: good food, good wine and funny in a way: this place might not be their seat anytime soon. whose family owned the building at 720 Starting off as a carpenter fixes problems and clears beautiful women. There’s nothing more to the actual spot where I first met Larry 12 We luckily get ourselves two coveted Queen Street West—where Cosimo and in his early twenties, he the path for everyone else life.” years ago—but it’s close. I walked into the stools at the bar—and I mean luckily, Paolo decided to open their store. They worked his way up to the to perform their jobs more “It’s all about simple things in Larry’s old Terroni on 106 Victoria Street, which is because most of the friends, family and asked me to come take a look at the space, position of site foreman easily. He is our fearless life,” says Cosimo. “A bottle of wine, a now the Osteria, looking for a job. Those regulars who fill this room also know that which was an art gallery and framing shop, and quickly progressed leader. We all love him.” friend to drink it with and he’s a happy were the days when you could still smoke to Project Manager. He Patti Shaw Larry’s stomach keeps a very particular with the hope that I could renovate on a even ran his own company man.” in restaurants. There was Larry, handsome schedule. Disrupt it and the normally well- waiter’s budget of $7,000.” for several years, building A devoted husband and father of two and composed, sitting at the bar with an mannered, soft-spoken 52 year-old (who ‘So Larry, do you think we can do it on custom homes with young boys, Larry always manages to be and a cigarette. doesn’t look a day over 40) might have our budget?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll make many prominent Toronto home every night early enough to make I got the job. And I married the man. an episode. After quickly glancing at the it work.’ Only I was really thinking, How architects. dinner for the whole family. “I can’t wait menu, Larry places his order. “I’ll start with the hell am I going to pull this off for these to get home to see my kids’ faces,” he says the bis di carpaccio di pesce and then I’ll guys?” with a big smile. PAST TENSE: Where we’ve been 20 21 FUTURE TENSE: Where we’re going

} July 13: La Bettola, our new ‘hole in the × November 17 : Catch Terroni Queen wall’ by Terroni, opens next to the Osteria Street’s Nathan Jesionka and the rest of on Victoria Street. The Commandeers play live at the The Dakota Tavern (249 Ossington Ave.) ~ September 4: John Szabo led our staff through a Prevostini wine tasting. On × November 26 : Did you miss The hand to help out the Master Sommelier was Commandeers? Don't worry because they the winemaker himself, Mamete Prevostini. have another show at the Wrong Bar (1279 Grown in ’s Valtellina region, Queen St. W.) his wines are all memorable, particularly his “Albareda” Sforzato di Valtellina » Late November : Our annual shipment D.O.C.G.—a long-time staff favourite. of Venchi chocolates arrive just in time for the holidays. » September 25: In collaboration with Regione Puglia, we hosted a “Wines of ~ Late November : Start your Puglia” dinner at the Osteria for some shopping before the rush! Ours are of the city’s top gastronomes, including artisanally-made by Pasticceria Filippi, a CityBites editor, Dick Snyder, writer bakery located just North-East of Verona Karen von Hahn, and food writer Lucy in Veneto. Waverman. } November 26 : SuperModel Mami— a multi- × September 29: Surprise, surprise— talented rapper/song-writer/model from the another wine tasting, this time with Marco Dominican Republic who also happens to Caprai—one of Italy’s top producers of work at Terroni Adelaide—releases her mixed Sagrantino di Montefalco. Thanks to Stem tape, Rise of the Mami. It’s gonna be a Hip Wine Group for making it happen. Hop/Pop/Latin tour de force!

±Terroni Price Street clockwise from top left: Panattone, Counter clockwise from top : the Medallions, Nathan Cumbrae's Stephen Alexander, opening soon! Bar Jesionka of the Commandeers, Ciro Biondi, CRFA cooking event, Centrale opening SuperModel Marni, Lowest of the Made in Carcere bags, John Szabo December/January! Low, Venchi chocolate & Maente Prevosini, Wines of Puglia dinner, La Bettola sign, exterior Bettola = November 27 : Don’t miss Terroni Balmoral manager Daniel Brooks and * March: Cumbrae owner and butcher Terroni Adelaide bartender Mick Jackson’s extraordinaire, Stephen Alexander, shows band, Medallions, play a live show at The senior Terroni staff how to butcher a pig, a Shop, downstairs at Parts & Labour (1566 lamb and a cow. Queen Street West.)

+ March 7: Our very own Giovanna Alonzi, * November 28 : While you’re at it, catch assisted by her very own Fabio Moro, take the above-mentioned boys at one of their home top prize at CRFA’s Cooking with the five DJ nights at The Painted Lady (218 Stars held at the Energy Centre. Ossington Ave) for Monthly Meds: A Dance Party Hosted by Medallions. They = May 14: We had dinner with acclaimed take place on the last Sunday of every wine producer, Ciro Biondi. Not only month from November to March. did we indulge in his fabulous Sicilian wines, but we also ate a spectacular meal ‡ December 3-4 : One of Terroni Queen prepared by Terroni Adelaide’s Boris Street’s most beloved servers, Jill Buttner. And making the evening just Riley happens to be partnered up with about perfect was filmmaker Melissa musician and artist Ron Hawkins, who’ll Dozios, who screened her short film that be performing with his old band, Lowest documents some of our crew visiting of the Low, at Lee’s Palace to celebrate Biondi’s vineyard. the 20th anniversary of their first record, Shakespeare My Butt. _ July: Our “Made in Carcere” bags and bandanas—all sewn a women’s prison with … February : Go see Terroni Queen Street recycled fabrics, giving both the people server Nika Mistruzzi in the Play, Family that make them and the material a second Story, a Birdtown & Swanville Production, chance—arrive. by Aurora Stewart de Peña.

SAPEVI CHE by Rick & Sandra Kang 22 23 THE MAILBAG

Three Terroni that’s Authentic true balsamic vinegar traditional cOuld be sOld by the artisan balsamic affiliates answer drOp fOr the same vinegar - the price as gOld? Only kind that may legally be our readers described as AcetO BalsamicO pressing questions TradiziOnale. DID then there’s the stuff we’re by Natalie Urquhart YOU familiar with - COmmercial grade KNOW? A comic by rick & sandra Kang balsamic vinegars Illustrations prOduced On an industrial scale. by Cosimo Pagliacolo

It alsO takes patience. tO prOperly age Balsamic vinegar, it’s passed frOm smaller barrel tO smaller barrel Of chestnut tO Oak tO ash tO mulberry Over the cOurse Of 30 tO 40 years.

I like long walks on the beach and I like Hot Hostess: I can't eat seafood because I have a deathly nut cheese on my seafood pasta. What gives? allergy. Sorry. It takes Over 100 kg Of grape must tO prOduce just One tO twO liters Of traditiOnal balsamic vinegar. Devastated by the Seashore, Bottle of Barolo: Seafood, like myself, has many delicate and Alan, Queens Quay complex flavours that would be overpowered by the strong flavour of parmigiano. I would be pained to learn I had been

Credit NYC tastemakers Dean & SO DeLuca called the New YOrk Times. served in a red plastic beer cup and I can only imagine that DeLuca with launching the balsamic vinegar craze... the fresh seafood at Terroni would suffer from similar anxieties should it be buried under a bed of grated cheese. I gOt balsamic vinegar, it’s COnsidered One Of the finest In the wOrld, and Italian Mama: Who gave you this idea that you can put the it’s sweet -YOu dOn’t need parmigiano on the Canna a Mare?! Was it the rap music? It's so Oil with it. good the way I make it! Don't you put the cheese on there. Now go cut your hair.

sOOn after An article titled “La DOlce Vinegar” appeared in the Times’ Lifestyle sectiOn, describing its flavOur as “...a mellOw harmOny Of sweet and sOur...” I just LOVE Yellowtail Shiraz! But I couldn't Hot Hostess: I'm 18 so I just drink vodka and soda. But next year find it on your list. Why is that? Do you have I'm totally getting into peanut greejoe. My sister, who's 20, said When GiOrgiO DeLuca impOrted it in 1978, he’d wanted five cases. He NEWSPAPER ARTICLE something against a wine with a name you it's like a Crantini, but different. was made tO Order 150. Partner can actually pronounce? jOel dean wasn’t impressed. Barolo: I'm just going to need a minute here. I am sorry: it is not Sincerely, dignified to see a Barolo weep. It just makes me so sad to think Babs Szabo, Liberty Village you would not want to try me. I am so delicious, or you could sip

Dean & DeLuca prOmptly sOld their cases and balsamic vinegar’s pOpularity sOared. on one of my fellow Italian comrades. Your server will know all about me, and the others too, but mostly me. So feel free to ask as many questions as you want, about me, and them, I guess.

SO if the real In a strange twist, its stuff is next-tO- Italian Mama: The only good wine come from Italy. Drink the pOpularity here has result- impOssible tO ed in the COnstructiOn Of find here, good wine! Eat the good food! Be Italian! mOre factOries in the what’s the stuff mOtherland tO keep up stOcking Our with the demand. grOcery shelves? It’s usually red wine vinegar with sOme additiOnal Why don't you serve Diet Coke? I need : I don't trust Diet Coke. It says diet, but I feel like it fOr awhile, sugar and Hot Hostess chefs Of cOlOuring, Or my Diet Coke. Do you know how many doesn't really mean it. every grape must that discipline hasn’t been aged calories there are in a regular Coke? Like a drizzled accOrding tO the thousand. I can only drink diet. By the way, Barolo: Never heard of this "diet" word. All I know is that I am it On rules. nearly but that’s Okay - my fried calamari and Puzza were fabulous 100% nebbiolo and I would not want something called aspartame everything. mOst Of us can’t affOrd tO wait last night. to be put into me. When the original is so good why not enjoy it a minimum Of simply for what it is? 12 years fOr Our salad Best, dressing... Deb Mascarpone, Woodbridge, ON Italian Mama: Why you need to be on a diet? You are too skinny! You must eat! Mangia, mangia! I make you a sandwich.