Italian food – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Poke by Sushi Shop, Eataly Ristorante, Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Published on July 5, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Salmon & Tuna poke bowl from Poke by Sushi Shop

The salmon & sushi poke bowl (“Salmon, tuna, lettuce, red cabbage, wakame, radish, orange masago, ponzu, teriyaki and poke sauces, spicy light mayo, nori”) at Poke by Sushi Shop is solid. Did anything about it blow me away? Not particularly (I also found the presence of a whole bunch of iceberg lettuce to be a bit off-putting). But it featured some tasty toppings and sauces and a generous amount of fresh salmon and tuna. For something from a food court (particularly the Sherway Gardens food court, which kinda sucks), it’s a nice option.

Ragu pasta from Eataly Ristorante in Sherway Gardens

I haven’t been particularly crazy about anything I’ve had from the Eataly location in Sherway Gardens thus far, and yeah, that’s still the case. I got a ragu pasta (which isn’t on the menu on their website, so I’m not sure what it was called or what was in it — very helpful, I know), and it was fine. It had some surprisingly big chunks of pork, which were fork-tender and easily the highlight. Otherwise it was just kinda one-note salty. Certainly not unpleasant to eat, but I think anyone with even a moderate level of skill in the kitchen could whip up a tastier pasta dish with stuff in their pantry.

Black Sesame gelato from Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Mizzica is generally regarded as serving the best gelato in the city. They’ve also started to expand, with a second location around Yonge and Eglinton. So this is about the time you might expect the quality to start going downhill. Happily, that doesn’t seem to be the case — at least not yet. The black sesame gelato is just as rich and creamy as everything else I’ve had here, and has a very satsifying roasty sesame flavour. It kinda reminded me of a gelato version of Sesame Snaps, but with no crunchiness. I find most black sesame ice cream doesn’t quite have as much sesame flavour as I’d like, but this was pretty fantastic.

Tasty Cold Cut Sandwiches at Bevi Birra

Published on May 12, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3072 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://bevi-birra.com/

Though Bevi Birra seems like yet another place serving Italian cold cut sandwiches because that’s the trend, they’ve actually been around since 2020. Props to them for doing this purely because that’s what they want to serve — not to jump on a bandwagon.

And you know what? That level of passion makes a difference. The sandwiches here are very, very good.

I tried a couple. First up: the Anna Rosaria (“Prosciutto, provolone, rosemary aioli, olive tapenade, arugula”).

They make their sourdough bread in-house, and it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s got a great crispy (but not overly crunchy) exterior, a chewy interior, and a nice sourdough flavour. I could have just eaten the bread alone and walked away satisfied.

But everything else here was thoroughly tasty as well, with a nice hit of saltiness from the cold cuts and the tapenade, a creaminess from the aioli, and with the pepperiness of the arugula balancing it all out.

I also tried the Giovanna (“Hot sopressata, garlic ricotta, pepperoncino, honey, arugula.”

Both sandwiches were very good, but this one might have been my favourite. In particular, the salty/sweet combo from the sopressata and the honey is kinda irresistible, and the sandwich’s spicy kick is very satisfying. It’s seriously delicious.

Amazing Pizza at Beast Pizza

Published on April 18, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 96 Tecumseth Street, Toronto
Website: https://thebeastrestaurant.com/

I was a big fan of Beast way back in the day — it was one of my earliest reviews on this blog, and I actually wrote about the Beastwich on Serious Eats (alas, that post is long gone) — so it’s weird it took me this long to check out Beast Pizza.

I’m happy to say that Beast has not lost a step over the years. I’m honestly a bit shocked that it doesn’t come up more often when the best pizza in the city is being discussed (though I guess the fact that they’re only open for dinner and don’t do slices probably doesn’t help).

I started with the smoked trout pate: “Applewood smoked Ontario trout pate topped w/ pickled chilies and chives. Served w/ our house-made pizza dough bread.” This was pretty fantastic — it’s rich and creamy with a mild smokiness, and a nice flavour from the trout. The fresh bread that comes on the side is great. It’s a stellar appetizer.

But of course, the pizza is the reason to come here.

I went with the meatball: “red sauce, mozzarella, meatballs, fennel jam, and arugula.”

Every element here is just right; the meatballs are tender and packed with flavour, the fennel jam adds some nice pops of sweetness that doesn’t overwhelm, and the pepperiness of the arugula rounds things out.

But as good as all the flavours are here, it’s the crust that makes this a best-in-the-city contender. The contrast between the seriously crispy exterior and fluffy interior is the stuff dreams are made of. It also has a good amount of flavour, and enough chewiness to keep things interesting. It’s so good.

A Tasty Slice at Big Trouble Pizza

Published on April 14, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 191 Geary Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://bigtroublepizza.com/

I tried the very odd Butter Jam Jam pizza at Big Trouble years ago, when they were still on Spadina, and liked it quite a bit. They’ve since moved to Geary (which has become a bit of a food hotspot), and now serve burgers as well as pizza.

I stuck with the pizza, and tried a slice of the King Fungi: “Cremini Mushrooms, Beech Mushrooms, Mozzarella, Sauteed Onions, Chives, Truffle Oil and Tangy Chilli Jelly.”

I mostly got this after being intrigued by the sight of several bright red cubes of chilli jelly on the pizza, and yeah, that stuff works. It’s a very savoury pizza, with a nice umami punch from the two types of mushrooms, and the sweet and spicy jelly does a fantastic job of balancing that out.

I was a bit worried about the presence of truffle oil, which I don’t particularly care for, but it wasn’t applied too heavily, and was only mildly offensive (rather than ruining the pizza outright, which it would have if they had used too much of it).

And the crust was great — it’s thicker and breadier than the New York style you might be expecting, with an almost focaccia-like heft and nice external crispiness that holds up nicely to the heavily-topped pizza.

Tasty Slices at Revolver Pizza

Published on February 23, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 388 Royal York Road, Etobicoke
Website: https://revolverpizza.com/

Revolver Pizza is clearly doing quite well. They now have four locations, and when I visited on a weekday afternoon, the place was packed.

And yeah, I get it. I got the margherita (“sauce, fresh mozzarella, fior di latte, and basil”), and it was a solid slice of pizza.

I wish the slice had been a bit crispier on the bottom (or crispy at all — it had a softer texture, closer to Neapolitan than New York style), but otherwise, I quite enjoyed this.

I think the prodigious amount of cheese might have something to do with the crust’s lack of texture — I’m certainly not going to say no to a lot of cheese on a pizza, but there probably could have been a bit less here.

Still, the overall quality is pretty high, including a good amount of flavour and a nice chewiness on the crust. I don’t know if it’s up there with the best in the city, but it’s a top-shelf slice of pizza, that’s for sure (bonus: it costs about five bucks for a pretty sizable slice).