Italian – Page 6 – Michael Eats

A Great Veal Sandwich at Cosimo’s Cheese and Deli

Published on April 4, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1051 Dundas Street West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/mammaangelinacooks/

Cosimo’s Cheese and Deli is a delightfully old school Italian deli in Mississauga; it’s been around for over thirty years, and it looks like not much has changed since they opened (hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it).

It’s a full deli with the usual assortment of cold cuts, cheese, and Italian pantry items, but it also serves hot sandwiches like veal and meatball.

I went with the veal, which — assuming you ask for everything — comes topped with a mix of peppers, onions, and eggplant, along with a fiery pepper paste.

It came up to $13 even (and it’s a cash-only establishment, so come prepared) and is a seriously hefty sandwich, so it’s a great deal. I was planning on eating half and then saving the rest for later, which obviously did not happen. I mean, come on. I’m sure there are people out there who have the self-control to stop eating a delicious veal sandwich halfway through, but I am not one of those people.

It’s a great sandwich. The veal is super tender, and the sauce it comes with is richly flavourful, with a nice garlicky punch that doesn’t overwhelm. My only real complaint is that this is a hot table place, which means that the veal has been sitting in the sauce. On one hand, that results in a piece of veal that’s really soaked up that tasty tomato sauce; on the other hand, you lose the crispy texture of the fried veal, which is missed.

The sandwich winds up being kind of one-note soft; the veal is incredibly tender, the bread is fluffy with no exterior crustiness, and the toppings are all silky, resulting in basically one texture throughout. But it’s so delicious that is is a very minor complaint.

Delicious Handmade Pasta at Pasta Forever

Published on March 21, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1693 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://pastaforever.ca/

Pasta Forever is a tiny little shop on Dundas that mostly specializes in freshly made pasta you can cook at home, along with various Italian pantry items. They also have a rotating menu of pasta dishes, sandwiches and salads you can take to go.

On this particular visit, there was only one pasta dish on the menu: “beet + ricotta mezzaluna with poppyseed butter, tarragon, + mint.”

I quite enjoyed it. In a lot of ways, it tasted like something you might be served at a nice restaurant; the beet and ricotta mixture is creamy and zippy, the herbs and poppyseed add a nice dose of flavour, the walnuts give it some textural contrast, and the whole thing is rich without feeling overly heavy.

A couple of things held it back from greatness, however. Most pressingly, the pasta was undercooked; the middle part was perfect, but the crimped edges were pretty tough. That’s not to mention the sauce, which didn’t really cling to the pasta the way you’d like, instead pooling at the bottom of the dish. The whole thing was tasty enough that it was easy to overlook these nitpicks, but it was still a bit of a shame.

Tasty Italian Food at Spaccio West

Published on March 17, 2024March 17, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 128A Sterling Road, Toronto
Website: https://www.terroni.com/locations/spaccio-west

Taking over the spot where the Drake Commissary used to be, Spaccio West is the latest addition to Terroni’s increasingly expanding Italian food empire.

It’s an enormous space, and features a full restaurant, an Italian grocery, and an assortment of pastries, pizza slices, and sandwiches you can take out.

I’ll have to return at some point to check out the restaurant, but on this trip, I tried the porchetta sandwich.

Featuring a generous amount of thinly sliced porchetta topped with some braised greens and some kind of creamy sauce, it’s a solid sandwich. It doesn’t have any of the crispy bits you might hope for from a porchetta sandwich, but the meat is tender and tasty enough that this never feels like a big deal.

It’s served on a flatbread that basically tastes like an undressed pizza. This mostly works quite well, though the bread is a bit on the bland side.

Tasty Slices at Slowsouth Pizza

Published on December 14, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1588 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.slowsouthpizza.com/

Slowsouth is a delightfully unfussy pizza place that sells slices to go and whole pies, along with arancini, salads, and dessert. It serves the classic style of pizza you’ll find at chains like Pizza Pizza or Dominos, only much, much, much (much much much) better.

When I visited, they had four varieties of pizza on offer: standards like plain cheese, pepperoni, and vegetarian (topped with peppers, mushroom, tomato, etc.). I ordered the plain cheese, which they top with a couple of basil leaves post-heat.

It’s a solid slice of pizza: it’s got tasty sauce, quality cheese, a good proportion of ingredients, and the crust is fantastic. Their website says that they proof it for 72 hours, and yeah, it tastes like they’ve put a good amount of care into it.

I know a lot of people are all about the toppings, but for me, if you start with good dough and bake it well (which they definitely do here), then you don’t need a whole lot of ornamentation to make it sing. The crust here has a nice contrast of crispiness and chewiness, and the simple toppings complement it perfectly. It’s quite good.

Tasty New York Pizza at Prince Street Pizza

Published on November 16, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 472 Front Street West, Toronto
Website: https://princestreetpizza.ca/

Prince Street Pizza is a New York pizza joint that specializes in square, Sicilian-style slices that recently opened in Toronto with a whole bunch of hype. The lines were reportedly around the block.

Thankfully, things seem to have settled down a bit (there was a short line when I went, but nothing too bad). The place is takeout only, but if you go around the corner to the shopping area at The Well, there are some outdoor tables to be had.

It turns out the excitement over the place is quite warranted; it’s very good.

They have a variety of more traditional slices, along with the square ones they’re known for. I went with the Spicy Spring, which is their signature slice.

This particular pizza is basically just no-frills pepperoni, but every element is right where it should be: the slightly spicy pepperoni is thoroughly tasty (and it’s the type that curls up into little grease goblets — the king of pepperoni), the quality of the sauce and the cheese is top notch, and the crust is great.

The crust here is greasy enough that it essentially fries on the bottom, and yeah. Yeah, that’s the way to do it. It’s crispy, chewy, and has a great flavour.

While I liked that the slice wasn’t too overloaded with cheese, my only real complaint is that this meant that a lot of the pepperoni didn’t have anything to stick to, and fell off as soon as I picked up the slice. But if that’s the biggest complaint about a slice of pizza, you know you’re in good shape.