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

Salmon & Tuna poke bowl from Poke by Sushi Shop
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
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
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.

Weird (and Delicious!) Gelato at Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe
Location
: 307 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/mizzicagelato/

Mizzica recently opened a second location at Queen and John, and clearly they haven’t missed a step because the gelato I just tried was absolutely fantastic.

Actually, I think this flavour perfectly encapsulates Mizzica’s greatness.  It’s a bit of an odd one, and almost certainly wouldn’t have been much more than an interesting novelty at any other gelato shop.  Here, on the other hand, it was surprisingly delicious.

Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

That flavour?  Gorgonzola, mascarpone, and pistachio.  Yes, that gorgonzola, the famous Italian blue cheese.

It’s honestly shocking how delicious it is.  The gorgonzola flavour is actually quite pronounced, and yet it totally works as part of this sweet scoop of gelato.  I couldn’t even tell you why or how.  It shouldn’t.  But it does.

Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

The sweet pistachio paste that they top it with complements it perfectly, and the whole thing is luxuriously creamy and so much better than you’d imagine.  With a lot of weird flavours like this, even when I like them, I think, well, I never need to have that again.  But this was legitimately delicious.  I could eat a million scoops of it.

Amazing Gelato at Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe
Location
: 29 McCaul Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/mizzicagelato/

The first thing you see before you enter the door at Mizzica is a big banner with the various awards they won at the Gelato Festival World Masters, which certainly seems like a promising sign.

Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

And then you try the actual gelato, and it’s pretty clear why they won those awards — holy moly it’s good, please give them all the awards.

Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

They have a bunch of delicious looking flavours, but I went with the Cassata Siciliana, which is based on an Italian dessert of the same name (which is basically a boozy cake filled with candied fruit and creamy ricotta).

Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

It’s so good.  It’s filled with chunks of cake, dark chocolate, candied fruit, and sweet ricotta, and everything about it is crazy delicious.  The balance of all the ingredients is just right, and the gelato itself is super smooth, rich, and creamy.  I was wondering if they could keep up that stratospheric level of quality; I’ve been back a few times since this particular visit, and yeah, this place is the real deal.  It’s some of the best gelato in the city.