Restaurant Visit: La Bettola di Terroni

When I decided to continue writing this blog after my 30 day challenge was over, I promised myself that I would not try to turn this into any type of restaurant review column or treatise on how to do this or make that, but just to continue writing about my love affair with food.  If that, on occasion, includes describing a memorable meal I shared with my friends and family so be it!  So while I hadn’t planned to write about my lunch our on Friday, I was encouraged to write about it by my companion...and well…ok that glass of wine probably helped, so here it goes…..

Friday I was out for lunch with my gal pal from work, France, at Terroni’s newest restaurant “La Bettola” (meaning a “dive”  haha).  In true Terroni style the interior is quirky, and a blend of urban industrial and rustic Italian design.  I read recently that the design firm responsible for the design of most restaurants in the growing Terroni empire also designed Mark McEwan’s latest venture, Fabricca  (Italian for “factory”) which opened Oct. 1 at The Shops at Don Mills.  But I digress……

Anyway…. the crowd is a fairly typical mix of Bay Street types, artsy downtowners and chic ladies who lunch like us (tee hee).  The restaurant can be quite loud and we were lucky to be seated in one of the few quiet booths for two.  Actually we were seated there because France asked our server to move us from our original table because we could not hear ourselves think over the extremely loud and verbose man seated beside us at our first table.  

Our booth for two was nestled across from the main bar, facing a large wall with geometric signage and seemingly random verbiage in Italian, exposed brick walls and lots of metal piping.  Observing our meal were a trio of kitchy statues of Italian saints popes and monks.  The menu centers primarily on pizza, primi (pasta) and panini, with a good selection of appetizers and salads.  La Bettola also offered several special antipasti of the day (more to come on that later), a primi of the day and several “mains”, including an awesome sounding seared tuna crusted in pistachios that I am still surprised that I didn’t order.

France and I shared the appetizer special of the day, which was Buratta mozzarella with duck prosciutto served on a bed of baby arugula with cherry tomatoes.  Looking it up later, I learned that Burrata is an extremely creamy and delicate fresh mozzarella cheese from Puglia in southern Italy.  While I found the exterior to be typical of most fresh mozzarella, what was different was that each ball of cheese is stuffed with mozzarella curds and cream which oozed out lovingly from the interior when cut.  The cheese looks almost like a mozzarella “sack”, complete with a knot at the top of the ball where the cheese was sealed to contain its creamy centre.  I read that because of the creamy texture and delicate taste, Burrata is best served simply, so the Chef's choice to pair it with the arugula and duck prosciutto was almost perfect.  The combination, though simple, was delicious and the creamy cheese played well with the dry but rich duck, but we both agreed that what would have made it even better would have been a few oil cured black olives.  Also a light sprinkling of salt and/or pepper might have been nice additions.  Maybe even a glug of good olive oil.

True to form, I ordered the Spaghetti alle Vongole for my primi.  (I have a hard time resisting spaghetti and clams on a Italian themed menu).  My lunch was accompanied by a lovely glass of white wine – France could likely tell you what I had – but I have no idea, except it was deep golden in colour and from northern Italy and paired beautifully with my food choices.  Italian wine continues to be a mystery to me because unlike French, Spanish or Portugese, there is less reliance on region to dictate quality and price but more on vineyard. France ordered the primi special, spaghetti with homemade sausage, pecorino romano cheese and shaved truffle and a glass of rich red.  Both dishes were excellent, but I admit being a bit disappointed that the shaved truffle on France's plate didn’t pop more in terms of flavour.

Service was warm, friendly and efficient, something Terroni has not been historically known for.  In fact, when the original Terroni was housed in the space now occupied by their Osteria Ciceri e Tria (which shares a joint entrance with La Bettola) what they were known for was surly waitresses and not allowing substitutions (yes we still went there because the food was great!  My favourite is still their Summertime Ciccio – a folded pizza (served cold) that contains arugula, tomatoes, bocconcini, and sundried tomatoes,).  

I must say everything I saw come out of the kitchen was beautifully but simply presented, with the food taking central stage.  I loved the fact that our bread was served in a rolled down brown paper bag, with good quality olive oil in a small dish on the table.  We also noticed that their frites (yes you read it right, frites) that accompanied panini, were also served in a paper bag.  Amazingly we passed on dessert and coffee but I must say the rosemary panna cotta with red wine–soaked peaches sounded incredibly tempting. We will definitely have to go back and try for dinner.

As for price, our meal was not cheap, but worth it.  Our shared appetizer special was $30 and a generous size for sharing, with their individual antipasti and salads running about $12-$14.  My pasta was $16, and France's special was $25 thanks to the addition of the luxurious shaved truffles.  Wines by the glass ran about $9-$14.  Also, add in a (typically) over priced bottle of sparking water and the bill (after the damn HST) came to $112.  Definitely not what I usually spend for lunch but today was a bit special.

Restaurant website:  http://labettola.ca/3/33