Italy comes to King West

July 25, 2012

By Silvana Longo

Last night, HD&R dined in southern Italy. No, wait a minute — we were at a fabulous media event dinner at the fine food Italian emporium Alimento on King West.  I know living well means different things to different people but for an Italo-phile, food-loving person like me, all I can say is that Alimento is a little piece of heaven in downtown Toronto. Here’s why.

It’s a grocery store filled with authentic Italian products, “a cathedral of cheese” is how it was described to us last night, in fact 90 per cent of the cheeses are imported from Italy, (the rest are made in-house), a variety of olives, different breads and deli meats. They had me at prosciutto.

It’s also a bakery with well-known Italian baked goodies and other delicious ones that aren’t as well diffused.  It’s a full-service restaurant and cafe’ (Bar Mozza) that offers authentic Italian cuisine, in fact tried-and-true recipes from the owners’ family — the Contardi family who also are the owners of the six Grande Cheese shops in and around the GTA. With this King West opening, Marco, Joe, Albert Jr., and Anthony Contardi are filling a much-needed gap as it doesn’t get this authentically Italian until you’re in the inner city’s suburbs or the 905.  Thank you for a wonderful evening and authentically Italian food experience. I am missing Italy a lot this summer as I am not making it over unfortunately but  I know exactly where to go to get my food fix and alleviate my nostalgia somewhat. Mille grazie e salute!

Here’s a look at the space and some of the evening’s delectables…

 

 

Filed under: EDITORS' NOTES,EVENT

Tags: Alimento, authentic, cheese, food, Grande Cheese, Italian, King west