Mon–Wed 09–22:00
Thu–Sat 09:00–23:00
Sun 17:00–22:00
La Bettola will be closed on Monday, May 20th
416 504 9998
106 Victoria Street
Toronto
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Sapevi Che...
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Did you know that polentone is the retort to terroni? In other words, northern Italians refer to their southern neighbours as terroni, or ‘people of the earth’, and the southerners call the northerners ‘polenta eaters’, or polentone. The Terroni-invented pizza Polentona, which showcases some classic northern Italian ingredients, like speck (smoked prosciutto) and fontina cheese, is an homage of sorts to our northerly neighbours.
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Did you know that pancetta, which is sourced from a pig’s tummy, translates to ‘paunch’? And guanciale, made from a porker’s cheek, comes from guancia, meaning—you guessed it—cheek. We use this extra rich bit of pork as the base for soups and many pastas.
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Did you that the only thing Italian about Caesar salad is that it shares its name with a Roman dictator? Although there are many stories recounting the salad’s invention, this one is the most entertaining: Caesar Cardini, owner of a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, was so busy back in 1924 that his kitchen was nearly emptied of food. Desperate to feed his guests, Cardini grabbed some romaine lettuce and whipped up a dressing. He tossed the salad tableside and people adored it. Caesar’s salad became so popular that 50 years later, Julia Child herself sought out Cardini’s daughter to obtain the original recipe.
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Did you know that Spaghetti alla Norma is named after an opera written by Vincenzo Bellini? Apparently an aristocratic woman was holding a luncheon in Cantania, Sicily—the maestro’s birthplace. She prepared a pasta dish of spaghetti, tomato sauce, deep-fried pieces of eggplant, and topped it off with aged ricotta. Her husband proclaimed, “Signora, this dish is like a true Norma!” the title, of course, of Bellini’s masterpiece.
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Did you know that a Roman restaurateur named Alfredo di Lelio named a very typical Italian pasta, pasta e burro e parmigiano, after himself? In the 1920s, when Alfredo realized that the American tourists loved this simple dish, he tacked his name on to it. Whatever the case may be, if you ask for Fettucine Alfredo in Italy, don’t be alarmed if your request is met with a puzzled stare. And don’t bother looking for Alfredo sauce in a jar here: you won’t find it.
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Did you know that Puzza could only mean one thing? And that’s “stinky”—after the gorgonzola of course. This Terroni original was one of our first pizzas on the menu, and is a perpetual favourite.
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Did you know tortelloni probably look so darn sensual because they’re modeled after Venus’s belly button? Or so the story goes. Apparently a seedy innkeeper peeped through a keyhole into the goddess’s room and although he could only see her navel, he was thrown into a fit of ecstasy. Strangely, he ran to the kitchen and the first tortellino was fashioned. At Terroni, each individual tortellone is prepared by hand and you’ll find them filled with chestnuts, artichokes, or radicchio tossed in a little butter, parmigiano and sage for instance—so that the stuff inside can shine.
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Did you know that focaccia derives its name from the Latin focus, meaning hearth? Flat breads have been prepared over fire for a very long time—and every civilization has its own version. Italian flat breads differ from region to region. We learned to make our focaccia from Enzo the baker (no joke) back in 2000 and we’ve been making it in-house ever since.
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Did you know that legend would have us believe that the cappuccino is named after the famed Capuchin monks? If you look at a properly made cappuccino, the ring of brown espresso around the perimeter of the creamy milk resembles a Capuchin monk’s head viewed from above.
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Did you know that ricotta means re-cooked? This creamy curd-like cow’s milk cheese is made from the whey that’s drained off when making mozzarella or provolone. When this whey is re-heated, it solidifies. The solid bits are skimmed off and the remaining ricotta can be enjoyed. It’s thought to have first been made in Sicily where it’s called zammmataru, meaning “dairy farmer” in their dialect.
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Did you know that Parmigiano belongs to the grana category of cheese that originated in northern Italy nearly 2000 years ago. The cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia each have their own versions. A governmental decree in 1955 was created in order to define and control the appellations of each so that both cheeses can only receive their distinctive rind stamp if they are produced according to very specific rules.
Look for specialty versions, like Vacca Rossa, on our always-changing Tagliere di Formaggi.
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Did you know that tiramisu means “pick me up”? Some cite Sicily as its birthplace. And there are those that say wives made it for their husbands who fought in WWII--the caffeine and sugar providing them with a bit of a boost. We make tiramisu with the creamiest mascarpone available to us, and our own espresso and homemade ladyfingers.
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Did you know that somewhere between an espresso and a cappuccino falls the Barese-invented espressino? While its caffeinated cousins are now popular just about everywhere, the espressino has remained relatively obscure. Of course, we’d be happy to make you one.
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Did you know that mozzarella di bufala is made with milk from the water buffalo? These bovines may be relatively unfamiliar here in North America, but they’ve been roaming elsewhere for thousands of years, yet weren’t introduced to Europe until the Middle Ages. Most relevant to Terroni was the introduction of about 100 000 water buffalo to the Campania region (south of Rome) where they’ve produced the rich milk that gets lovingly turned into creamy and luxurious mozzarella di bufala for hundreds of years.
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Did you know that terroni (‘of the earth’ in Italian) are bricks of pressed, fresh virgin soil that are dried in the sun? They were originally used for patching up holes in houses made of terracotta or stone. Not only did Southern Italian workers make these bricks but they also used them to build their own modest homes. Over time, the word terroni evolved into a derogatory term used by people of the industrial north when referring to southern Italian labourers.
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Many Italian cities have a mascot who personifies the personality of their city during Carnevale The city of Torino’s mascot is named Gianduja, which loosely translates to ‘”John of the boccale”—that’s a mug that holds wine. A baker from Torino mixed chocolate & hazelnut together around the time of Carnevale and named the confection after the city’s mascot. Today, gianduja is synonymous with the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts and you can safely indulge in this pairing with our Torta Gianduja all year long.
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Did you know that everybody has an opinion regarding the origins of Bucatini all’Amatriciana? Some say it’s named after the men from Amatrice in Abruzzi who brought the recipe with them to Rome where they came to work as chefs. Others believe that the dish has Roman origins and that the men from Amatrice simply copied it. Regardless, our Bucatini all’Amatriciana, with pancetta, onion, garlic, some red chili, tomatoes and parmigiano, is sure to satisfy everybody.
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Did you know Biscotti take their name from the way these ancient Roman cookies were traditionally cooked? Bis for twice and cotto for baked. The Romans weren’t just being thorough—these cookies needed to have a long shelf life, so the second round in the oven dried them out completely. Now things might get complicated: all cookies in Italy are called biscotti, sort of like how all cookies in North America are called…cookies. You follow? Regardless, Terroni makes an assortment of biscotti in house from jam to Nutella.
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Did you know that…wait: you probably did know that fagiolo means ‘bean’ in Italian, but did you know that a fagiolo is an expression similar to our “at the drop of a hat”? Most addicts of our insalata a fagiolo would eat this kidney bean and tuna salad at the drop of just about anything.
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Did you know that C’T Mang is Barese dialect for cosa ti mangi —an expression meaning that what you’re eating is deliciously amazing. We’ve named a white pizza with a little mozzarella, gorgonzola, pears, speck and walnuts with this in mind.
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Did you know that the Li Pecuri pizza is named after the wrong animal? Paolo originally came up with the name, which translates to ‘the sheeps’ but nothing about this Terroni-invented pizza has to do with sheep. It does, however, have goat’s cheese on it (capra), but Li Pecuri had already stuck by the time the mistake was noticed.
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Did you know that Penne alla Puttanesca is named after the prostitutes of Napoli? It roughly translates to “pasta made in the way a whore would make it”. How exactly the association was made is debated. It could be because of the hot, spicy & pungent nature of the dish or it could be that prostitutes were able to easily whip this simple pasta up between doing ‘business’ with their clients. Whatever the case, penne alla puttanesca still satisfies just about everybody.
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Well, what do we say about the Funghi Assoluti? We could tell you it means “mushrooms by themselves” in Barese dialect, err, something close to that. We could tell you that it’s been on the menu nearly since the beginning. We could tell you that even we didn’t know how popular baked oyster mushrooms sprinkled with bread crumbs and served on arugola with a little balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil & parmigiano could be. But really, none of this really matters.
Funghi Assoluti is just…really good.
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Did you know that San Nicola di Bari not only lent his name to a Terroni-invented pizza, but that he’s also the model for good old St. Nick? As the official patron saint of children, San Nicola was a perfect prototype for Santa Claus. As for his association with Bari, well, his relics rest there. How they got there is perhaps a story best told while eating his namesake Terroni-invented pizza topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, Italian tuna, red onion and capers.
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The traditional Insalata Caprese is made with vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, extra-virgin olive oil and often a little fresh oregano. This is how we make it at Terroni. Some say the frowned-upon tradition of drizzling all sorts of vinegars on the salad was a result of North American restaurateurs trying to spice up a perfectly good dish for their audiences (or out-of-season tomatoes a little life). The reason why a true Insalata Caprese has no vinegar is quite simple really: the acidity of vinegar upsets the balance between the cheese and the already-acidic tomatoes. If you’re using top quality ingredients (and we try to), there’s simply no need for it.
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Did you know that true balsamic vinegar could be sold by the drop for the same price as gold? It may only be fermented, cooked grape must, but you need 100 kilograms of must to produce just one to two liters of true balsamic vinegar. So if the real stuff is next-to-impossible to find here, what exactly are you getting when you buy balsamic vinegar? It’s usually red wine vinegar with some additional sugar and colouring, or grape must that hasn’t been aged according to the rules.
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Did you know that Santo Spirito is a little town outside of Bari where Paolo used to live? And it’s always been both Vince and Cosimo Junior’s favourite pizza.
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Did you know that iosa in Barese dialect means chaos, or crowded? Our aptly named Pappardelle alle Iosa is made with homemade sausage, oyster and button mushrooms, and peas. It’s one of the few dishes we serve where more is merrier.
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Did you know mortadella—the pink pork salume with the very impressive diameter—originated in Bologna? Its name might derive from the fact that a mortar would have been used to finely pound the pork. You can find mortadella spotted with pieces of pistachio in Italy, although it is much more difficult to find here. Terroni’s Italian mortadella is made by a small producer in Italy and you can actually taste the difference. Seriously.
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416 504 9998
106 Victoria Street
Toronto
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