December's Pick - Historic Yorkville
The local Italian restaurant is located in Yorkville, Toronto, or the old artistic area before the Queen West triangle took over the title.
Seatings are tight and so the good things you might enjoy are a cozy atmosphere, an intimate settings, some side-table conversations, and since the place is on my December's list: the great food.
The founder/owner of Trattoria Nervosa is Janet Zuccarini and I might or might not have done a project about her entrepreneurship and grit during my time in college. :D
Candles are obviously goals for an intimate dinner. You will also find an olive oil bottle at your table. In Trattoria Nervosa's case, the organic olive oil is somewhat iconic. You can ask to buy the organic olive oil bottles right at the restaurant. Just ask one of your busy waiter.
The menu brings some nostalgic feels to you with the paper flip on a cardboard along with Italian names and titles.
After your first order they'll bring out bread. These are such aromatic & fancy bread that I will recommend asking for the balsamic bottle and pour it out on a plate with your olive oil and just devour the bread in that mixture.
No offense if you're a bread&butter fan, They do have packaged butter (I know right, 'packaged').
My go-to salad, surprisingly, isn't the famous Kale salad but this delicious plate of Insalata Caprese [insaˈlaːta kaˈpreːze] in Italian, meaning Salad of Capri. It's so refreshing with the juicy tomato bites but at the same time rich & subtle with the fresh mozzarella. And of course what's a better way to enjoy Nervosa's signature organic olive oil than with this salad.
I usually get extra grilled chicken breast just because it goes great with the tomatoes & the splash of pesto (and because i'm extra).
Make sure you enjoy them breasts with the salad. They are made for each other. For real.
And the winner of my soul is the dish below, perhaps I'm just basic like many other folks, but their iconic dish Mafalde ai Funghi never disappoints. It's the richness of the light cream sauce & truffle paste along with all kind of mushrooms like portobello, porcini, crimini, oyster, and of course parmigiano cheese. (photo below)
This is a must-have when you pay your visit.
The other pasta dish I found to be really, really tasty is the Calamarata con Gamberi, which is Calamarta (a type of thick ring-shape pasta, which shape resembles the calamari, hence the name) in rich tomato sauce with perfectly-cooked wild shrimp alongside some cherry tomatoes, chilies, marjoram (a citrusy herb), and parsley. Perfect for a dash of the sea in my forever craving of Italian carbs. (photo below)
Janet Zuccarini (yes, autocorrect tried to correct your last name to "zucchini" twice), this post is dedicated to you and your legacy. I admire your work in buiding, fighting, and preserving this cultural gem in the town of Yorkville. Maybe one day I'll publish my project where I expressed my admiration for your entrepreneurship and the hustling early days of Nervosa.
More of the place at http://eatnervosa.com and more of Janet at http://gusto54.com/our-company/leadershipteam/.
Thanks for reading folks! All photos are taken by Huy Tran.
