Five years ago, the majority of Italian restaurants in this city were still red sauce joints with menus that were all over the map and rarely respected the seasons. Caprese salad in January, anyone?
Since then, the bar on Italian cuisine has been raised to the height of Mount Vesuvius. The new breed of trattoria strives for authenticity, makes everything in-house and would sooner serve Chef Boyardee than a tomato salad in winter.Taking an increasingly bigger slice of the local pizza-pasta trade is Mercatto, a mini-chain of casual eateries run by Jack and Domenic Scarangella. After the success of their first two locations in the financial district, the brothers decided to open number three in the snazzy new MaRS Heritage Building at the Toronto General Hospital. Since the closest culinary competition is the food court at College Park, the new Mercatto has been a hit from day one.The space is a gorgeous, warehouse-style room, where blond wood accents balance the glazed concrete so it doesn't feel like a parking garage. Then there's the wine program. Mercatto is one of the few restaurants in the city to invest in a high-tech Enomatic dispensing system, which keeps 24 bottles of open wine pristinely fresh and at the perfect temperature for a month. (It replaces the oxygen in the bottle with an inert gas, which prevents the wine from spoiling.) The Enomatic enables Mercatto to offer an incredible range of Italian wines by the glass including a few offbeat and/or expensive labels that don't tend to move as fast as pinot grigio. Where else in Toronto can you get a glass of Barolo?The cooking, for the most part, is solid. You must start with antipasti misti, a wooden board laden with your choice of two vegetables, two cheeses and two meats. We opt for a refreshing salad of beets, oranges and pickled onion; chewy oyster mushrooms baked under breadcrumbs and parmigiano; creamy Canadian burrata and piquant Tuscan pecorino; and terrific salume from Mario Pingue. It's a steal at $15 and easily enough for two.Bucatini all'amatraciana brings a bowl of al dente hollow spaghetti bathed in a sunny tomato sauce with porky bits of guanciale and fiery rings of fresh chili. Pizzas are thin, crisp and right up there with Terroni's pies.The lamb entree is the only downright dud. While ordered medium rare, the grilled loin arrives medium-well and is served with underdone cippoline onions and a sauce so sugary I might bill Mercatto for my next cavity. Acknowledging the kitchen's misstep, the waitress compensates with a couple of gratis digestifs, proving nothing says sorry like free booze.Mercatto101 College St. (at Elizabeth St.)416-595-5625Dinner for two with wine, tax and tip: $115www.mercatto.ca