gracecheung604 | write on time: Terroni Bar Centrale - #2 on the Toronto Pasta Quest

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Terroni Bar Centrale - #2 on the Toronto Pasta Quest

As part of our ongoing quest to find the freshest "house-made" pasta in Toronto, we found ourselves at Terroni Bar Centrale. There are quite a few locations around town, but this was the one closest to us. We had visited One (by Mark McEwan) in Yorkville and needed to continue the hunt.Verde After eating rather unhealthily for the past few days, we had craving for salad, some sort of veggies. We managed to order just a plain green salad, Verde, which was a good size for sharing. The salad was prettyrun of the mill, but they did add some tomatoes and olives to the dish. Pappardelle with Duck Their daily special features a Duck Pappardelle, so this was the one we went with. We wanted to mix and match sauce and pasta, but from all the reviews that we have read, there's no tolerance for that here. We feigned innocence and asked anyways. Instead of a brisk answer reiterating the "no substitutions" rule, our server took the time to explain that the chefs paired specific sauces based on their texture, viscosity, creaminess and more to a particular pasta. Pappardelle with Duck 2 We were satisfied to put ourselves in the chef's hands. I am really glad we got this special. Sure there were other pastas that were part of the regular menu, but not pappardelle. And if they are making this fresh for the day, that is what I'm having! Pappardelle with Duck 3 The ground duck had good depth of flavour and the shape and size of the mushrooms paired well with the long flat noodle and sauce. Take them at their word, it works. And I never remejber just how much I loved fresh peas until I have them. I did find the dish a touch oily, but I liked the spiciness of the dish as well as the plentiful sliced mushrooms. This pasta was a full $10 less than the Papparadelle we had at ONE, and I'd daresay I prefer this one much more. Puzza Another Terroni speciality is their pizzas, so we had to get one of those to share as well. This is the Puzza, a white pizza with three white cheese, (mozzarella, mascarpone, gorgonzola) with some mushrooms, italian ham. I found the toppings a bit uneven, but that's not the end of the world. I really liked the charred crust on this pie. The pizza came uncut, but we didn't have too much of a problem with that.   Puzza 3 I liked that it was a white pizza and not drenched in tomato sauce. Rather the melted gorganzola made the black blisters stand out even more!
Chillis 
We always like our food a bit on the spicier side and today was no different. We asked for some chilli flakes for our pizza, and our waitress offered to bring us their house-made special chili oil instead. Uh, okay and thank you very much! It was a blend of red peppers and chili flakes all immersed in olive oil. This was great with the pizza. This was better than One, by far, and less pricey/stuffy too! Stay tuned because the next post will be what I consider the Best Pasta in Toronto!

Take Note:
  • They are serious - no substitutions
  • They do not slice their pizzas, they didn't forget, they just don't do it
  • If there is a daily special - get it! 
Terroni Bar Centrale on Urbanspoon

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