Some restaurateurs get into business for the money, for others it’s a passionate affair and a way of life. Michelle and Herbert Barnsteiner fall safely into the latter category and have recently opened the next chapter of that love story at Yonge and Balmoral Avenue.

The newest sibling in the growing Oliver & Bonacini family opened yesterday. Beaumont Kitchen matches restaurant with retail at its location inside the brand new Saks Fifth Avenue in Sherway Gardens.

Sister restaurant to the popular beer hall Bar Volo, this Little Italy hideout is the perfect place to have a beer and a bite. Birreria Volo is a rustic, Italian-style bar focusing on its constantly rotating list of wild ales, natural wine, ciders and snacks. The hideaway feeling is brought on by the historical alley

A couple blocks south of the Little Italy main drag on College Street lies this tiny, old-school, bare-bones pizzeria. It’s unlikely to remind you of dinners at your nonna’s house, unless your nonna served cheap pizza slices on paper plates and her dining room consisted of a few plastic tables and some orange plastic chairs,

Boccone Deli and Pizza Bar looks to bring a traditional European deli experience to Toronto. They offer a selection of fresh made focaccia sandwiches, pizzas, rotating pasta and dinner specials and a salad bar. Patrons can eat-in, take-out or take advantage of their catering service and have the food brought directly to you.

Toronto downtown favourite, Buca, has set up shop a little bit further north in the Yorkville Four Seasons Hotel with Buca Osteria & Bar. The concept for the menu is still very much rooted in the Italian tradition but made with Canadian ingredients, thus the menu changes somewhat often depending on the seasonality of ingredients.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a foodie in this town that hasn’t heard of Rob Gentile. It’s safe to say that the chef-restaurateur is one busy guy, palling around with Jamie Oliver, plotting foodie retreats in Umbria and heading up a food company in addition to holding exec chef duties at a handful of restos.

This hulking mess of a sandwich comes to you courtesy of California Sandwiches. Hogtown’s renowned Italian sandwicheria has been around since 1967, making it a veritable antiquity in the restaurant world. The original Little Italy location takes over a corner spot on a residential street, squirrelled away from the main thoroughfares. Inside, the goods are

Cantina Mercatto is the newest addition to the Mercatto family of restaurants (Taverna, Locale, Trattoria and College) that started some 20 years ago on Toronto Street. Close to both the St. Lawrence Market and the Financial District, the new space is meant to be a one-stop shop for lunch meetings, special occasions as well as

An elegant Italian dining experience in the heart of the downtown core, Carisma is one of the city’s best Italian restaurants. After eight years in their quaint and cosy King Street East location, owners Michael and Margi Pagliaro moved into a larger space on Toronto Street that fits the whole extended family. Known for their

Casa La Palma is a 1,400 square foot lounge perched on top of its sister restaurant, Dundas West favourite La Palma. It’s a physical extension of the downstairs, but there’s a notable difference: its inspiration is not free-wheeling Venice Beach, but stylish Palm Springs. It’s co-owned by the same team as La Palma — culinary

Chef Robert Rubino is taking his skills from Italy to Etobicoke at Cellar Door Restaurant. Classically trained at Il San Domenico restaurant in Italy, Rubino learned to make handmade pasta and pizza dough like a true pizzaiolo. Cellar Door is a Canadian-Italian restaurant that is making some of the best and freshest Italian fare in

Come to this West Toronto institution to celebrate all things fromage. The cheese boutique features hundreds of imported cheeses from exotic locales like France and Italy, as well as from this side of pond like Ontario and Quebec. Cheese is aged on-site, with one of the aging rooms even open to the public for those

When in Rome… eat pizza. When in Toronto… eat Ciao Roma! This Woodbridge pizza joint follows authentic Roman styles by serving up al taglio pizza—a pizza with stretched dough that’s shaped to defy the triangular expectations of the meal. For authentic dough, all ingredients are flown in directly from Italy. Then, it’s put through a

King Street West is home to many massive restaurants that feature a corporate flare more than rustic kitchen, but at Cibo Wine Bar we may have found a happy medium. This industrial restaurant can seat over 200 people on a busy evening, but the staff and the welcoming atmosphere manage to make us feel right

Clandestino Wine Bar is a no muss, no fuss Italian restaurant that wants you to come hungry and leave happy. Tucked away under a big red sign and with floor-to-ceiling front windows, Clandestino Wine Bar is serving authentic Italian cuisine to the people of Parkdale. Using local and fresh ingredients and allowing its food to

Ready fresh hot all the time is the motto at this Italian bakery. Founded in 1957, Commisso Bakery offers traditional Italian breads that are baked daily, as well as a variety of deli meats, cheeses and pastries. Hot food is also available, such as pastas, soups and pizzas. They are open 24 hours a day,

Established in 1957, Commisso Bakery has become one of the most well-known establishments in the city. It’s open 24/7 and 365 days of the year, serving hearty Italian fare in the form of sandwiches, pasta, soup and pizza to the masses to satiate even the hungriest of appetites. There’s a hot table and a deli

This North York Italian spot is dedicated to the storied legend of Fausto Coppi. The Italian tradition has been carried out by this restaurant for over 25 years. The restaurant is dishing out seasonal Italian cuisine with fresh ingredients. The great thing about Coppi’s menu is that each section of the menu is separated by

Founded by Dante Paoletti, who in 1959 got on a ship with his mother and brothers for an 11 day trip from Abruzzo, Italy to join his father in the new world, Dante’s Pizzeria offers a variety of culinary options from Dante’s home country. Order one of Dante’s signature pizzas or build your own by