Via Oliveto
Posted by lawgeek on 25 Mar 2007 at 01:21 pm | Tagged as: Food and Wine, Toronto
… has closed. I remember the last time we went there was after their big makeover. The place looked nice but the food seemed to have slipped a notch or two, and we didn’t go back.
In other news, it looks like the City is installing traffic lights at Bloor and Walmer. Which brings an end to years of creative jaywalking.
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That’s too bad. We might have gone there, like, ever, if it had been open Sunday nights. Instead we always find ourselves at Serra, next door.
We used to go there from time to time, sometimes with GH and D48, come to think of it. They used to have rather cheesy Italian decor and some pastas that were both distinctive and good. After the redesign the decor went upscale into some kind of neutral tasteful headspace and the pastas neither as distinctive nor as good (based on our admittedly small sampling).
I’m tempted to say another victim of modern marketing genius, but I suppose I’ve whined enough about that in the context of the CBC.
That is too bad, although I’m pretty sure I remember it opening sometime when I was in high school, so it had a good long life. I’d imagine it was closed more out of choice than necessity — 20+ years is a long time to be a restauranteur.
Serra is right next door, but no replacement for the kind of family Italian (with delicious homemade breads) that Via Oliveto offered.
The sign in the window said 19 years. As you say, perhaps they were ready to give it a rest.
Pizza is better at Serra, though, because they have a proper hot oven. Pastas were better at Oliveto.
19 years is a good run, I agree.
I’m curious to see what goes into the space. Keep us posted, lawgeek.
Incidentally, while I’m at it Goldfish seems to have been replaced with something else, though I didn’t look carefully enough to try to figure out what. We never went to Goldfish–the food was supposed to be quite decent, but the idea of eating in that, er, goldfish bowl aesthetic never appealed to us. The new tenants seem to have repainted the walls.
The last time we were in the (ex)Goldfish, it was a kind of pan-Asian place. Reasonably good but not exceptional food. Yummy appetizers but the mains tasted a bit too much of generic-Chinese-food-sauce-from-a-bottle. Pretty inexpensive, though. Unlike Goldfish. I remember going for brunch there once and being presented with Eggs Florentine which consisted of a single carefully poached egg on a corn bread round only very slightly larger than a loonie, with a light draping of spinach and a sneeze of Hollandaise sauce. I could swallow the thing whole without needing a glass a water. Not my idea of Sunday morning brunch food.
The last time we were in the (ex)Goldfish, it was a kind of pan-Asian place.
I think that’s the place that’s still there.
Goldfish was really good for the first year or two it was open, then the chef left or something and things went south.
I can’t really think of anyplace to eat in the Annex I’d make any effort to go to. Perhaps it’s just because I lived there for too many years, but I find the neighbourhood depressing whenever I find myself there (not often). Not only has all charm been eliminated from the shopping strip along Bloor, but any pretensions to having decent restaurants seems similarly to have vanished in favour of cheap sushi, generic pan-Asian (as above) and Chippy’s.
Yup. I’m not sure what market forces are at work here, but they’re not the ones that tend to favour good food.
Nataraj is still worthwhile for Indian, but these days we usually hop on a subway to Babur. (Not to mention Host.) I have long been meaning to try Indian Rice Factory which used to be a favourite of MCP if I recall rightly. It’s a bit out of the way. Perhaps we need to organize an expedition.
(But I seem to recall you’re not fond of curry, D48, so perhaps none of this is relevant…)
Oh yes, Serra isn’t bad if you happen to be in the neighborhood. But there are lots of better places in the city (Terroni for instance).
Exactly, Terroni, with three locations, too.
I’m not a big curry fan but there are lots of Indian dishes I like — and I did like Indian Rice Factory last time I was there. Is Babur good? It’s near me, isn’t it?
I realized I wrote off the Annex without acknowledging that there are some decent places on Harbord. It’s really just Bloor I avoid.
Babur is on Queen, a bit west of CityTV on the south side. We like it, better than Nataraj. But we’ve never been to IRF so I can’t compare.
It seems like all the recommended places are now on Harbord. I’ve only ever been to Messis, about 10 years ago.
Babur is quite decent. Butter chicken to die for. My one complaint is that it’s nearly impossible to get the bill there — they will leave you in peace more-or-less indefinitely.
The Indian Rice Factory was excellent when I lived across the street from it in 1994, but I can’t really vouch for it now! I do keep meaning to go there again sometime. They made serious vindaloo — hot enough to make your contacts float and your ears run. But amazingly tasty.
Oh, and IRF had a decent wine list, chosen with great care by the owner. He was ticked that most people wanted beer with Indian food.
A bunch of us should try to go sometime, see what they’re like these days.
That would be good. More people, more dishes we get to try! We’ve been meaning to get there.
[...] by lawgeek on 27 Mar 2007 at 01:10 am | Tagged as: Tech Does anyone know what the source of the first comment on the Via Oliveto thread [...]
Admittedly I have not eaten out in Toronto in some time now, but I’ve never been disappointed at Bar Mercurio, north side of Bloor near St. George.
Wasn’t there some fuss a while ago about it closing too, or am I misremembering?
It’s still there, unless I’m just simply blocking out the fact it’s not there anymore every time I pass by (fairly frequently).
They’ve also opened a new location of sorts in the new Woodsworth residence. Never been to the new location. I would put the older location in the category of Serra, judging from the few times I’ve eaten there.