If anyone can provide an honest critique of Toronto’s Italian restaurant scene in its current capacity, it’s Jess Maiorano.
After launching her online business-turned storefront success, Pasta Forever, during the height of the pandemic, two weeks ago, Maiorano and her business partners Madeleine Hayles and Edward Anderson opened Zia’s Place just down the street.
“Other Italian restaurants do a lot of similar things, like focus on northern Italian food, or stuffed pasta being like a specialty or extreme pasta, and we’re not going that route,” Maiorano says, noting Zia’s Place is all about embracing the southern Italian cuisine she grew up with. “You’re not going to find something like cacio e pepe or mozzarella here. You know, those Roman pastas that basically every other Italian restaurant in the city does already. I’m not really interested in doing that.”
Instead, Zia’s Place focuses more on seasonal and pickled vegetables, fish, and meat, and hand-rolled pastas in shapes Maiorano says you’ve probably never seen before. With a well-rounded wine and cocktail program—Maiorano’s business partners, Hayles and Anderson, also own Happy Coffee & Wine on King St. W.— Zia’s Place is quickly becoming Little Portugal’s go-to spot for a refreshing take on Italian fare—and a really good selection of amaros.
Using family recipes, much of the menu is based on things Maiorano grew up eating, with two staple dishes: the first, a hand-rolled fusilli with a pork shoulder and a ragu and the second, a cavatelli with broccoli. “When I go home to my parents, they say ‘please, don’t make that for me,’” Maiorano laughs.
Inside the restaurant, dark wooden wainscotting, a sprawling white marble bar and hanging milk glass lamps are a nod to the nostalgia of 70s-inspired Italian decor.
“I wanted to create something that kind of reminded me of my actual Zia’s house,” Maiorano says. “Growing up, that was where all of our larger family meals were. There was a lot of homemade wine on the table, a lot of house-cured meats; there was a bunch of food, and it was very loud, very energetic, and very fun.”
Zia’s Place is located at 1543 Dundas St. W. and is currently open for dinner Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. and on Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m.
