Move over Wolfgang Puck!
Local chefs have just
begun to take over the culinary landscape at Toronto’s largest airport,
with the opening of celebrity chef Massimo Capra’s near-fine-dining,
fresh food restaurant, Boccone, in Terminal 1.
“It’s full service with a
wine selection that is quite delicious,” Massimo said Thursday. Though
the official opening is on Tuesday, Boccone is already serving Pearson
travelers.
In an ongoing makeover of
the airport’s eateries, other new hot spots have added technology to
the menu, including iPads for diners to order from and play with while
they eat.
At Boccone, “90 percent of the food is made in house,” says Capra. “It’s same that you would have at Mistura.”
Capra says he had to jump
through hoops to provide the quality of food he serves at Mistura, his
celebrated Toronto restaurant. That was due to all the guidelines and
the limited number of Pearson Airport’s authorized food suppliers.
And he’s aimed high —
trying to give travel-weary flyers coming through Terminal 1 a proper
dining experience. Boccone offers warm wood paneling, red leather
banquettes and a serene atmosphere.
The upgraded Pearson
restaurants — only for travelers who have been through security — range
from fancy sit downs to bakeries to grab-and-go joints, and promise to
be an improvement over typical airport food.
Limp tuna wraps and
greasy burgers will stick around, but they’ll rub elbows with fare from
some of Greater Toronto’s best chefs.
Think haute Japanese at
Acer, a new restaurant courtesy of celebrated restaurateur Guy Rubino of
Strada on Spadina Rd. Or seek out paninis at Feta Panini Bar, by the
ubiquitous Mark McEwan of North 44, Fabrica, and McEwan’s grocery.
Heirloom Bakery, the
first of the new crop to open a few weeks ago, offers healthy, artisanal
soups, salads and sandwiches to the sky weary. Corso, by chef Rocco
Augustino, will bring pizza and pasta to Terminal 3.
Boccone’s wait staff are
poised to serve travelers just off, or about to get on, national and
international flights. Staff must be able to get airline passengers and
their families, and possibly even their luggage, in and out of the
restaurant in 30 minutes or less.
What’s on Boccone’s menu?
Flavours inspired by Milan that include veal and pork meatballs with
Italian Sausage, homemade tomato sauce and crispy polenta ($18), the
Massimo panini — beef, asiago, dijon, aioli ($12) and a ricotta
cheesecake with blueberry sauce ($9).
Diners may catch a
glimpse of Capra himself. While Chef Damian Wills, formerly of
Scaramouche and other fine-dining restaurants, will helm the airport
kitchen, Massimo spends a lot of time there.
“I’m here all day every day,” he said from restaurant.
“It is my food the way that I want to make it and it is the way that I impose it. I’m here and I taste almost everything.”
Source: http://www.thestar.com
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