This Toronto Italian restaurant is launching a pasta tasting menu made with all-Canadian ingredients

For Michael Angeloni, executive chef of Amano Trattoria, farm-to-table cooking is the gold standard, so a tasting menu highlighting Canadian ingredients was a logical next step. “I’ve always thought this was the best way to celebrate Italian food,” Angeloni says. “In Italy, they don’t wait around for shipments to come in from all over the world—they walk to the corner, pick up what’s there and make something.”

The patriotic new tasting menu, which runs until June 14, includes seven pasta-based courses made with top-notch Canadian products like BC uni, Ontario pickerel roe, Alberta beef cheek, Nova Scotia lobster, Manitoba wheat sourdough and Quebec foie gras.

Related: Six Toronto restaurants serving up all-Canadian menus

While Angeloni’s motivations aren’t explicitly political, he acknowledges that eating local is definitely having a moment. “Being able to call out the farms where the vegetables come from, the butter, the eggs, has always been at the forefront of what Amano is about,” he says. “Our customers have always cared a great deal about the seasonal and local aspect of our food, but now especially it’s a point of pride for us and our guests.”

There isn’t a formal wine pairing, but the restaurant has added several Canadian wines and spirits to its drink list to complement the tasting menu. “Our wine list has always leaned heavily Italian,” says Angeloni. “So this menu gave us a great excuse to bring in more Canadian producers, and we’re excited about keeping them on the list going forward. It’s another layer to the experience and another way to celebrate what’s happening in our own backyard.”

The limited-time menu is $149 a person and must be booked 48 hours in advance.