Introducing: Bestia, a new mobile pizzeria from the owners of Sagra and The Slow Room
Name: Bestia
Contact info: 416-271-2790, www.bestianera.com, info@bestianera.com, @bestianera
Owners: Roberto and Sandra Mandarino, the same couple behind The Slow Room, a café on College, and Sagra, a new trattoria in the Junction
The Food: Wood-fired Neapolitan pies, best eaten folded in half for minimal dripping. A daily sandwich comes on a pizza-dough roll with fillings like prosciutto, fior di latte and arugula.
The Truck: A fully functioning micro-pizzeria, complete with marble-slab countertops and a wood-burning oven. The truck can be found roaming the city’s north end and is also bookable for private events.
The Numbers:
• 850°F is the max temperature for the wood-burning oven
• 90 seconds to flash-bake a Neapolitan pizza
• 12 months for the City of Toronto to approve Bestia’s license (11 months, 29 days and 22 hours longer than in Vaughan)
• 00 flour, an extremely fine-ground Italian flour also called doppio zero, is used to make Bestia’s pizza dough
224108 Bestia (which means "beast" in Italian) can be found roaming the city’s north end (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-01-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-01.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-01/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-01 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224119 (Image: Sean Kamo McHugh) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-12-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-12.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-12.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-12/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-12 0 0
(Image: Sean Kamo McHugh)
224117 The truck’s marble countertops are made for handling pizza dough (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-10-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-10.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-10.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-10/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-10 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224109 (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-02-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-02.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-02.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-02/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-02 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224112 At temperatures up to 850°F, the wood-burning oven can bake a pie in 90 seconds flat (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-05-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-05.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-05/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-05 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224113 (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-06-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-06.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-06/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-06 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224120 Margherita pizza with fior di latte, basil and olive oil ($6) (Image: Sean Kamo McHugh) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-13-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-13.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-13.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-13/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-13 0 0
(Image: Sean Kamo McHugh)
224114 ’Nduja pizza with ricotta and fior di latte ($9) (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-07-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-07.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-07.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-07/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-07 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224122 Prosciutto pizza with tomato, arugula and Parmesan ($9) (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-intro-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-intro.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-intro.jpg 656 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-intro/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-intro 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224116 Napoli pizza with anchovies, olives, basil and fior di latte ($6) (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-09-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-09.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-09.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-09/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-09 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224115 One of Bestia’s daily sandwiches: a pizza-dough roll topped with prosciutto, tomatoes, arugula, balsamic vinegar and fior di latte ($6–9) (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-08-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-08.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-08.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-08/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-08 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
224118 The pork for the porchetta sandwich is prepped at The Slow Room, the owners’ College Street café (Image: Sean Kamo McHugh) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-11-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-11.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-11.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-11/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-11 0 0
(Image: Sean Kamo McHugh)
224111 Bestia’s logo: a masked pizza chef riding a warthog (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Bestia Introducing: Bestia https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-04-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-04.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bestia-toronto-restaurant-04.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/bestia-toronto-restaurants/slide/bestia-toronto-restaurant-04/ bestia-toronto-restaurant-04 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)