Name: Capra’s Kitchen
Contact: 1834 Lakeshore Rd. W., Mississauga, 905-916-1834, massimocapra.com, @capraskitchen
Neighbourhood: Clarkson
Owners: Massimo and Rosa Capra
Chefs: Executive chef Massimo Capra (Mistura) and chef de cuisine Ryan Wilson Lall (Frank)
The three “Ps”: pizza, pasta and panini (plus a bunch of other things like bruschetta, salumi boards and steak). “I’m going for a classic trattoria here, nothing needlessly extravagant,” says Capra, who’s happy to ditch the white-linen expectations of Yorkville to focus on no-fuss Italian favourites.
Mostly vino, although there’s a short cocktail list and a few easy-drinking beers on tap (Moretti, Coors, Rickards). The predominantly Italian wine card is dotted with a few VQA selections. “Anyone with half a palate can taste any one of these wines and say they’re very good, even if they don’t recognize the names,” says Capra, who purposefully went for lesser-known vintages.
Rosa Capra turned the former 4,500–square-foot bakery into a 75-seat trattoria with a 60-seat event space. “It’s ‘grandma cool’,” she says. This translates to floral-upholstered dining chairs juxtaposed with tiles printed with images of Banksy’s works.
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Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.