Città, CityPlace’s new Italian restaurant, lands a first-class chef
Città, CityPlace’s new Italian restaurant, lands a first-class chef
Now that The Grove has served its last meal, we wondered where the talented chef Ben Heaton would go next. Turns out he’ll be the executive chef at Città, Hanif Harji’s new casual southern Italian restaurant in CityPlace. The room will seat just under 100 people and the menu will focus on charcuterie, pasta and delicious things coming out of two wood-fired pizza ovens (they’ll eventually be offering delivery service). At The Grove, Heaton’s food was billed as British pub grub, but it was the city’s most refined, colourful and imaginative take on old-school English cooking. We can’t wait to see what he’ll do with some San Marzano tomatoes and doppio zero flour. Doors open on December 16 at 92 Fort York Boulevard.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/citta-cityplaces-new-italian-restaurant-lands-first-class-chef/&title=Città, CityPlace’s new Italian restaurant, lands a first-class chef&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/20141202-citta-cityplace-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_301036" align="alignleft" width="656"] (Image: Daniel Neuhaus)[/caption]
Now that The Grove has served its last meal, we wondered where the talented chef Ben Heaton would go next. Turns out he’ll be the executive chef at Città, Hanif Harji’s new casual southern Italian restaurant in CityPlace. The room will seat just under 100 people and the menu will focus on charcuterie, pasta and delicious things coming out of two wood-fired pizza ovens (they’ll eventually be offering delivery service). At The Grove, Heaton’s food was billed as British pub grub, but it was the city’s most refined, colourful and imaginative take on old-school English cooking. We can’t wait to see what he’ll do with some San Marzano tomatoes and doppio zero flour. Doors open on December 16 at 92 Fort York Boulevard.){kind=link}
If there’s one thing about truly excellent Italian food, it’s the details. Having two wood burning ovens goes a very long way (there is nothing quite like a pizza made in one, and they are excellent for finishing off most types of meat, and some varieties of fish). But “great” over “good” is, in large part, defined by the quality, and the freshness of the ingredients. I’m glad to see that the San Marzano tomatoes and 00-grade flour were mentioned in the article… but those things play a major role in only a few things on the menu.
I’m glad to see this is under the supervision of an experienced restauranteur and chef, though. Once I’m back from Europe, this Spring, I’d definitely like to give this a try.
They have two websites, one under the name Citta and the other as La Zona and are exactly the same:
http://www.cittatoronto.com/
http://www.lazona.ca/
Trendy restaurant with a vintage vibe. Small food portions and a bit overpriced.
Does NOT cater well to dietary restrictions or Food allergies: AKA: No lactose free/vegan options, no gluten free options, Pizzas and pastas are smaller than usual and overpriced. I went there twice: once for Brunch and the kitchen could not keep up apparently.
Maybe they could fix this.
bitch ‘n moan.