Inside Market 63, downtown’s new 20,000-square-foot supermarket with its own restaurant and poutine bar

Inside Market 63, downtown’s new 20,000-square-foot supermarket with its own restaurant and poutine bar

By | Photography By Renée Suen |  

By | Photography By Renée Suen |  

Welcome.

More New Supermarkets

Downtown dwellers have a new one-stop gourmet-grocery shop. Coppa’s Fresh Market has opened a multi-concept retail space on the second level of the Harbour Plaza complex at 1 York Street. The independent, family-owned grocer’s first downtown location offers a hot table with an extensive selection of prepared foods, a bakery, a gelato bar, a butcher (with a fridge full of dry-aged beef), a fish counter and a deli. Chef and MasterChef Canada host Claudio Aprile (Copetin, Origin, Colborne Lane) has also joined the team as Coppa’s executive chef in charge of the prepared foods kitchen. The on-site eatery, Nonna Francesca’s Ristorante, is run by executive chef Roberto Granata (Mela Café, Il Fornello) and serves familiar favourites like pizza and pasta, as well as some southern Italian dishes. Coming soon: online grocery orders for same day pick-up.

Designed to look like it’s located under a bridge, Market 63 is accessible from the street or the PATH via Union Station

 

Welcome

 

There’s fresh produce, of course

 

Quite a bit of it, actually

 

Stations of ready-to-eat stuff line the eastern entrance of the store

 

Like this hot bar

 

The hot bar also serves made-to-order sandwiches like veal or chicken parmesan, and Montreal smoked meat. $8.99.

 

Executive chef Roberto Granata shows off the eggplant parmesan, also available at the hot bar

 

Rotisserie chickens come in various flavours (barbecue, chipotle, piri-piri, Greek) and are available in regular or prime (raised without antibiotics)

 

There’s a serve-yourself salad bar, because vegetables

 

At the poutine bar, the standard version comes with cheese curds and gravy. $8.99.

 

There’s an extensive olive and antipasti bar

 

There’s also a sushi counter

 

The cheese section also stocks some cheese alternatives

 

Here’s the fish counter

 

And the butcher station

 

This fridge is full of dry-aged beef

 

Here’s a closer look

 

The bakery makes most of the products on-site

 

It offers an assortment of treats including pastries, cheesecakes, cream puffs, fruit tarts, zeppole, lobster tails (the dessert kind), cannoli and chocolate-covered strawberries

 

To help customers make quick decisions, Market 63 has adopted a colour-coded tag system that helps identify daily deals (orange), lactose-free products (blue), vegan products (green) and new products (red)

 

The store also sells a number of nut- and gluten-free products

 

Unsurprisingly, there’s a large selection of Italian pantry staples, including pasta, olive oil and balsamic vinegars that the brand imports from Italy under its own label

 

Coppa’s private-label Nonna Francesca goods include fresh pastas and sauces

 

It also includes snacks, like nuts and dried fruit

 

Coppacino Café serves coffee-based beverages

 

There are also grab-and-go foods for sale, as well as gourmet coffee beans

 

There’s a gelato parlour, too

 

The florist, bulk candy section and gift shop are down the hall in a separate unit

 

Here’s the entrance to Nonna Francesca’s Ristorante

 

And the dining room and bar

 

Burrata comes on an heirloom tomato and arugula salad dressed with pistachio pesto. It’s served with grilled bread. $18.

 

The Carpaccio di Salmone tops slices of fresh olive oil-marinated salmon with blood orange, fennel, capers, onions and root chips. $17.

 

The fluffy Ricotta Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina comes in a San Marzano tomato sauce with buffalo mozzarella and basil. $18.

 

For the Strozzapreti al Cinghiale, Granata makes a wild-boar ragu for the twisted pasta and tops it with parmesan. $24.

 

The light Roman-style Funghi pizza is topped with Asiago cheese, wild mushrooms, watercress and truffle oil. $19.

 

An example of the daily seafood special, seen here, features a fresh 1.5-pound branzino that’s been grilled with olive oil. $MP. (Guests can choose to add sides like rapini sautéed with garlic and chili. $7.)

 

Bistecca Alla Fiorentina is a 34-ounce dry-aged porterhouse steak, seasoned with rosemary, sea salt and olive oil. $110.

 

The Cannolo Siciliano Scomposto features freshly fried cannolo piped full of ricotta and chocolate cream. $12.

 

The Torta della Nonna fills a sweet pastry crust with vanilla custard and tops it with pine nuts and Chantilly cream. $12.

1 York St., 2nd level, 416-736-6606 (Market 63) or 416-258-6088 (Nonna Francesca’s), coppas.com/market63, @coppasfreshmarket

Topics: Claudio Aprile Coppa's Fresh Market groceries Market 63 Supermarkets

 

More Food and Drink

Sort-of Secret: Casa Verde, an old-school Italian restaurant housed in an 1890s Ajax farmhouse
Food & Drink

Sort-of Secret: Casa Verde, an old-school Italian restaurant housed in an 1890s Ajax farmhouse

What’s on the menu at Ricky and Olivia, a playful new restaurant and bottle shop in Leslieville
Food & Drink

What’s on the menu at Ricky and Olivia, a playful new restaurant and bottle shop in Leslieville

Sort-of Secret: Southeast Sandwiches, a fast-casual spot in Woodbridge serving Vietnamese and Filipino twists on sandwiches, tacos and poutine
Food & Drink

Sort-of Secret: Southeast Sandwiches, a fast-casual spot in Woodbridge serving Vietnamese and Filipino twists on sandwiches, tacos and poutine

What’s on the menu at Charlemagne, Café Renée’s second-floor speakeasy
Food & Drink

What’s on the menu at Charlemagne, Café Renée’s second-floor speakeasy

Inside the kitchen of Solomon Mason, executive chef at Auberge du Pommier
Food & Drink

Inside the kitchen of Solomon Mason, executive chef at Auberge du Pommier

A first look at LSL, a nine-seat tasting restaurant with three Michelin-star chefs coming soon to North York
Food & Drink

A first look at LSL, a nine-seat tasting restaurant with three Michelin-star chefs coming soon to North York