This new Italian restaurant replaced a long-standing Little Italy staple
Osteria Alba is from Adam Pereira, the chef and owner of Cano
Name: Osteria Alba
Contact: 665 College St., osteriaalba.ca, @albatoronto
Neighbourhood: Little Italy
Previously: Vivoli
Owners: Adam Pereira
Chefs: Adam Pereira and Ying Gui
Accessibility: Not accessible
Chef Adam Pereira fell in love with the art of cooking on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. His grandfather owned a hotel there, and a young Pereira could often be found watching the chefs at work. “I basically grew up in the hotel kitchen,” he says.
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In 2000, Pereira’s family moved to Toronto, where he would attend George Brown’s culinary arts program before getting a job as a saucier at Gusto 101 when it opened in 2012. He spent years working alongside owner Janet Zuccarini, who quickly became one of his biggest mentors. “I learned a lot from her management and how she structured her restaurants,” he says.
In 2017, Pereira opened Cano, an Italian restaurant on St. Clair West. There, he introduced diners to gnudi, a potato-less gnocchi with a much lighter texture. That same signature dish, gnudi ai funghi, has made it onto the menu at his newest venture, Osteria Alba.
Located at College and Beatrice, the restaurant sits smack dab in the heart of Little Italy. “There aren’t actually that many Italian places left in Little Italy,” says Pereira. “So we wanted to inject some of that cuisine back into the neighbourhood.” Early last year, when Pereira got word that Vivoli—a neighbourhood staple of 20 years and one of Drake’s favourites in the city—was closing, he knew what he had to do.
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This time around, he’s deviating from the classic Italian experience he offers at Cano and shooting for something more contemporary. “We’re taking it from a 2017 restaurant opening to something more 2025. Think Osteria Giulia or Bar Prima,” says Pereira. “The menu is bringing classic crowd favourites from Cano, but with more contemporary, inventive dishes as well.”
The Food
In a word: rich. Even the more traditional dishes are infused with intense flavours made for 21st-century palates. That signature gnudi al funghi may be light in texture, but it’s heavy with truffle flavour; the linguine is crowned with half a lobster; and pizzas are topped with things like mortadella, organic honey and Calabrian chilies.
The Drinks
The cocktail menu channels a sunny terrace overlooking the Tuscan countryside. Its drinks are mainly fresh and spritzy, with a few moodier options like the smoked negroni for those who want something deeper and boozier. Also: an extensive list of top-tier wines.
The Space
The interior design reflects the menu: classy yet modern. White marble tabletops contrast with burgundy leather booths, and backlit arched wine displays add ambiance. Grounding the space is a bustling open kitchen enveloped by bar seating, where patrons select their spirits from a wall-mounted and mirror-backed display case.
Teagan Sliz covers Ontario real estate for Toronto Life and Storeys. She also writes for Cottage Life and has reported on everything from hidden-gem restaurants to Canadian wildlife and forest fires. She graduated from Queen’s University with a bachelor’s in history and art history and from Centennial College, where she studied Canadian publishing.
