What’s on the menu at Parcheggio, O&B’s new Italian restaurant in North York

By Caroline Aksich | Photography By Caroline Aksich | July 24, 2018

By Caroline Aksich | Photography By Caroline Aksich | 07/24/2018

Name: Parcheggio
Contact: 2901 Bayview Ave, 647-943-6780, parcheggio.ca, @parcheggioto
Neighbourhood: Bayview Village
Previously: Origin North
Owner: O&B Hospitality (Leña, Canoe, Auberge du Pommier, Liberty Commons at Big Rock Brewery)
Chef: Corporate executive chef Anthony Walsh and executive chef Andrew Piccinin (Leña)

The food

Andrew Piccinin dug deep into his Italian heritage when working on the menu. His grandparents immigrated from Italy’s northeastern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region and Piccinin remembers a childhood full of food. A few of the plates on the menu are taken right from his grandmother’s roster, including the lasagna—only a dozen portions are on offer each night.

Lunch sees bronze-die-extruded pastas, Italian sandwiches and salads, all of which hit the table shortly after they’re ordered. The idea was to have a lunch-rush card (quick and with a lot of light options). Dinner is a heartier affair of (more) pasta, and meaty mains like steaks, veal chops, pork shank osso buco and seared branzino.

Piccinin’s grandmother often made a bean-pork soup that would become gelatinous after a few days in the fridge. His grandfather took to putting this on salad. Piccinin piles a lemon-parm-dressed mix of spicy arugula with Tuscan kale on top of a whipped romano bean spread. $14.

These meatballs are a mix of veal and the end trimmings from the charcuterie program. There’s some guanciale in there, and probably some prosciutto. $13.

Spaghetti al pomodoro gets a lashing of olive oil before hitting the table. $19.

New York’s Carbone is famous for its spicy rigatoni vodka pasta. This Rigatoni alla Carbone amps up the creaminess with some added mascarpone. $18.

Tagliatelle bolognese. $24. Photo by Caroline Aksich

Pappardelle with shredded, braised veal in a white sauce with sage and piave cecchio cheese. $22.

The drinks

Classic cocktails have been tweaked to focus on Italian spirits. There’s a Cynar spritz, for example, as well as white sangria made with pinot grigio, and a red version mixed with amaretto. The main focus, though, is on the negroni—there are five on offer. And, as many diners will be driving to Parcheggio, a big focus was put on mocktails.

Just a few of the bottles on the wine card.

This negroni is called the 1919, the year the cocktail was created. It’s made with gin, sweet vermouth, Campari and passion fruit syrup. $14.

Sangria Rosso: vodka, Amaretto, red wine, passion fruit juice. $14.

The agrodolce (vodka, watermelon, lemon, egg white) also comes in a non-alcoholic version that swaps out vodka for Seedlip, a distilled non-alcoholic spirit. $11.

The space

Parcheggio, Italian for parking lot, is an irreverent reference to the location of O&B’s newest restaurant: in Bayview Village Shops’ carpark. The 208-seat restaurant leans into it’s not-quite-glamorous location with some cheeky design winks from Sold Design Creative, like lights that look like traffic lights, parking-spot markings on the floor and banquettes that look like leather backseats.