Introducing: Scaddabush, a 6,500-square-foot Italian restaurant in the Aura condos from the owners of Reds
Name: Scaddabush
Neighbourhood: Financial District
Contact Info: 382 Yonge St., 416-597-8838, scaddabush.com
Owners: SIR Corp, the same mega-corp that owns nearby Reds Midtown and Duke’s Refresher, as well as the first Scaddabush location in Mississauga
Executive Chef: Steve Silvestro
The Food: The simple Italian menu includes pizzas, house-made pastas, sandwiches and traditional appetizers, like calamari fritti and a caprese salad made with hand-stretched mozzarella. Half-pound beef meatballs come three ways: over spaghetti, on a bun or “straight-up,” with crostini and cheese sauce.
The Drinks: Six wines are available by the litre (starting at $32). The encyclopedic cocktail list includes classic Manhattans and vodka martinis, a well as signature blends, like the Milano-Torino Reviver: a mix of gin, sweet vermouth, Aperol and blood-orange soda.
The Place: This is the third hangar-sized corporate restaurant to open in the Aura condos at Yonge and Gerrard. (The others are Reds Midtown and Duke’s Refresher, both also owned by SIR Corp.) The mix-and-match decor combines reclaimed wood, gilded mirrors and countless dangling Edison bulbs, plus old-country touches like a giant papier-mâché head salvaged from an Italian village festival.
The Numbers: • ∞ Edison bulbs • 6,500 square feet of dining space • 300-person capacity • $85 for the most expensive bottle of wine, an Amarone from Veneto • 40 gilded mirrors • 18 flat-screen TVs (some play sports while others play looped Italian shows and movies) • 9 pizzas • 2 floors • 0.5 lb Angus beef meatball topping each order of spaghetti
THIS CITY
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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.
