Name: Amano Trattoria Contact: 9 Church St., 647-349-7297, eatamano.com/trattoria, @amano.trattoria Neighbourhood: St. Lawrence Owners: Michael Angeloni, Yannick Bigourdan, Dan Kennedy and Adam Teolis (Open Concept Hospitality) Executive chef: Michael Angeloni Seating: 220 Covid-19 safety measures: Frequent sanitization, mask policy, hand sanitizer station at the door, proof of vaccination required, and contact tracing. Accessibility: Ramp available for entrance steps
The food
Unlike the more fast-casual Italian served at Amano’s Union Station and Newmarket locations, Amano Trattoria features slightly more refined dishes, like a roasted squash risotto with sea urchin and a 40-day-aged rib steak cooked in duck fat. There’s pizza, too, though—or rather, pinsa. The Roman-style pie (a lighter and airier precursor to the popular Neapolitan kind) comes topped with things like fior di latte, white anchovies, pistachios and ‘nduja. Desserts include a hazelnut and dark chocolate torte, pavlova (made with all the leftover egg white from the house-made pasta) and cannoli.
Regional Italian wines, plus a few bottles from B.C. and Ontario (around a dozen of which are offered by the glass; house and classic cocktails; a selection of beer, both on tap and in cans; and a cart stocked with amari, including a few hard-to-find bottles.
The space
The cavernous space is divided up into a few areas: a main dining room (that can itself be curtained-off into three zones), a front dining space flanking the main entrance and a central bar area. There’s also Amano Notte, the late-night cocktail lounge, which is accessed through the main dining room as well as a separate entrance.