What’s on the menu at Zuzu, Janet Zuccarini’s new retro-inspired Italian kitchen in Regent Park
Including a slab of baked ziti that’s a thing of beauty
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Name: Zuzu
Contact: 555 Dundas St. E., 416-815-2660, cafezuzu.com, @cafezuzuto
Neighbourhood: Regent Park
Previously: Paintbox Bistro
Owner: Gusto 54 Restaurant Group
Chefs: Elio Zannoni, Andrew Moore
Accessibility: Fully accessible
Last November, restaurant group Gusto 54 opened Café Zuzu. In a sun-drenched room meant to serve as a community hub, regulars sip Italian coffee with flaky cornetti and down breakfast sandwiches made on house-baked sourdough English muffins. In mid-March, they opened a sit-down dinner restaurant attached to the café. Both menus take cues from 1950s Italy, but without straying too far into the past; this is effectively nostalgic vintage Italian with modern Toronto flare.
Zuzu moved into the space left behind by Paintbox Bistro, a social-enterprise café known for its positive outreach in Regent Park, after that spot became a casualty of the pandemic. The idea here is, in part, to pick up where Paintbox left off. Zuzu runs a monthly Regent Park Community Program, in which selected local small businesses, entrepreneurs and other organizations can use the space for free to run their own events. And, every Monday, the café donates $1 from each macchiato to Fred Victor, a nearby organization that supports unhoused Torontonians.
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The food
As always with a restaurant that plays up simplicity and the integrity of its ingredients, there’s no smoke and mirrors to mask mistakes. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of care and skill behind Zuzu’s food. The menu is a who’s who of familiar Italian classics—pillowy focaccia, mushroom risotto, fennel-laced lentils and lemony torta della nonna—bolstered by confidently simple presentation and obvious attention to responsible sourcing. If the measure of a solid Italian kitchen is the quality of its pomodoro sauce, Zuzu’s doesn’t disappoint: it’s the balanced, fresh and flavourful tomato base for the ziti and rigatoni.
The drinks
A fun list of low-intervention—mostly Italian—wines is a nice foil to the classics-focused food menu. All the varietals one would expect make an appearance—Pinot Grigio, Cabernet, Lambrusco—but in the form of fresh, sometimes funky bottles. There’s also a comprehensive selection of digestivi, a tight beer menu and a delightful cocktail program with playful takes on the negroni and the espresso martini.
The space
Gusto 54 gave the design workshop Future Studio a tall order for this space—it was to feel vintage and retro yet current; warm and inviting but not too intimate or unapproachable. Mission accomplished. Behind a stained glass partition that divides the restaurant from the café, custom handmade tulip lights hang from high ceilings above creamy marble countertops, cozy velvet chairs, and tables lined with candles and fresh flowers. For special events, the stained glass partition collapses for a seamless transition between the two rooms.
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