A true local classic! Zucca Trattoria!

I am so glad that I had the pleasure to dine here again - this is the 2nd time I've been to the restaurant and both have been to celebrate my birthdays and during Winterlicious. This is a place that has outstanding service, a stellar menu and impeccable attention to detail.

From the moment we walked in and were greated by the host- Blair- we knew we had made a good choice to come in and dine. He was gracious and attentive and made us feel very comfortable immediately.
This restaurant has fresh hand-made pastas daily, a changing seasonal menu as well as a great spread of fresh fish as their speciality - this neighborhood restaurant is a gem! Our server Matt sat down to explain to us the specials of the evening - he has his food and wine knowledge oozing out of him and it was a pleasure to listen to him describe the preparation of the dishes in detail. However as much as we were tempted to go off the Winterlicious menu - and order from their regular menu - we stuck with the Winterlicious options and decided to come back and try the rest of the dishes another time pronto!

As soon as our orders were taken, rosemary-sprinkled farinata appeared which I initially thought were potatoes or crostinis but Blair corrected me and wanted to ensure that I knew they were made with chickpea flour- delicioso and a great way to start off our evening!

My friends Ryan and Jasmine started off with the millecosedde which was a hearty veggie soup and I opted for the carpaccio di vitello ai nocicarpaccio which was walnut-crusted veal loin on arugula. Blair wanted to know if we liked things spicy - which we did and he brought us out this home-made chilli oil made out of hot red peppers- we sprinkled the oil and peppers on our appetizers and WOW! our mouths were on FIRE but of course we loved the sensation!!

For mains- Jazz chose the homemade mushroom ravoli, Ryan did the artic char with grilled polenta and I chose vincisgrassi - which was similiar to a lasagne of pork, chicken and beef ragu all in a truffle sauce. It also looked like a napolean of 3 layers of meat. Matt sent me a glass of Pinor noir to pair with my main and it went together perfectly with all the rich flavours. Needless to say - we polished these plates off!

Afterwards- we were sent a blush champagne which was quite a treat... it was light and sweet and went perfectly with our dessert. They ordered frappole - which was deep fried pastry with icing sugar and I had the arance sanguigne caramellato con zabaione semifreddo which was zabaione cream on top of blood oranges. I can't wait to come here again to try the rest of the italian delicacies!

Zucca Trattoria- 2150 Yonge Street, Yonge and Eglinton

**** 1/2 stars (out of 5)