Our first location at 720 Queen Street West in 1992 started with a simple yet ambitious desire: to offer an authentically Italian food experience in Toronto.
Cosimo and Paolo, being “Terroni” — meaning their background originated from southern Italy — wanted to offer their guests true southern Italian cooking. They were well aware that in order to provide the real flavours of Italian cuisine, the main focus had to be placed on sourcing the highest quality ingredients starting from materia prima (raw materials). Think tomatoes, olive oil, flour, eggs…
A lot of time was spent sourcing the building blocks for all our dishes from small artisanal producers either in Italy or locally. The objective was and is to only work with suppliers who uphold our same traditional values and ethics in order to be able to offer food to our guests that we are proud of. The extra virgin olive oil made from 100% coratina olives in Puglia, the San Marzano tomatoes from Campania region, the flour from Le Marche, the indiginous varietals of wines that go well beyond the all-too-familiar Chianti and Pinot Grigios. It’s with this philosophy that a simple spaghetti with tomato sauce (Spaghetti Ca’ Pummarola N’Goppa) can taste at its best. This has been our driving force since day one and 30 years later, we have evolved, always upholding the values of tried-and-true tradition.
From that first Queen Street location all the way to Los Angeles, a dining experience at a Terroni restaurant, no matter which location or neighbourhood you happen to be in, has a unique, undeniable feel and flavour to it.