Buonanotte Menu Tasting with Chef Davide Ianacci

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be a part of a holiday tasting at Buonanotte. The decor had a modern upscale vibe the moment you entered, as the waitresses took our jackets to coat check immediately. Walking to our table, I took a quick peek at other peoples food, which was already making me hungry! Chef Davide Ianacci is the executive chef at Buonanotte and we were excited to try his new menu items. Buonanotte also has an extensive wine and cocktail list, with many cocktails featured in this tasting. I especially enjoyed the Avanti cocktail, with a mix of whiskey, plume wine, red wine and figs!

Avanti- Crown Royal, Grand Marnier, Plum Liquor, Red Wine, Figs, Soda

Buona Sola- Ciroc Peach, Amaretto, Disaronno, Homemade Iced Tea, Mint, Soda

The first dish that came out was the Polipo Grigliato. This was a Grilled Octopus dish on top of arugula with fried chick peas, cherry tomato, celery and black olive pesto. Delicious! The octopus tasted awesome with the fresh combination of flavours from the veggies. The next antipasti dish was the Prosciutto D’Oca Affumicato- lightly smoked duck prosciutto with horseradish cream and pickled green apple. We also had the Polpettine- homemade meatballs with Parmigiano Reggiano in Tomato Sauce. All delicious, and we were told that there was still pizza and some mains that were coming.
The pizza... the pizza might need a post of its own because Buonanotte’s pizza is amazing. We got to try the Margherita, Prosciutto and PGF Pizzas. They make a really good crust for their wood oven pizzas with a balanced soft texture and minimal chewiness. The PGF pizza was also a bit different as it was a white pizza with gorgonzola, roasted leek, mushrooms, basil and olive oil!
It seemed like we had a full dinner already, but they were determined to stuff us with delicious Italian food! I caught a second wind with some more drinks, just as they brought out a pasta sampler. One one side of the plate was the Gnocci Di Spinaci- homemade spinach gnocchi with gorgonzola and parmesan cream sauce finished with Black Truffle (so much mushroomy truffle flavour!). On the other side was the Daily Risotto with radicchio, n'duja and tallegio formaggi. Both these pastas were tasty, but I would have preferred to eaten them separately in larger portions.

We also had got to try 3 additional dishes (I dug down deep, and found the courage to eat more deliciousness!):
- Costine Di Manzo- 24-hour Sous Vide Beef Short Rib with Truffled Polenta and Red Onion Jam
- Rustin Negaa alla Milanese- Veal T-Bone with Mashed Potatoes, Pancetta, Sage and White Wine Sauce
- Branzino Al Limone E Capperi- Seared Branzino with Roasted Sunchoke, Sauteed Kale, Garlic Chips and Lemond Caper Sauce

The sous vide beef short rib was super tender and juicy. I will have to go back and order this again! It was a really fun time as everyone was in good holiday spirits and the liquor kept flowing. After all that savoury food, a very impressive dessert platter was brought out full of cannolis, panna cottas and other Italian desserts!
All the cameras were out for this dessert plate haha (actually all the cameras were out for every dish). Special thanks to Karine Delage from the Karyzma Agency for organizing and hosting a fun event and thank you to Chef Davide for creating all the beautiful and mouth watering food!

Buonanotte 
19 Mercer Street, Toronto, ON M5V 1H2 
(416) 599-7246 
www.buonanottetoronto.com