A pair of childhood friends bring the Neapolitan thin-crust craze to Kensington Market.
Romolo Salvati, one of the owners of the newly opened Pizzeria Via Mercanti, squeezes the fact that he’s from Naples into every answer he gives me during our interview. On his month-old pizzeria’s menu: “It’s what I eat at home in Naples.” On the place’s large windows and white walls: “Just like the pizzerias back home.” On its Kensington Market location: “In Naples, all the best pizza places are in the market because the ingredients are fresh.” Salvati wants people to know his pies don’t need approval from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana—the organization that deems whether a pizza is certifiably Neapolitan—because he and business partner, Massimo Di Lasco, have spent their lives making what he calls, in his thick accent, “real, everyday food.”
The pair have been friends for 20 years—both are from Salerno, a coastal city just southeast of Naples. There, Salvati owned a coffee shop and served slices made by Di Lasco, who owned a pizzeria across the street. Salvati moved to Toronto six years ago, and when he was hired to run the kitchen at Leslieville’s Queen Margherita Pizza before it opened in 2010, he asked Di Lasco to join him. “We sponsored him, and we made it into a very busy place,” says Salvati. But their dream was to open their own restaurant. In December, the Back Alley Woodfire BBQ and Grill in Kensington Market came up for lease and Salvati and Di Lasco pounced.
The restaurant is small, with 48 seats, though a downstairs room is being renovated to seat another 25. Both men are most comfortable in the open kitchen, rolling dough and cranking out pasta. And while the pizzas maintain the high standard that Queen Margherita is known for, they want to prove they can do more than churn out pies.
The house-made pasta—fagottini, cannelloni, spaghetti—come, as the pizza does, simply dressed. The giglio noodles, for instance, are tossed in a San Marzano tomato sauce with torn basil ($14). A third oven, currently making its way from Naples on a ship, will be installed in a few weeks, along with new menu items such as porchetta, roast chicken and baked pastas.
As for the pizza, there are 15 versions, both rosse (with tomato sauce) and bianche (without), including the Via Mercanti—a combination of two pies on one crust: a Margherita pizza atop a pizza of ricotta, ham, salami and mushrooms ($16). Salvati’s favourite is the classic Margherita ($10), but there’s also Nutella pizza ($12) on the dessert menu for non-traditionalists.
During one of my lunchtime visits, Di Lasco was in the kitchen making dough for the dinner service. “He can make it with his eyes closed,” says Salvati. Di Lasco has the precision—and the muscles—of someone who has spent the last 25 years rolling out dough. Via Mercanti’s crusts have a softer, bread-like texture than the crisp, flatbread-like pizzas popular in Toronto. “We are certified Neapolitan,” says Salvati, even though it’s not official. “We’re from Naples. We make good pizzas and that’s all we need to prove.”
Pizza Via Mercanti, 188 Augusta Ave., 647-343-6647. #KNM
