I had the chance to experience Porzia‘s new menu on April 15 through an invitation from its PR company.  It was served cocktail style with cheese, crostini as well as pasta and dessert.  The food was excellent, but the environment was far from that.  In order to truly taste the food, attendees had to hover around the bar by the kitchen and grab the food as soon as it came out.  Servers did not pass food around.  And while a menu was placed on at least two of the side tables, where the cheese and salumi were placed (and were not replenished nor replaced with other items on the menu).  It also took eons to get a drink, because the bar was far understaffed.  I think the event was supposed to be classy in a Parkdale/hipster sort of way, but it did NOT turn out like that AT ALL.

Smoked Mackerel Tortelini

Halibut

However, as noted earlier, I do have to give points for Porzia’s food.  Attendees had the chance to sample several dishes, including three different types of crostini (a favourite of mine was the cotechino and rapini), stinging nettle tortellini with smoked mackerel (another favourite) olive oil halibut with fiddle head aioli and two different desserts – a ricotta cheesecake with rhubarb and a yogurt panna cotta with oatmeal and blueberries.  It would, however, have been nice if staff explained what dishes were (and as noted earlier, labelling would have been nice, too.  There are people with food restrictions).  That is, after all, the point of a menu tasting/preview, right?  I had the feeling that PR tried to make the event a “see and be seen” sort of party.  However, the venue was much too small for that – there was very little room for any kind of mingling.  I saw a few familiar faces at the event, but didn’t have much of a chance to speak with anyone because it was so difficult to move.

Yogurt panna cotta

Ricotta Cheesecake

Other than the food, I can’t really give Porzia a proper review.  The experience I had was unlikely close to what one would have under “normal” circumstances.  I will say this:  order the tortellini if you like mackerel – especially if you like smoky flavours.  It’s fairly strong, but not overwhelming/overpowering.  The yogurt panna cotta was excellent as well, though the portion size they served looked big.  I am unsure if that is the actual serving or if they made it slightly larger than “normal” for the event so that it could be shared.

Porzia is located on 1314 Queen Street West (Queen, just west of Dufferin).  Its hours are Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6-10 PM; Friday and Saturday from 6 to 11 PM.  It is closed Tuesdays.  Reservations can be made by calling 647-342-5776 or online via Bookenda.