Guiseppe’s features a deli on the main floor and a restaurant above.

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Giuseppe's Italian Market

As a couple made their way up the stairs to the dining floor of Giuseppe’s Italian Market, they asked: “How was the food?” Having finished our meal, my dinner guest and I were on our way to the first-floor café bar. I explained that one dish was very slow to appear. “Worth the wait?” asked the mister.

“Oh yes.”

Earlier that evening, we’d wandered about on the market’s main floor. It’s an admirably ambitious complex. The restaurant has been open only three months, the market just over seven. The floor-to-ceiling shelving on the south wall of the café seating area is filled with cool, current recipe books. The lengthy deli case features a profusion of Italian meats and cheeses, and the shop shelves are lined with precious oils and vinegars, truffle shavings, pork sausages in duck fat and so forth. At the heart of the main floor is a wood oven pizza station. The market ambiance certainly stoked our appetites.

Upstairs, we sat and were immediately presented with a fat complementary pot of mixed olives and a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We then ordered two recommended glasses of Santa Cristina Sangiovese, 2007 ($6). Shortly, our waiter made the rounds with a basket of sliced white bread. The bread was ordinary but gratis. A jazz trio lit up downstairs. It was a pleasant start.

Our first course, polenta con funghi ($11), consisted of two rounds of grilled polenta with grana padano cheese. Fluffy, with just a hint of crispiness on both sides, it was covered with fresh sautéed chestnut mushrooms and a few spoonfuls of mascarpone, garlic, marjoram and porcini cream sauce. Chopped basil added a pleasant green punctuation to the flavours of this light and subtle dish. It was the kind of appetizer that leaves you craving more.

Our main course arrived in a timely fashion, though our second, Concetta’s stracci ($14) was forgotten. We were told this pasta dish would be “on the house” and decided to pack it out with us at meal’s end.

The mains extinguished our hunger pains. Hot and hearty, the risotto al frutto di mare ($19) hit the spot. It was a big, mixed southern-Italian seafood dish. The risotto glowed with chili, tomato, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. It swam with chunks of salmon (better than it sounds), baby squid and shrimp. The delicate squid tentacles were especially tender and succulent. The dish was also ringed with spot-on mussels.

The Italian burger ($16) arrived with a hot, crisp, thick-cut stack of sweet-potato fries. Its square, rustic ciabatta-style bun was grilled on the outside and was moist and flavourful. The hearty patty was made with a combination of veal and beef. It was lean but plump, juicy and seasoned to perfection. Gorgonzola cheese, with its creamy bite, was the perfect complement to the fine patty. It was also topped with sliced tomatoes.

By the time we’d consumed both dishes, my guest and I were getting full and rightly decided that it was just as well to take the missing pasta dish home. We did, however, have room for desert. Two plates of torta di mella ($5) hit the table and quickly vanished. These two-tone chocolate cake slices wore a darker, velvety smooth outer layer. Though they were big, they had a deceptive lightness; chocolate mist upon the taste buds.

We waited a good 40 minutes for our take-home Concetta’s stracci, and here comfier chairs would’ve been appreciated. That said, we happily enjoyed the jazz trio and the room’s buzz as we digested our first-rate meal.

Next day, the stracci (Italian crepes), made for a fine lunch. Available with red and/or white sauce, we went for both: spinach and chicken with a creamy béchamel sauce and beef and Italian herbs with tomato Bolognese sauce. The now-mixed sauces and slightly pastry-like pasta crepe held up beautifully in the fridge. They were melt-in-your mouth good.

New and ambitious, Giuseppe’s Italian Market is settling into itself. For example, its tapas menu has been dropped and, well, our one dish was slow. But, oh yes, it’s worth the wait.