It turns out that the world’s best Italian restaurant (outside of Italy, of course) is located in the conservatory of Toronto’s historic Casa Loma.
The still brand new year of 2022 hasn’t begun with a lot of great tidings, particularly for Toronto’s restaurant industry. An exception to this dispiriting rule is the news that Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto has been crowned Best Italian Restaurant in the World.
The ultra-elegant restaurant heads a list of 49 other finalists for the The Best Italian Restaurant in the World 2022 – Prosecco DOC Award. The select group was winnowed down from a much larger cast of contenders by a roving jury of 350 inspectors who sipped and sampled their way around the globe in search of Italian restaurants that do their mamma country proud.
According to the project’s curators, Barbara Guerra, Luciano Pignataro and Albert Sapere, there has been a significant evolution in the quality of Italian cuisine beyond the country’s borders.
“The stereotypes and the false traditions that have surrounded the gastronomic culture of the Bel Paese are slowly making an exit, and so foreigners are now finally managing to discover authentic Italian flavors, even outside of our Peninsula.”
Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto is the first North American outpost of the original Naples-based Don Alfonso 1890, founded in 1973 by Alfonso and Livia Iaccarino. Occupying an opulent 19th-century Neapolitan palace, the restaurant has consistently garnered lavish culinary praise for its elegant deconstructions of traditional dishes of the Amalfi coast created by chefs Alfonso and Ernest Iaccarino.
The multi-Michelin-starred duo are responsible for crafting Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto’s a la carte offerings along with its eight-course tasting menu, which took home a Meal of the Year 2022 award. Among their more daring concoctions is L’Anguilla, featuring ice-creamed eel with sturgeon caviar and tagliatelle tinged pink from wild rose infusions. Il Vesuvio di Rigatoni hews true to its suggestive name: a tower of pasta, organic peas and ricotta di bufala is topped in fiery red sauce (and served on a plate made of volcanic ash).
Don Alfonso 1890 arrived in Toronto in 2018 under the aegis of Nick Di Donato of the Liberty Entertainment Group (Cibo Wine Bar, Xango). Its original vast multi-level dining room occupied the historic Consumers’ Gas Building, in the Financial District. However, an initial pandemic-fueled shutdown in March 2020 was followed by a second, more permanent August closure when the building was sold to a Chinese condo developer.
Since then, Don Alfonso 1890 has migrated to its current home in Casa Loma’s conservatory, with room for 60 socially-distanced diners beneath the splendid stained-glass dome crafted by Robert McCausland, the oldest maker of stained glass in the Western Hemisphere.
In keeping with the latest provincial Covid-19 measures, Don Alfonso 1890 has had to temporarily close on Jan. 5. Fortunately, the news of its win arrived in time to organize a celebratory last dinner service on Jan. 4 before shuttering the castle doors.
Don Alfonso 1890 is located at 1 Austin Terrace, Casa Loma. The restaurant is currently accepting reservations by phone or online for dining, scheduled to resume on Jan. 26. from 5 p.m. onward, Wednesday through to Sunday.
