UPDATE: it’s open. See the video above.
BREAKING: An upscale trattoria is slated for the Masa a la Carte space at 3689 West 4th just off of Alma.
La Quercia, as it will be called – “The Oak Tree” in Italian – will be the joint effort effort of two former Parkside and La Buca employees, Lucais Syme and Adam Pegg, as well as Pegg’s wife Karin Lazzaris (FOH).
They’ve just taken possession and are in the midst of demolition now. They’re licensed for 35 seats, and their designs include a four to five seat bar that looks directly through the kitchen pass. The food concept sees lots of fresh pastas and leans on Northern Italy for inspiration (but not exclusively). As I mentioned in the forum yesterday, Adam was one of the first Canadians to graduate from the Master of Italian Cooking programme at Slow Food’s school in Jesi, Italy. From his Adesso Bistro days, I also recall that Lucas made a mean arancini.
In a brief interview this afternoon, Pegg said he hopes to be able to start cooking by mid-June with a soft opening in early July. This is their first restaurant and we wish them well.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds like the perfect antidote to the sure-to-be-lacklustre food coming out of Italian Kitchen at the other end of 4th.
so what happened to the nice people who had Masa?
Congrats to Adam, Luke and Karin, you guys make me proud!
congratulations luke… can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with. must admit to a little jealousy!
L.
The food is amazing. I can’t stop thinking about it. Beautiful room and the service was great!
Such a joy to have wonderful fresh food that is created with such care. I had the pleasure of trying many items on the menu and none disapointed. The risotto is perfectly simple, reminding one just how good butter and cheese can be. Cngratulations.
Simply delicious food, wonderful ambiance and fantastic service. We will be back!
Went and had dinner last night at La Quercia. Food and service excellent.
I was not too impressed by the deserts!
But overall a very good expericence
My wife and I visited La Quercia last night after 10:00 PM. We had come from a concert at the Chan Centre and missed dinner before the concert. One restaurant already had refused us although their door was open. I had noticed the crowd in La Quercia and so we crossed the street and walked west to this restaurant. Karin received us, checked with the back and said we were welcome. Adam came out and took our orders. I am gluten sensitive and generally don’t enjoy wines served at restaurants. With these limitations Adam put together a meal that was one of the best we’ve had in recent years. I am inept in Italian and they helped us through the menu and wines. We had prawns with a mild chili sauce and a small eggplant souffle. The main item was a flat steak cut and covered with pine nuts among other elements in the salad. They recommended an Australian white wine and Prunotto Moscato D’Asti. Both were good. The Moscato was excellent. Dessert was a cream, lemon and sugar combination that my wife had little chance of sharing equitably with me. In sum. Excellent attention and service. Excellent food and wine. We definitely were surprised and will return for more.
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