Rita, Montreal

Rita is, according to my tight-knit network of local foodie contacts, one of the latest hottest restaurants  in town.

They bake pizza using a wood-burning oven. I happen to be partial to wood-burning oven pizza, so right there, Rita caught my attention. Aside from wood-burning pizze, they do also offer the usual food items you typically find in most Italian-inspired bistrots (pastas, salads, etc.).

Rita is straightforward when it comes to her identity: on  her instagram she describes herself as ”  C’est un peu l’Italie, c’est surtout Montréal” which is French for “It’s a little bit of Italy, but mostly Montreal”.

 

I went to eat at Rita’s for the first time and  here’s what happened:

First, I  ordered the meatballs. Rita offers 3 of them for $14. The expected juicy texture in evidence, the aromatics and seasoning properly balanced. The Chef, who happens to be also one of the co-owners,  is Italian. His wife who is Québécoise is the other owner, hence the Italo-Québécoise or Italo-Montréalaise identity of the restaurant. Apparently, according to the staff, he is relatively young, but what mattered most is the observation that both him and his kitchen brigade know how to cook proper Italian food. The meatballs had proper Italian flavour profile and if you meet an Italian who disagrees with this, then the dude is still living in his “several decades ago nonna’s” fantasies. Do not get me wrong, I too love la nonna and the rustic and the classic and the traditional, etc… trust me, if Dal Pescatore is for me the #1 restaurant in the world…it’s because a nonna is there, doing some magical things in that world class restaurant and I have the highest respect for that…you know, I could have easily picked Noma, Alinea, The Fat Duck, Quique Da Costa, Mugaritz, Geranium as the restaurant of my dreams. Instead it is Dal Pescatore. That speaks volume for  my profound admiration of  Italian classic cooking. So, if I say that the Chef of Rita is cooking food that has a genuine Italian identity, that is not coming from a random tourist who, after couple of heavy drinks, has decided that …oh.. that is genuinely Italian. Nah! There’s no one who will genuinely tell you that Dal Pescatore is great based on approximate understanding of Italian cooking, trust yourself on that one! So, the Chef  of Rita is offering a refined contemporary  approach of Italian cuisine, indeed, but do not confuse that with anything else: he is not altering anything, the flavours are genuinely Italian. A superb dish of meatballs (simple, as always with Italian cooking, but simple does not mean ordinary when a skilled Italian Chef cooks. Which was the case, here). Great. 8/10

 

-Then I went on with Verdun hot honey pizza (vodka sauce, Provolone, Grana Padano, coppa, homemade ricotta, red onions and hot honey). At first, I wanted to order the Pizza Rita which is their closest take on the Margherita pizza. But based on the previous dish, I knew the Chef and his kitchen brigade would get that one right, too easy for them as they have proven to be capable of proper Italian cooking. So I decided to go with one of their other popular pizze. According to the online reviews on Rita, the verdun hot honey pizza  appears to be popular. Glad to see that Montrealers seem to appreciate a hot honey pizza. The Montreal restaurant scene, when it comes to trends, it is generally years behind. Hot honey pizza has been enjoyed by hordes of patrons elsewhere, and yet for Montreal it sounds like a novelty. Anyways, better late than never, I’d guess, Lol.  I was curious to see how Rita’s  would fare. Usually, the sweetness of honey goes well with, let us say, a hard cheese like parmesan, some marinara sauce, olives, sausages. Here, no marinara sauce, but the vodka sauce worked really well with the hot honey as you would expect. No olives, no sausages, no parmesan, but I find the  the softer, butterier and delicate flavour profile of the grana padano to be a better companion to the hot honey (and of course, it goes without saying that the ricotta is a natural pairing, here). The hot honey highlighting perfectly the sweet and salty combination of this pizza. No boozy feel or smell, from the vodka, at all (vodka being a neutral spirit). And even though ‘honey’ is part of the equation, you will not feel any heavy  sugary / syrupy input here (the honey input is subtle, which is actually my preference). Add a bit of the chili oil (it’s there, you cannot miss it, they will serve it alongside the pizza), here and there, to add a bit more fun to the pizza. It’s not that hot, so do not worry, your tongue will not split in half  Lol. Few weeks prior, I was at a legendary wood-fired pizza parlour in Mile End, one that I have cherished since its very first day (in  2010) and all I wish to them, nowadays, if continued greatness matters to them, is to come here and reconnect with how a proper wood-fired pizza is done. GG (Genuinely Good). 7.5/10

 

–Gnocchi al Forno (tomato sauce with vodka, cream, dried cherry tomato, ricotta, Provolone & Grana Padano). What drew me to this dish is the tomato vodka sauce and my love for gnocchi (one of my preferred types of dumplings … flirt with couple of superlative gnocchi and it won’t be long before you fall in love with it, Lol – trust yourself on that one). The vodka sauce, I like it because I love the simple things in life that can be hugely rewarding for the soul, and the vodka sauce is a simple sauce that can be  soul satisfying (basically a tomato-based sauce with a hint of vodka, with a bit of heavy cream). The tomato/vodka sauce packed with superb bright tomato flavours that were further enhanced by the hint of tanginess left behind by the (obviously evaporated) vodka (a taste sensation that I am partial to). One supreme example of a superlative dish of  gnocchi was this one I once had at A Cantina da Mananan (Corniglia, Cinque Terre), which was the  stuff that dreams are made of, indeed, but Rita’s, although not in that same league, was still perfectly enjoyable (can’t go wrong with such comforting flavours) and well executed (timely baked). Rita is using quality ingredients, a feature of this dish as well as a feature of all other food items I have sampled. 7/10

 

–Affogato – Homemade Ice Cream and espresso. Last year, I heard, from a local foodie, about their young pastry Cheffe. According to that foodie, she is Italian in her late 20ish. At that time, I did not really pay attention to what that foodie was telling me but he was basically saying that he was at an Italian event and there was that young pastry Cheffe who had baked some superb nonna worthy cakes, etc. Anyways, I forgot about that until recently, when that same foodie told me that, since I would give Rita a try, I should also try their desserts as their pastry Cheffe happens to be that very same aforementioned young Pastry Cheffe. Now, I generally do not order sweets/desserts at Italian restaurants. But what that foodie told me piqued my curiosity, therefore I ordered not 1, not 2 but 3 sweets/desserts, to see what this young Italian pastry Cheffe was all about. First, the Affogato – Homemade Ice Cream and espresso. Well, this young Pastry Cheffe is not joking. I am notoriously picky with sweets/desserts, but her work forced me to surrender, Lol: the ice cream packed with exciting flavours, the espresso would make a nonno really proud (I particularly do not mess around with my espresso – as explained in this post, when I need to make my tiramisu at home, I drop by an old school Italian caffe for the espresso I will use for my tiramisu. That tells you how I am very serious about the espresso. Well, this young lady did pair that world class ice cream with a world class espresso during that meal. It was that excellent. And yet  the pasticciere had other tricks up her sleeve … 9/10)

Next move of the pasticciere:

 

–Homemade cannoli. Superb crisp fried shell (so light and delicate – a marvel of engineering. I respect the old school heavy textures of the cannoli, and I would guess that some old minds frozen in the past would have hard time adapting to how cannoli have evolved, Rfaol, but this new sophisticated light shell was dazzling ) with an equally superb filling (of seaberry/raspberry flavoured ricotta). The pasticciere is young, but it was easy to see that she could do whatever she wants, whatever you need, a  testament to her great skills: you need it old nonna school way, she will get it done. You need it in its contemporary rendition, she will make it happen. So, contemporary and refined this one was. Top top marks! 9/10

 

The  pasticciere continued to steal the show. I know, not her intent Lol. But it is what it is. Next and last act of her superb work:

Olive oil Italian cake, whipped mascarpone cream, jam.  The mascarpone tasting fresh, the jam adding extra exciting sweet tones. As mentioned earlier on, they use quality produce and that makes an obvious difference as well. The cake flawlessly executed  (again, exactly as with the work of the main Chef, the Italian flavour profiles are never altered. It is not because it does not look old that it is not genuine. Old means old. I respect “Old” — we are ALL going to be Old at some point in our lives, right?  — but Old does not necessarily means Genuine. That is what needs to be understood, here). Another superb creation of this amazing skilled young pasticciere. 8/10

Moving forward, all my reviews (starting from Jan 1st 2023) will mention the service ONLY if I found it necessary/worthy of mention (there is a problem of education, these days. Many people have no education, consequently all they have to offer is poor/bad service, and you find them everywhere, in the restaurant business and anywhere else, and it’s so common that it is easier for me to simply mention the places where I had a good service, Lol. No kidding). If I do not mention the service, needless to guess what I mean, Lol. So Rita does not suffer from that problem, which is why I am taking the time to mention the service at Rita’s.  The service at Rita was really good, indeed. As I have just mentioned, I generally do not mention the service when it is of the “untrained” — or, as I would politely describe, in my mother tongue, French,  as “éducation de porcherie” —   sort, but here, at Rita’s, it was of the classy sort and you can see that they are trained and educated. As an example, these days, in Montreal, at a bistrot-type dining establishment (which is the case of Rita), you will see more and more of the ‘keep the same utensils all along your meal ” mentality. But here, they are classy: they change your utensils for every single course as classy people are used to. I mean, I do not care anymore…either approach works for me…my philosophy in life being “I’ll deal with crap wherever there’s crap and I’ll appreciate class wherever there’s class”….so anything goes, Lol…but I value classy people, therefore I took a moment to salute their classy service.

Bottom line: I know that I am sometimes not kind in my views of  the restaurant industry, deservedly so, but Rita is the proof that, if you do things right, I will happily give you props when that is deserved. I loved Rita. Really did. Because I do not ask and do not expect the moon. Never. I just expect the basics / the minimum that is expected from a restaurant to be fulfilled. Just do the basics and do it well, and I will be a happy camper. Rita did exactly that. So, yep it is one one of the better restaurants in town, right now. Smart move on their part not to go with yet another classic Italian formula (there are many good classic Italian restaurants, already, in and around Montreal), but to inspire themselves from Italy and come up with something that is cosmopolitan and contemporary exactly like the city where they are situated, Montreal, which allows them to think outside the box when need be ((even though, as clearly explained in the review, the core Italian flavour profiles are there, for the undistracted minds), and that  is a good thing. Here’s what I found impressive about Rita: they could have walked away with some approximate Italian food with the excuse that “Hey…I already told ya that I am just a bit of Italy but mostly a lot of Montreal“, as per what they clearly mentioned on their instagram, but No…they have opted to be Italian where it should be and doing it very well. That is the kind of action that deserves high respect. Top respect to Ya, Folks! Top respect! As for  this young pasticciere,  if she is not already taken, then please marry her (sorry Rita!) !!!…hahaha!!! Cara mia pasticciere, come cucini bene! Molto impressionante! I would happily eat here again! Rita. Addr: 3681 Wellington St, Verdun, Quebec H4G 1V1. https://ritarestaurant.ca