NO LONGER IN OPERATION
The Tomato Pie Company
1 – 167 Osborne Street, 204-477-6609
www.tomatopie.ca
Thursday, 5 pm, August 29, 2008
Winnipeg’s Osborne Village stands as one of the most popular and active areas in the city and the Tomato Pie Company jumps in as the latest restaurant to adorn this thriving strip. Located on the corner of Osborne and Warlaw Avenue, most people remember this building as the former home to the used CD/record store Into the Music, and the short-lived Dregs Café and Gallery.
Tomato Pie admirably transformed this building into a cozy yet open atmosphere. Taking advantage of the tall windows, half of the restaurant’s seating exposes diners to the continuous on-street activities of Osborne. Patrons have a front row seat in people-watching while relaxing in Tomato’s comfy chairs. If you prefer a more intimate setting, the back half of the restaurant sits behind an expansive bar, tucked away into the recesses. The subdued lighting allows you to discretely spy on the bright side of the restaurant while remaining somewhat incognito. If you really want to relax, a big cushy couch sits in the corner, far away from the noise of the street. The brick walls and the tall ceilings evoke an ambiance of old Italy, which of course is the intent.
Italian food is what Tomato is all about; you won’t find steak or ribs on their menu. Carnivores beware! The selection features a limited number of pasta mains and an option to mix and-match daily pastas with fillings. Tomato also boasts a variety of thin dough, crisp pizzas. If you’re not an Italian food fan, you better leave, but if you love Italian, you just hit the jackpot.
All the pasta dishes come with a salad side dish. Our friendly server warns that the portions are generous, thus dissuading a look at their limited but intriguing appetiser list. With a name like “The Tomato Pie Company,” I expect the freshest tomatoes and I expect them to taste like mine out of the garden. The salad comes and the tomatoes don’t disappoint. The generous wedges of bright red tomatoes sit comfortably atop a bed of assorted crisp and fresh greens. The abundant slivers of red onions augment the salad nicely. Tomato only offers one salad topping—an herbed oil and vinegar dressing. This simple dressing means to show off the high quality olive oil but in the end, the salad tastes a little bland. I would spice up the dressing with some aged balsamic vinegar or substitute with a subtle raspberry vinegar.
The main course comes with a thick slice of sourdough bread with a deliciously crisp and crunchy crust; I toss the bread aside for now and dig into the heart of the pasta. The feature pastas of the day are penne and fettuccini and I opt for the former in an arrabiatta (hot and spicy tomato basil) sauce. Whenever I see “spicy” on a menu, I suspect that the dish will never come as spicy as I want, and that holds true here. The tomato sauce neither tastes spicy nor basil-like. The boldness of the tomato flavour drowns out subtleties of the herbs and even the bountiful chunks of garlic. My only criticism lies in boosting the spiciness and kicking in some more basil. After all, the basil-tomato combination is one of the all-time Italian classics. Despite the one shortcoming, the sauce still rivals some of the best I tasted, coming from crushed delicious tomatoes that maintain the beautiful garden-tomato taste. It is truly a wonderful tomato sauce but needs more of the delicate herbs to fully draw out its wonder.
From the tempting list of fillings, I select the baby meatballs to complete my dish. Described as “baby,” I expect tiny orbs of meat that blend into the mixture, similar to a meat sauce; however the meatballs come in bite-size rounds that augment the sauce perfectly. These delicious meatballs have just the right amount of herbs and seasonings to jump out and hold its own against the formidable sauce. Tomato’s generosity ensures that you don’t need to dig through your dish to find the treasured two-meat meatballs. After I devour the meatballs and finish the last quill of my penne, I break-up the bread to sop up the remainder of the delicious sauce. The salad and pasta combination comes to $14—a bargain by any standard.
If you want to try the delicious meatballs but you also want to try the pizza, I recommend the Messina pizza. The thin crusted pizza comes with a generous amount of tomato sauce (which I love) and an adequate count of Italian sauce, along with the delicious meatballs. I love meat as much as the next person (probably more) but I find the pizza a little empty without a little bit of vegetable matter. A bit of red onions or peppers would improve this pizza immensely. However, if you're a true carnivore and you don't want to defile your pizza with non-animal matter, you'll love the pizza. At $14, this is a fair buy.
A short wine list accompanies the menu. This list features only Italian wines, carefully selected to nicely complement the array of pasta dishes. The selection of white wines all have a crispy lead with an acidic spine—perfect to cut through any white sauce. The reds are light and fruity, ideally suited to the range of red sauces. If you want something stronger, Tomato offers a number of imported beers that have some gusto.
The Tomato Pie Company is not a very large restaurant and the tables fill up quickly over the dinner hour—making reservations is a good idea. Sitting in the heart of Osborne Village, it won’t take long for diners to quickly discover some of the finest pasta in Winnipeg. Give it a try.
****½ /5
The Tomato Pie Company
1 – 167 Osborne Street, 204-477-6609
www.tomatopie.ca
Thursday, 5 pm, August 29, 2008
Winnipeg’s Osborne Village stands as one of the most popular and active areas in the city and the Tomato Pie Company jumps in as the latest restaurant to adorn this thriving strip. Located on the corner of Osborne and Warlaw Avenue, most people remember this building as the former home to the used CD/record store Into the Music, and the short-lived Dregs Café and Gallery.
Tomato Pie admirably transformed this building into a cozy yet open atmosphere. Taking advantage of the tall windows, half of the restaurant’s seating exposes diners to the continuous on-street activities of Osborne. Patrons have a front row seat in people-watching while relaxing in Tomato’s comfy chairs. If you prefer a more intimate setting, the back half of the restaurant sits behind an expansive bar, tucked away into the recesses. The subdued lighting allows you to discretely spy on the bright side of the restaurant while remaining somewhat incognito. If you really want to relax, a big cushy couch sits in the corner, far away from the noise of the street. The brick walls and the tall ceilings evoke an ambiance of old Italy, which of course is the intent.
Italian food is what Tomato is all about; you won’t find steak or ribs on their menu. Carnivores beware! The selection features a limited number of pasta mains and an option to mix and-match daily pastas with fillings. Tomato also boasts a variety of thin dough, crisp pizzas. If you’re not an Italian food fan, you better leave, but if you love Italian, you just hit the jackpot.
All the pasta dishes come with a salad side dish. Our friendly server warns that the portions are generous, thus dissuading a look at their limited but intriguing appetiser list. With a name like “The Tomato Pie Company,” I expect the freshest tomatoes and I expect them to taste like mine out of the garden. The salad comes and the tomatoes don’t disappoint. The generous wedges of bright red tomatoes sit comfortably atop a bed of assorted crisp and fresh greens. The abundant slivers of red onions augment the salad nicely. Tomato only offers one salad topping—an herbed oil and vinegar dressing. This simple dressing means to show off the high quality olive oil but in the end, the salad tastes a little bland. I would spice up the dressing with some aged balsamic vinegar or substitute with a subtle raspberry vinegar.
The main course comes with a thick slice of sourdough bread with a deliciously crisp and crunchy crust; I toss the bread aside for now and dig into the heart of the pasta. The feature pastas of the day are penne and fettuccini and I opt for the former in an arrabiatta (hot and spicy tomato basil) sauce. Whenever I see “spicy” on a menu, I suspect that the dish will never come as spicy as I want, and that holds true here. The tomato sauce neither tastes spicy nor basil-like. The boldness of the tomato flavour drowns out subtleties of the herbs and even the bountiful chunks of garlic. My only criticism lies in boosting the spiciness and kicking in some more basil. After all, the basil-tomato combination is one of the all-time Italian classics. Despite the one shortcoming, the sauce still rivals some of the best I tasted, coming from crushed delicious tomatoes that maintain the beautiful garden-tomato taste. It is truly a wonderful tomato sauce but needs more of the delicate herbs to fully draw out its wonder.
From the tempting list of fillings, I select the baby meatballs to complete my dish. Described as “baby,” I expect tiny orbs of meat that blend into the mixture, similar to a meat sauce; however the meatballs come in bite-size rounds that augment the sauce perfectly. These delicious meatballs have just the right amount of herbs and seasonings to jump out and hold its own against the formidable sauce. Tomato’s generosity ensures that you don’t need to dig through your dish to find the treasured two-meat meatballs. After I devour the meatballs and finish the last quill of my penne, I break-up the bread to sop up the remainder of the delicious sauce. The salad and pasta combination comes to $14—a bargain by any standard.
If you want to try the delicious meatballs but you also want to try the pizza, I recommend the Messina pizza. The thin crusted pizza comes with a generous amount of tomato sauce (which I love) and an adequate count of Italian sauce, along with the delicious meatballs. I love meat as much as the next person (probably more) but I find the pizza a little empty without a little bit of vegetable matter. A bit of red onions or peppers would improve this pizza immensely. However, if you're a true carnivore and you don't want to defile your pizza with non-animal matter, you'll love the pizza. At $14, this is a fair buy.
A short wine list accompanies the menu. This list features only Italian wines, carefully selected to nicely complement the array of pasta dishes. The selection of white wines all have a crispy lead with an acidic spine—perfect to cut through any white sauce. The reds are light and fruity, ideally suited to the range of red sauces. If you want something stronger, Tomato offers a number of imported beers that have some gusto.
The Tomato Pie Company is not a very large restaurant and the tables fill up quickly over the dinner hour—making reservations is a good idea. Sitting in the heart of Osborne Village, it won’t take long for diners to quickly discover some of the finest pasta in Winnipeg. Give it a try.
****½ /5
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