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Food Food & Drink

Lotsa mozza at Obika

OBIKA (30 Yonge, at Front, 416-546-1062, obika.ca) Complete dinners for $40 per person (lunches $30), including all tax, tip and a glass of vino. Average main $15. Open Monday to Thursday 7 am to 11 pm, Friday 7 am to midnight, Saturday 11 am to midnight. Closed Sunday. Licensed. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNN


If you’re vegan, lactose-intolerant or just don’t care for cheese, Obika might not be the resto for you.

But, if you’re mad for mozzarella – especially pricey European Union-protected Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP flown in directly from the mother country – the two-week-old Italian franchise in the atrium of the BCE is your kind of place. Day two lunch, and the 100-seat casual trat is already packed to the rafters.

At first bite, the breezy space across from the rebooted Marché seems a bit corporate. There must be at least a dozen servers on the floor, all in head-to-toe black, the 16-outlet international’s logo splashed fetchingly across their chests. Centre stage, a fake olive tree worthy of the Rainforest Café turns out to be the real thing.

The service is genuine, too. We’re expecting chaos but encounter a well-oiled machine that feels like its been up and running for months. Our knowledgeable guide informs us that the entire staff was drilled on the intricacies of cheese for three weeks leading up to the launch.

She gets us started with a double-barrelled amuse de fromage, one a shot glass of smooth Bufala Classica and cherry tomatoes on a skewer, the second creamy Burrata dressed with fresh arugula and black olive tapenade.

“But what about the carbon footprint?” asks the Literary Device as we’re about to begin Obika’s three-course degustazione di Mozzarelle. “Couldn’t they use local mozzarella instead?”

By the time he’s polished off the lot – one ball each of incredibly rich Classica, buttery Burrata and smoky Bufala Affumicata ($34, and enough for two people) sided with tissue-thin slices of DOP prosciutto, Parma ham and mortadella (an additional $12) and a whole lotta cherry tomatoes ‘n’ arugula – he’s ready to pilot the next plane.

Mozzarella becomes cheesy sushi when wrapped around ham, cured bresaola and wild smoked salmon (I Rotoli, $24). You can also add it to your grilled artichoke and pumpkin-seed crostini salad ($6.50) and find it in the Obiclub ($12), a pressed triple-decker take on a BLT drizzled with garlic basil pesto.

The bread – love those knotted caraway nodini in the bread basket! – and pastries like cannoli ($4.50) and blueberry jam tarts ($3.99) are locally sourced.

Oddly, one of the few items on Obika’s extensive card that’s not officially certified is the entry-level Margherita pizza ($14), although that’s not what they call it.

Sure, it comes with DOP mozzarell’, fresh basil and San Marzano tomato sauce, and its thin, blistered crust is appropriately floppy. But unlike Pizza Libretto and Queen Margherita Pizza, Obika hasn’t ponied up the membership to the Vera Pizza Napoletana, the EU-sanctioned watchdog that says what is and isn’t a Margherita.

Ain’t bureaucracy grand?

stevend@nowtoronto.com

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