The house

Nonna Rosa, two grandsons, one stubborn oven

Rosa Bianchi learned sauce in a courtyard kitchen and never wrote the recipe down the way a book wants it. Salt until it tastes like home. The grandsons — Luca at the peel, Matteo on the phone — keep the room moving. We have been on Danforth since 2014.

This is not a quiet tasting room. Sunday is loud. The radio is Italian. If you want a lecture on dough hydration, we will send you to another street. If you want a pie that tastes like someone’s nonna is still in the back, you are in the right doorway.

The stone

We fire a small stone oven. It is not theatre. It is how Rosa will bake. The floor holds heat; the pies take a minute; we send them out while the crust still sings.

The neighbourhood

1286 Danforth Avenue. East end of Danforth. You can walk from the subway. There is no reservation book. Call, we tell you how long.