Written by Dahlia Merlo on 04.05.15

From the Bottega and Hostaria family, a new player is born: San Gennaro, right next door to big bro Bottega in Little Italy. The Covone brothers and cugino (cousin) Mauro opened up a pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice – when in Rome!) and café that is sure to knock your socks off.

We can promise you that you’re going to love this little café with a lot of heart. Everything there is made in-house, down to the candied orange peels in their ricotta cannoli stuffing (oh, and there are chocolate chips in there too).

Photo: Dahlia Merlo (@dahllii)

The pièce de résistance is their pizza, made with a thin focaccia dough that is simple, light, but firm enough to hold all the drool-worthy ingredients. Some of our favourites are the simple basil, tomato, and fresh cheese pizza, the potato and lardo pizza (lardo should always be part of a well-balanced diet), blue cheese, endive, caramelized onion, and mint pizza, and the classic margherita with prosciutto pizza. We can’t get enough of their pizza combinations. The pizzas aren’t sauce-heavy, so you can really taste each individual ingredient. Our suggestion: go with a friend, order a variety of pizzas, and share.

Photo: Dahlia Merlo (@dahllii)

For a little somethin’ somethin’ to go along with your pizza, try their arancini, stuffed with peas, cheese, and veal (happiness). They will also soon be serving a salad bar. We can’t wait to see their creativity shine through!

For dessert, because you can’t leave without something sweet, there is an endless selection. There are those sinful cannoli that they stuff only upon order, fruit tarts, like the plum (yum!) tart, and bomboloni. Bomboloni are Italian doughnuts stuffed with happiness, in this case either Nutella or pastry cream. They are currently testing a white chocolate hazelnut stuffing… we may or may not have tasted it and we may or may not have died and gone to heaven. We can’t forget their delicious and bite-sized biscotti, amaretti cookies, and brutti ma buoni cookies (translation: ugly but good).

Photo: Dahlia Merlo (@dahllii)

To wash it all down, try an expertly made espresso, cappuccino, or latte made with locally-sourced whole milk for added creaminess. For something cool, they carry the Jus Pur freshly-made juices that are both delicious and refreshing.

San Gennaro is a family-run café with as much heart as flavour, and you can see it (and taste it) in their food. Check them out this summer and enjoy a slice on their terrace in Little Italy. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

69 Rue Saint Zotique E, Montréal, QC H2S 1K7
(514) 267-6868

Post a Comment