Co-owner of The Bertossi Group (The Bicycle Thief, il Mercato, La Frasca Cibi + Vini, Ristorante a Mano) Stephanie Bertossi says it was a fluke that she ended up in the food industry. “I moved to Calgary and I had to get a job,” she laughs. “And I just never looked back.” Since then, she’s […]
il Mercato Trattoria, Halifax
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Italian Restaurant
Gold Winner il Mercato Trattoria, Halifax Silver Winner Ristorante a Mano Bronze Winner daMaurizio Fine Dining Since 2002, il Mercato has been owning gold for Best Italian restaurant—although this one will be its last. The Spring Garden legend, best known for traditional dishes, fresh pastas and sweet desserts (most famously their true Italian gelato), has […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Desserts
Gold Winner Sweet Hereafter Cheesecakery Silver Winner The Middle Spoon Desserterie & Bar Bronze Winner il Mercato Trattoria, Halifax When you’re looking to satisfy a sweet-tooth craving, Sweet Hereafter is the place to go. It has—brace yourselves—100 different cheesecake flavours. That’s almost too much deliciousness to even fathom. Even Joanne MacDougall, who owns the place […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Pasta
Gold Winner il Mercato Trattoria, Halifax Silver Winner Vinnie’s Pasta Bar Bronze Winner Ristorante a Mano Collecting its second gold of 2013, downtown’s recently departed il Mercato wins for Best Pasta. Its true-Italian-inspired dishes included handmade ravioli, seafood linguine with garlic in white wine cream sauce, pesto penne with sundried tomatoes and arugula…yep, our mouths […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Pasta
Gold Winner il Mercato Trattoria Silver Winner Vinnie’s Pasta Bar Bronze Winner The Vines We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, they’re doing something right. Manager Sean Neil says at il Mercato they’ve got their pasta-making down to a science—and clearly you guys agree. “It’s about how they boil the pasta,” he explains, […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Desserts
We could go on and on, praising Il Mercato for its delicious Italian desserts, but we think the right impression could be made just by listing a few of them. So, here goes: You can try Zuccotto (alternating layers of genoise, straticiatelle, chocolate mousse, covered in chocolate ganache), Pistachio Almond Cake (a rich, moist cake […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Pasta
A frequent winner in this category, Il Mercato remains the destination for Haligonians who love their pasta dishes. Options include the rigatoni—sauteeed with pancetta, onions and tomato, black olive pesto, topped with goat cheese—or the linguine— sauteed with green beans, roasted pinenuts, basil pesto, cream and parmigiano—or the handmade ravioli—filled with roasted chicken, wild mushrooms […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Italian Restaurant
In honour of this year’s 10th edition of the Best of Food survey, we are calling special attention to some restaurants that won back in 2002, and also won in 2011 (not to mention winning plenty of prizes in between). Il Mercato is one such restaurant, which has become legendary over the last decade for […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Desserts
Again Il Mercato gets a hat trick of awards for the third year running. That’s got to be some kind of record. We said it last year and we’ll say it again: it speaks to a consistency of quality in the linguini, the tomato, the fromaggi, the atmosphere, the excellent service and the high quality […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Pasta
Again Il Mercato gets a hat trick of awards for the third year running. That’s got to be some kind of record. We said it last year and we’ll say it again: it speaks to a consistency of quality in the linguini, the tomato, the fromaggi, the atmosphere, the excellent service and the high quality […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Italian Restaurant
Again Il Mercato gets a hat trick of awards for the third year running. That’s got to be some kind of record. We said it last year and we’ll say it again: it speaks to a consistency of quality in the linguini, the tomato, the fromaggi, the atmosphere, the excellent service and the high quality […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Where to find the best ice cream
As days get colder and shorter, what better way to savour the last weeks of summer than by slamming copious amounts of ice cream down your throat? But even the simplest pleasures can lead to confusion in today’s consumer culture—we have a slew of frozen treats to choose from and all are not created equal. […]