Taste Of Burlington 2020 – Industria Pizzeria & Bar

If you’ve never thought about Burlington as a culinary destination, now’s the time to start. Back in 2008 the city met with restaurants to figure out how to bring awareness to the dining scene and from that, the idea for a prix fixe dining program, called Taste Of Burlington was born. This program was patterned after the sucessful Summerlicious and Winterlicious programs in Toronto and it has since grown into its own.

Normally, the Taste Of Burlington would be held twice a year with winter and summer editions, but this time  there had to be some adjustments made because of the ongoing pandemic. At this time it’s being held from October 5th-25th at 35 local restaurants. Of course there had to be some changes to allow diners to enjoy their meals while being safe. One of those changes is the introduction of a new mobile passport program with digital menus. This passport is web based so there’s no need to download anything. By using the passport to check in at participating restaurants, diners are entered to win weekly gift cards as well as a $500 grand prize.

This year, lunch will be offered at $15, $20 or $25 and dinner at $30, $35 or $40 depending on the restaurant. The Taste Of Burlington is also so much more than just the prix fixe dining program. Throughout the year different restaurants and recipes are featured on the website and events such as Lakeside a la Carte and E-A-T (Explore Authentic Tastes)are held.

One of the participating restaurants is Industria Pizzeria and Bar, a restaurant chain from Quebec. They’re  offering dine-in, patio dining and even a take-out option for their dishes. The Burlington location is massive with lots of wood and metal in the main dining room. The kitchen is open and a red pizza oven imported from Italy catches your eye no matter where you are in the dining room. Every so often you’ll see chefs slinging pizza dough into the air to stretch it before adding their toppings.



We were invited to sample their Taste Of Burlington dishes recently. The interesting thing about their dishes is that none of them, with the exception of the Funghi pizza, are featured on their regular menu. We spoke to one of the chefs who said that the dishes for Taste of Burlington menu are essentially auditioning for a place on their regular menu, with the best selling dishes earning a spot. We thought that this was a great idea as regular customers would have something different to try during the program.

Appetizers

We started off with the Tuna Tartare and The Mushroom Crostino. The tuna was very fresh and mixed with chili ponzu, cucumber, avocado, mint, and came with taro chips. This was hands down our favorite dish of the night. My wife, who isn’t a big seafood lover, was willing to fight me right then and there for the last bite. The Mushroom Crostino had a tough job following that tartare but the roasted mushrooms, provolone, truffle and pesto aioli was also very delicious.

Tuna Tartare

Mushroom Crostino

Entrees

Next up were the entrees. We had the seared branzino which was served atop crispy polenta discs, warm panzanella, and italian verde. This was delicious, and the little bits of Thai chilis really elevated this dish. The flavours and textures combined with the heat of the chilis made me think of summer.

We followed the branzino with house made tortelloni in a savoury ragu  sauce that was topped with parmesean and a crispy basil leaf. This was another winner for me, and we were getting so full we decided to pack it up to enjoy another day.



The last entree we tried was the risotto with grilled shrimp. The dish also featured green peas, roasted mushrooms ,and parmesean. To be honest I’m not a huge fan of risotto, maybe I just haven’t had a really good one, but the flavours were a bit too subtle for me. They were there, but I prefer stronger flavours.

Branzino

Tortelloni Alla Ragu

Risotto with grilled shrimp

Desserts

Lastly were the desserts. I saw that they had Pana Cotta for dessert so I was very happy, as that’s one of the things (along with crème brûlée) that I can never pass up on a menu. This Pana Cotta was served with a sort of blueberry compote and a thyme (yes, the herb) reduction. It was a fantastic sweet and herbaceous combination. The Espresso Cannoli were also good, but the filling wasn’t your usual ricotta filling. It was very light and I have to admit I would’ve preferred a little more espresso flavour.

Panna Cotta

Espresso Cannolis

All in all this was a delicious meal with great service and in my opinion a great deal for $35. We definitely enjoyed our night, and if you do end up eating at Industria Pizzeria & Bar during Taste Of Burlington make sure you order the Tuna Tartare, you’ll thank me later!

Disclosure: We were hosted by Industria Pizzeria and Bar but all opinions expressed are my own