Italian café pivots to indoor dining as Ontario restaurants prepare to reopen
The revolving opening and closing of indoor dining in Ontario has placed stress and strain on the restaurant industry. But, the owners of an Italian catering company in Toronto's west end are calling the current moment a “blessing in disguise” as they close their café and dive into indoor dining in time for Ontario’s latest round of reopening.
“We like to think that COVID made a lot of opportunities come from giving us a chance to look at each other and see what we can offer in a new framework,” said Sandra Morelli, co-owner of Morellina’s, alongside Lina Hatem.
Homemade pasta is served at Morellina's in Toronto, located at Christie and Pendrith Streets (Neighbourhood Creative). Since their business launched in 2018, it’s continuously evolved. “You have to roll with the punches,” Morelli said. Originally, Morellina’s was founded as an Italian catering company with a café to showcase their work on Christie Street, just a block north of Christie Pits Park.
However, in response to the seesaw of provincial pandemic restrictions, they packed up their pastry display fridge, downsized their espresso machine and ordered velvet benches to prepare the space for indoor dining.
“The catering is still going, but now we have a little gem of a home that we can host,” Morelli said. In their corner spot, windows flank the north and east beneath a fairy-tale-like turret that tops the two storey building.
With the café cleared, their space can accommodate 10 customers when capacity limits loosen to 50 per cent next week. In Morelli and Hatem’s eyes, the intimate space is advantageous – particularly now.
“If a family feels that they don’t want anyone else in because they are COVID sensitive, then we won’t let anyone else in,” Morelli said. “If there’s a group of two, and that party says they don’t mind, then we do social distancing.”
Homemade pasta is served at Morellina's in Toronto, located at Christie and Pendrith Streets (Neighbourhood Creative). Their business model is shaped around custom curating – whether that’s the menu, or arrangements at the venue. “We play it by ear and we play it per customer,” she said.
As the days leading up to the reopening of indoor dining dwindle, anticipation only builds for the owners.
“We are really excited to watch and hear people eat,” Morelli said. “It’s one of those little sounds that we miss.”
That optimism is the momentum that keeps pushing their business forward. “We know that if we just hold on this will get better.”
Background
Table Talk is a weekly CTV News Toronto series that explores the people who shape Toronto’s food scene, published every Friday at CTVNewsToronto.ca
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.