Porzia’s : The Lasagna That Built a Restaurant

There’s a lasagna in Toronto that sells out almost every night. Fourteen layers of house-made pasta, slow-cooked all-beef bolognese, San Marzano tomatoes, three Italian cheeses, and a deeply golden, crispy crust on top that shatters when you break through it. It weighs nearly a pound. It costs $29. And it is, by most accounts, the best lasagna in the city.

But Porzia’s — the small, warm restaurant on Oakwood Avenue where this lasagna lives — is so much more than a one-dish story. Chef Basilio Pesce has built something quietly remarkable here: a 28-seat neighbourhood Italian that feels like it’s been part of the street for decades, where everything is made by hand, the ingredients are impeccable, and every plate carries the weight of a family’s history.

From Sunday Sauce to Sold-Out Trays

Basilio Pesce grew up in Toronto in a first-generation Italian-Canadian household — both parents from the same small town near Bari, in Puglia. The kind of family where Sunday lunch was an event, where food was love made visible, and where a kid who liked to cook was never short of inspiration.

He went to culinary school at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver, then came home and worked his way through some of the best kitchens in the city — Canoe, Bymark, North 44, Biff’s Bistro — spending years in the Oliver & Bonaccini universe under corporate executive chef Anthony Walsh. Eventually, he opened his first restaurant, Porzia (no apostrophe), in Parkdale. It lasted just under three years, but it planted a seed. On Sundays, he served lasagna. People remembered.

When the pandemic hit, Pesce started selling trays of lasagna through Instagram. The first batch — 18 trays — sold out in an hour. Before long, 36 trays were disappearing in under a minute. The demand was relentless. And when it became clear this wasn’t a passing thing, Pesce took the leap: he found a space on Oakwood Avenue, and Porzia’s was born.

The Room

The restaurant was designed by Commute, the Toronto studio also known for Aloette and Oretta. The brief was simple: make it feel like it’s always been here. And they nailed it. The space is warm and minimalist — natural wood, tilework, archways, straight angles — with a blue-tiled bar, candy-green stools, and warm brass lighting overhead. A few family photos hang on the walls. That’s it. No gimmicks, no excess. Just a room that feels lived-in, welcoming, and unmistakably Italian.

Beyond the Lasagna

Yes, the lasagna is extraordinary — fourteen layers of silky house-made sheets, an all-beef bolognese simmered with San Marzano tomatoes, a blend of pecorino romano, parmigiano reggiano, and mozzarella, all broiled until the top is thick, bubbly, and deeply browned. It’s the dish that put Porzia’s on the map, and it deserves every bit of its reputation.

But to come here only for the lasagna would be to miss some genuinely beautiful cooking. The calamari is done tempura-style — a gossamer-thin batter of chickpea flour and carbonated water that fries up impossibly light and crispy, served with lemon aioli and Calabrian chilies. The spaghetti with Argentine red shrimp is bright and punchy, tossed al limone with garlic and a kick of chili. The duck ragù — braised legs in a rich tomato sauce, served over house-extruded rigatoni — is the kind of dish that makes you forget what month it is.

Everything is made in-house. Every pasta sheet, every strand of spaghetti, every tube of rigatoni. It’s a full pasta programme run out of a tiny kitchen, and the care shows in every bite.

The crudo is a quieter revelation: dry-aged Kampachi, cured for seven days by Oroshi Fish Company, sliced thin and dressed with high-quality olive oil and a fermented citrus-chili condiment made from lemon zest and fresh chilies. It’s delicate, precise, and a perfect counterpoint to the heartier dishes.

For dessert, the tiramisu soft serve has become a signature in its own right: a base of sabayon and ladyfingers topped with vanilla soft serve and dusted in good cocoa powder. It’s playful, nostalgic, and exactly the right way to end a meal here.

Wine Without Pretension

The wine list is compact but thoughtfully curated, leaning Italian — Puglia, Abruzzo, Tuscany, Piedmont, Friuli — with natural wines, orange wines, rosés, and sparkling options rounding things out. There are also a few French, Spanish, and North American selections for variety. The prices are fair, the pours are generous, and the philosophy is the same as the food: good stuff, no fuss, great value.

“We want wine that’s not intimidating,” says Pesce. “For the size of the restaurant, we have a very good selection.”

Why We Love It

Porzia’s is a restaurant built on something real — a family recipe, a chef’s persistence, and the kind of grassroots following that no marketing budget can manufacture. Basilio Pesce didn’t set out to create Toronto’s most famous lasagna. He just kept making the dish his mother taught him, and people couldn’t get enough.

What he’s built around it is even more impressive: a genuine neighbourhood Italian spot where the pasta is made by hand and the ingredients speak for themselves. It’s exactly the kind of restaurant every city needs more of.

Written by Fabie Lubin
Photography by Scott Usheroff (Craving Curator)

Updated on May 11, 2026

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