The street festivals of Toronto continued this weekend, as College Street was overtaken by the Taste of Little Italy. We walked down to taste it for ourselves.
The festival was set up to celebrate College Street's rich Italian history, as well as the burgeoning international community in the area today. The street is packed with Italian restaurants and bars, all of which were spilling out onto the sidewalks with outdoor patios.
The festival was in full swing when we arrived on Saturday evening, and we were greeted by one of the numerous live acts performing on the street. Having deliberately worked up an appetite for the festival, we quickly sought out some of the street food on offer, and ended up with a grilled octopus salad with mint dressing, chroizo and spicy chickpeas. It was delicious.
We then picked up a fresh lemonade and set off down the road, exploring more of the festivities as we went. We had in our heads that we wanted to pick up a good slice of pizza, but as it turned out there were more Mexican and Japanese street food vendors than there were Italian. We ended up taking a seat on one of the patios for a refreshing beer and a pizza, while three of the surrounding bars competed for volume with their respective DJs. It was a bit chaotic, but we quickly got used to it, and - as can be expected from Little Italy - our pizzas were great.
After dinner, we slowly sauntered home, passing by some traditional Italian singing (audience participation welcome) as we made our way off College and away from the crowds. We continued to wander up through the surrounding leafy neighbourhoods, all the way back to our apartment, picking up an ice cream along the way for a bit more refreshment. We continue to really enjoy Toronto's many street festivals, and this will not be our last.
(SLIDESHOW)
This time last year we were soaking up the sun on Woodbine Beach, and two years ago it was, against all odds, sunny in Newfoundland, so we set out for a Lighthouse Picnic with our friends.
