Menu Tasting @ Scaddabush

Scaddabush Italian Kitchen & Bar (Twitter: @SCADDABUSH) (Instagram: @Scaddabush) recently opened its door to the public in the heart of Mississauga. Located steps away from Square One Shopping Mall, Scaddabush, (formerly Alice Fazoolis’) is an Italian slang meaning “a little bit of this & a little bit of that”. Having said that, Scaddabush’s menu does offer a little bit of everything – basing their menu off a traditional Italian feast while also being able to focus on small plates and other shareable dishes.

To be quite honest, if you’ve been to Alice Fazoolis, then you’ll find that the decor at Scaddabush is not too noticeably different. Same coloured brick walls, with dark painted frames, and a huge patio located to the side of the restaurant. Though, they did add a few communal tables out on their patio and one inside.

I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of this shelf! Love the galore of jars!

Each table includes a few mismatched side sharing plates, butcher paper and black wax pencils and large kitchen towels as napkins.

Although the restaurant is still fairly new, our waiter was very knowledgeable about every little detail, plus he was also personable. He carefully went through the entire menu with us and came back frequently to check up on us even though the restaurant was noticeably packed! Our entrees did take a little bit of time to push through the kitchen but the manager came over and apologized – even I had to admit they were pretty packed for a Tuesday evening.

Pinot Grigio ICT, Citra, Abruzzo, Italy White Wine ($5.95 /6oz)

Charity Bread ($2.00)

Crusty Italian bread, rosemary, garlic and lots of butter, wrapped up in parchment paper, and freshly baked. Proceeds go to a local charity =)
So I don’t know which part about the Charity Bread is better – the fact that the proceeds go to charity or that it happens to also taste amazingly good?
Served piping hot, the charity bread is so tasty – full of garlic, butter and herbs! The inside of the bread is so moist and fluffly

Baked Carbonara ($9.73/Small)

Parmesan cream sauce, smoked bacon, scallions, garlic, black pepper, soft poached egg, fresh penne
Long story short, I knew I was going to order 2 pastas and Carbonara had to be one of them because I crave them all the time.
Because the Carbonara was baked, the top thin layer is quite the texture but slightly dry. But once you poach through the egg and mix it up a bit with the parmesan cream sauce then its quite flavourful with a good kick of black pepper spicing it up a bit.

Spaghetti & Meatball – Stuffed ($15.82)

Scaddabush Website: We love meatballs. And the secret to making them? Our special Sunday sauce. The kind that Nonna would slow cook at the start of the week. Each day we prepare a sauce just like that, adding bits of Parmesan and pancetta for flavour. Our half-pound meatballs are made with Certified Angus® beef, ricotta cheese and parsley, marinated with garlic, black pepper, porcini mushrooms and olive oil. Then it’s into our sauce to be simmered to absolute perfection. Choose between classic or pepperoni and mozzarella-stuffed. Nonna would approve. We’re certain you will too.

I was quite excited to try their Spaghetti & Meatball. Our Waiter told us these meatballs are marinated in their special Sunday sauce for 24 hours before serving.
The stuffed meatball was really tasting but with the addition of the mozzarella inside, it was a bit too powerful. I would probably just opt for the classic meatball next time
The spaghetti on the other hand was quite light in terms of flavour profile after eating the stuffed meatball

Close up Meatball – full of pepperoni, mozzarella, and herbs!

The Butcher ($15.97)

Bacon, Niagara Berkshire sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella, roasted garlic, red onions, San Marzano tomato sauce
Although the pizzas here aren’t made in a wood burning oven – its still served on a board & tastes yummy! Our pizza here was taken out of the oven at the perfect time. The crust was crispy but not charred and a lot thinner then what I had expected it to be.

Zeppole ($4.78)

Deep fried sweet dough, dusted with citrus sugar, served with chocolate hazelnut sauce for dipping
So after our server helped cleared our table, the manager came over and asked if we’d like to opt for some dessert. We were beyond full so we politely declined. 5 minutes later, she came back with the Zeppole and insisted we try them!
These little doughnuts were fried to a perfect colour. Lightly dusted in citrus sugar – the dough was very moist inside. I’m glad she had brought them over.

Close up of the doughnut!

Scaddabush is a great addition to the Mississauga scene – with an amazing patio & vibe to sip on some cocktails under the sun. The menu does indeed offer a little bit of everything. Its also not too often you’ll see a restaurant offer 2 different sizes of pasta portions for dinner – the small was quite filling for moi! The highlights for me were the charity bread, baked carbonara and the zeppole. Lots of goodies coming out of their kitchen. Please remember to make reservations as they do get quite busy (even on a Tuesday evening). Scaddabush is currently offering $25 gift card to those that join their Social Club. For more details please visit: www.scaddabush.com