SARA SAYS: Where we’re dining now—italian

Create a blueprint for success and folks take notice. Now CIBO on King West has two siblings in Toronto, located in the top locations in town: Yorkville and Yonge/eglinton. From the minute the doors opened, there has not been a quiet day. They’re serving food that’s meant to be enjoyed instead of understood. The rustic Italian menu offers pasta, long and short, pizza, plain and fancy, veal, seafood, whole fish, roast chicken and inventive salads. Sundays, Bubbles and Brunch. Tuesday, Lobster and Linguine. Thursday, Club Sociale. Food you can trust.

Each location has its own dazzling style—created by designer Nadia di Donato—an extravagant mix of casual glamour that seems to bring out the lightheartedness in the clientele. In the Yonge/eglinton location, there is a Wine Angel, floating high above the two-story wine cellar, who will find the bottle you’ve ordered, glide down and hand it to your server. Seating is at the bar, in the main room or up in the mezzanine from where you can survey the entire scene. The King W. floor-to-ceiling, glassed-in wine room invites you in to have a taste and a nibble of Parmigiano Reggiano from a giant wheel. In each location, there are surprises to delight the senses. Fresh pasta is made before you; the pizzaiolo tosses the dough in the air, preparing it for the open pizza oven. This is dining for pleasure.

If you are in South Florida, you’ll find several Cibo locations. Happily, they have kept the same menu.