Barcola Café

Barcola Bistro is situated on Parc Avenue in the heart of the Mile End and is quickly becoming a favourite local spot. Serving simple, high-quality Italian cuisine with brunch options on the weekend and a great value tasting menu on Thursday nights, this friendly, low-key restaurant will make you want to become a regular.

Before opening Barcola, Fabrizio Caprioli had 20 years of experience as a chef in the restaurant business, half spent in Montreal, the other half in Italy where he owned a restaurant in Trieste until moving to Canada in 2004. Fabrizio says he modelled Barcola after his old restaurant, while drawing on his experiences working in Montreal restaurants.

The location for Barcola, formerly a Chilean restaurant, had been vacant for almost a year so it needed major renovation, which Fabrizio and his family undertook themselves. Fabrizio spends almost 15 hours a day in his family-run restaurant, while his wife comes in as a manager in the evenings.