Located in the heart of Villeray, one of Montreal’s more eclectic and sought-after urban villages, Vesta is the newest offering from Stefano Faita and Michele Forgione, the duo behind Pizzeria Gema and Impasto, an incontournable of the city’s Italian dining scene.
Occupying the premises of an old neighbourhood trattoria, in terms of menu and design, their latest project is an homage to the Italian family restaurants of 1970s America. Though warm and welcoming, the interior by local studio Ménard Dworkind, is a contemporary take on that past.
The painted pine panelling, hanging light fixtures from Montreal makers, Lambert & Fils, and vintage chairs hint at nostalgia, but the glossy Carrara tabletops, dynamic open kitchen and rolled steel drinks cabinets above the bijou central bar are definitely of today, while the horizontal rack of acid yellow pizza boxes and artful displays of tinned tomatoes read as flashes of colour and humour. §
