Eatdrink #79 September/October 2019

eatdrink: The Local Food & Drink Magazine
September/October 2019 | 15
how to make wood-fired pizzas by pizza
champions. They were coached on the owning
and operating of a restaurant. Later chef/
instructor David Rosen was engaged as a
culinary consultant. Carla tells me, “Dino had
been preparing for this restaurant
from birth.”
The kitchen is Dino’s
sphere, and he and
Chef Nolan Darling
translate the
region-specific
Italian culinary
canon
with a blended
regional perspective.
It is an
Fat Olive owners Dino and Carla Dassie
interpretation of
the ever-elusive concept
of Italian culinary
authenticity that comprises
19 geographic regions, each of
which has many subsets of idiosyncratic aesthetics
and flavour profiles. The pared-down,
uncomplicated presentation at Fat Olive hits
the flavour mark, as each element of every
dish is combined deftly and with thought.
Chef Darling spent a decade cooking in different
kitchens, featuring different styles of
food, and using a wide variety of ingredients,
before landing at Fat Olive. His career began
when he was hired as a dishwasher in a downtown
London restaurant. He needed the job to
pay for tuition at the Architectural Technology
program at Fanshawe College. “After
a few months of washing plates
with baked-on cheese, an
abundance of cutlery,
silver ramekins full
of sauces and dips,
and sauté pans upon
sauté pans, I finally
was able to become a
line cook,” he states on
his blog mukngrub.com.
Fat Olive’s menu
offerings capture the essence
of Italian cookery. The cuisine is
intuitive, menu items iconic and prepared
with locally-sourced and quality Italianspecific
specialty ingredients, interpreted
with skill and an eye towards tradition. Like
many good Italian restaurants, consistency
and the quality of the menu offerings are the
hallmarks of the Fat Olive experience.
For Fat Olive’s rich tomato sauce, Dino
Front House Manager Sonia Williamson
and servers Sarah Vanbesien, Jade
Williamson, and Tia Tessier.
prefers using Mutti-brand tomatoes from
the Parma-based Italian company. They’re
grown in Southern Italy and preserved at the
height of tomato season when the fruit is at
its peak. They use several DOP (an affirmation
of specificity and literally a protected
designation of origin) types of
cheese like Piave, which
is produced in the
Dolomites area in
the northernmost
tip of the
Veneto region,
Montasio, a
nutty, semi-hard
mountain cheese
from the Veneto
region, and Asiago,
a semi-cooked cow’s
milk cheese from the
Asiago plateau.
Dino sources his pepperoni,
ground beef, ground pork, and pancetta from
Metzger Meats in Hensall, which is known for
carefully selecting ingredients from trusted
producers who use traditional European
methods, and also for the latest in food
processing innovation. Occasionally Gerhard
Metzger purchases wild boar from Ingrid and
Fred Des Martines, the owners of Perth Pork
Products. Seasonal produce is procured from
Howe Farms, which has been operating in
Elgin County for five generations.
Entertaining is Carla Dassie’s forte. Walking
through the restaurant she stops at a
table to suggest a small batch
organic wine, or attentively
inquire about a
patron’s meal or wellbeing.
She converses
with and listens to
her customers. She
champions the art
of hospitality with
composure. Sonia Williams
is the charming and
knowledgeable front house
manager who runs the show.
There is a lot to like on the menu. Fat Olive
specializes in paninis, strombolis (a cousin
of the calzone, with the sauce on the inside),
freshly made pasta, home-made sauces,
bruschetta flatbread, tiramisu, and cannoli
with sweet ricotta. Signature dishes include
a creamy, fresh semolina fettuccine alfredo
with pancetta, herbs and Parmigiano. There is