Toronto has seen its fair share of bizarre pop-ups, but this one might take the cake — or the pasta.
On Tuesday, September 29, celebrity chef and MasterChef Québec judge Stefano Faita is bringing BYOPasta to Ossington with a very specific (albeit obvious) request: bring your own pasta. The one-day pop-up at 135 Ossington Ave. will turn your plain, pre-cooked noodles into a free lunch, with Faita’s team tossing them in one of his signature sauces.
The concept is simple enough, but there is one obvious question: who actually has a container of plain, unsauced pasta sitting in the fridge? And if you do, how old are we talking? Because cold, sauce-less noodles have a pretty narrow window between “perfectly good leftovers” and “one solid mass you could probably bounce off the floor.”
Still, Faita is betting Toronto has plenty of neglected Tupperware waiting for a second chance.
“People often forget about leftover pasta sitting in their fridge, especially when it’s plain and needs a little love. So why not let a chef take care of it?” says Faita. “We want Torontonians to taste for themselves how the right sauce can turn plain leftover pasta into something much better.”
Faita built his culinary reputation on high-end, sit-down dining. He currently operates four distinct establishments in Montreal, including his acclaimed Little Italy flagship, Impasto, alongside Gema Pizzeria, Vesta and the elevated snack bar Chez Tousignant.
The pop-up runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with five of Faita’s Canadian-made sauces on offer, including Alla Vodka, Tomato Basil and Alfredo. And because one free pasta makeover apparently isn’t enough, guests will also receive a coupon for a free jar of sauce at participating grocery stores, including Loblaws and Farm Boy.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that Toronto takes the concept very seriously and spends the morning cooking up fresh pasta just to bring it to Ossington and call it leftovers. We respect the commitment.