A taste of the Mediterranean at Bistro Ristoro in the ByWard Market

• Appetizers $8 to $16

• Mains $24 to $32

• Diet: Vegetarian options available

• Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes

• Licensed: Yes

In 2019 Vladimir Ristovski opened Bistro Ristoro on Clarence Street. After leaving his post as Macedonian ambassador and permanent representative of Macedonia to the Council of Europe, Vladimir (he prefers Vlado) spent six months working in the kitchen and front of house at the award-winning restaurant of a friend in Macedonia.

From my experiences at Ristoro, it's clear that he had a natural inclination as a cook and he shows that he punches well above his weight with so many of his dishes.

His focus is on the Mediterranean with influences largely from Macedonia, Greece, Italy and Spain. The restaurant, much like the man himself, is warmly inviting and speaks of a contemporary sensibility on a foundation of old-world charm. When we speak of “old-world charm” we understandably think of the atmosphere of a place, but at Ristoro, it extends to the respect and graciousness of the service. It's not stuffy or overly formal but genuinely welcoming.

What a refreshing change.

When I first looked at the wine list, I was so very happy to see wines from the great Croatian producer Stina. Back in Vancouver, I first had the opportunity to carry these wines in the shops I managed. After getting customers familiar with them, they sold themselves. These are world-class wines that deserve a large audience. The Stina labels that Vlado carries are worth every penny and they're available by the glass. They are brought to Ontario by the Ottawa- and Toronto-based importer, Croatia Uncorked, and I'll be doing a deeper dive into Croatian wines in a future edition.

I asked Vlado to reflect on his initial restaurant experience:

“As a student I was working part time in the first seafood restaurant in Macedonia owned by my cousin who was providing the supplies mainly from Greece and Croatia. The Mediterranean cuisine inspiration has been a constant for me for more than 40 years,” he said.

Several of his appetizers fall under the heading of tapas and the execution would make any dedicated Spanish restaurant proud. The Champignons con Chorizo are juicy baked mushroom caps filled with diced spanish sausage and house cheese blend topped with dollops of black truffle tapenade. They sounded good on paper and were even better once I'd tasted them, their juices mingling deliciously on the palate.

Gambas Al Ajillo are four large wild-caught seasoned prawns grilled to perfection in both colour and texture. I wasn't sure what to make of the toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds but you learn new things everyday and somehow it worked.

The Slovenian-style tuna pate is anything but a reinvented tuna salad. It's delicate, mildly seasoned and whipped to a creamy, luxurious consistency served along with cornichons and rustic house baked finger bread. A perfect sharing item.

Then it was on to the main events such as pizzas and a burger the likes of which I'd not seen before. Vlado was proud to offer details:

“We are building the identity of our restaurant offering signature dishes and pizzas. For instance, our burger is prepared from grass-fed veal reflecting the natural heritage of Quebec in its flavor. It is seasoned in a Mediterranean way and proofed for a minimum of 24 hours. It is grilled to a certain degree, and then wrapped in a dough, topped with an in-house blend of cheese and finished in a brick oven,” he said.

I ate the Plieskavitza cheeseburger with a knife and fork and despite its size found it delicate, moist and expertly baked, with no part of the dough casing remaining undercooked. The cheese blend was satisfyingly rich and to cut that profile, the burger came served with very thinly sliced red onion and a crisp tomato and cucumber salad interestingly topped with that most uninteresting of vegetables: green pepper. Again I learned something here: if you slice green pepper thinly enough, it actually becomes an enjoyable accent to your meal.

Pizzas here are as good as many of those at the better Italian pizzerias. The crust is beautifully thin and crisp, baked in the stone oven long enough for each slice to hold the toppings without flopping. Only the four-cheese pizza was so generously topped that it turned out to be best to let it cool sufficiently before handling. It was a mistake I won't repeat.

Yes Bistro Ristoro has a talented pizzaiolo and while I've not explored all the pizza options in the ByWard Market, Ristoro sets a high benchmark.

The spaghetti carbonara is not the traditional version, then again many Italian restaurants don't make theirs with the traditional guanciale (cured pork cheek) opting to use cheaper pancetta instead. To my palate Vlado has taken his interpretation in an interesting direction by using speck, a juniper wood cold-smoked ham traditionally from Germany, the north of Italy and Austria. He further uses parmigiano reggiano and sour cream and then allows the al dente spaghetti to rest in a bath of heavy cream before assembling the ingredients. It's a lush and addictive dish with those salty cubes of speck cutting the fat, but bring your digestive enzymes.

“The freshness and quality are guiding principles of the operation of our establishment. I personally take care about the ingredients from the most renowned food suppliers in Canada on a daily basis in order to ensure there is no compromise or improvisation,” Vlado said.

Enter the Picanha Steak, a lean 7.5 ounce sirloin lovingly presented on a rustic wooden platter. A presentation that put my appetite back on track after almost filling up on appetizers. The fresh salad with light vinaigrette was the right counterpoint to the beef and the roast potatoes, to this German-Canadian, were a dream with an appealing buttery texture and seasoned all the way through.

Bistro Ristoro does not have a dessert menu but you can ask what they have in-house that day.

Vlado and his small team are a dedicated crew that take clear pride in what they offer. For those foodies seeking a European dining experience, you won't find many restaurants giving exposure to both unique Macedonian dishes and the best of the Mediterranean.

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