About

Our Italian Canadian Story

We believe in simple, tasty, casual Italian Canadian comfort food. We are inspired by the heritage of classic "red sauce joints" of the past. Warm atmosphere, friendly service, generous portions, and fair prices.

Our Five Principles

We operate on five simple principles that anyone can understand.

1. Quality

Food should be simple, tasty, consistent, and made from scratch with whole ingredients.

2. Service

Service should be fast, friendly, tidy, attentive, and knowledgeable, with lots of suggestions.

3. Cleanliness

Everything and everybody should be clean and well maintained.

4. Value

Portions should be generous. Prices should be fair. Beer and wine should be available in value sizes.

5. The Golden Rule

Treat others as you want to be treated. Including guests, employees, suppliers, and community.

Scratch Made

We make it ourselves.

Great Ingredients

Prime meats, fresh vegetables, quality cheeses.

Good Value

Generous portions at fair prices.

Why is it Called The Olive Press?

The name comes from the olive mill in our ancestral village. It is a tribute to the memory of seeing olives from our grove get crushed by stone wheels and pressed to extract fresh oil.

What is Italian Canadian?

20th century Italian immigrants combined their “cucina povera” with the abundance they found here to open "red sauce joints" featuring tomato based dishes with decadent use of cheese, meat, seafood.

What is a Red Sauce Joint?

Because tomato sauce features prominently in the pizza and pasta at these Italian Canadian restaurants, they are known as “red sauce joints”.

Tomato Sauce Everywhere

Slow-simmered tomato sauce is used liberally in dishes like pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, chicken parmesan, and for dipping calamari, calzone, and fried mozzarella.

Cheese, Cheese, Cheese

Generous amounts of cheese add richness and flavour. Mozzeralla is everywhere. Parmesan is offered on everything. Alfredo is made in giant batches with real Parmigianno Reggiano (“the king of cheeses”).

Meat Dishes

Meaty dishes like lasagna, meatballs, sausage, chicken cutlets, veal cutlets, ribs, and chops are staples. Meat toppings on pizza and pasta are plentiful.

Seafood Dishes

Calamari and mussels are standard. As are seafood pastas, which are unapologetically saucy, not "lightly dressed". And unlike Italy, you will definitely be offered grated parmesan on seafood dishes (gasp!).

Thicker Pizza

Italian Canadian pizza has a thicker crust, cooked tomato sauce, high-fat low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella, lots of toppings, and is baked in a deeper pan.

Non Traditional Ingredients

Italian Canadian cuisine uses ingredients not traditionally found in Italian cooking, like cream, and relies less on seasonal ingredients because of climate.

Portion Sizes

Portions in Italian Canadian cuisine are generous. Eating too much bread is encouraged. Leftovers are expected.

Richer and Saucier

The two cuisines have diverged more in recent decades. Modern Italian is lighter and more vegetable-forward than before, and Italian Canadian (or Italian American) is cheesier, saucier, more decadent than before.

More About Red Sauce Joints

Roxane Gay. Red Sauce America. Bon Appétit.

Michael La Corte. My love letter to red sauce joints. Salon Magazine.

Amiel Stanek. Why Everyone Loves a Red-Sauce Joint. Bon Appétit.

Dennis Lee. Red sauce joints are forever. The Party Cut.

What We Are and Aren't

We prefer substance over style. Simple, tasty, efficient, scratch-made Italian Canadian comfort food classics at a good value. We're not really into fussy platings, trendy microgreens, or samurai knife skills.