How the 'yellow house' of Yorkville spawned a glossy restaurant empire

The smells of Parmesan, lemon vinaigrette, mushrooms and pizza drift through the upstairs dining room of Trattoria Nervosa, settling over diners as they dig into the restaurant’s signature kale salad or mafalde ai funghi. Soft lighting hugs the red velvet banquettes, and a Murano glass chandelier glimmers overhead. Almost every table is full, almost every phone is out to catalogue the meal on social media.

This year marks 30 years for the Yorkville restaurant known as the “yellow house.” Through rising rents, shifting neighbourhood trends and a changing culinary scene, owner Janet Zuccarini has kept the food, service and atmosphere steady — helping the restaurant hold its ground for three decades.

Janet Zuccarini is a whirlwind of energy when she discusses everything from her early days launching the restaurant to her 10-restaurant hospitality empire, which includes Gusto 501 and Kiin, among others, to why she enjoys being a judge on “Top Chef Canada.” “There’s no better gig than eating a lot of great food and talking about it,” she says.

She is blunt about the changing social temperature of the neighbourhood. “Yorkville gets a bad rap,” she says. “People say it’s cheesy, or too expensive. But I’ve seen how vibrant it can be, especially in the summer — and our clientele is loyal.”Over three decades, Yorkville has shifted from a bohemian enclave to a nightlife hub and, more recently, to a destination for luxury shopping and dining. As clubs migrated to King West and other neighbourhoods like Ossington gained traction, Yorkville’s identity became quieter and more upscale. Its legacy as a centre for artists and cultural production has also faded, replaced by galleries and high-end retail.

“What felt like beatnik (in the 1960s and ‘70s) and smaller independent businesses led to more clubs, more people swarming the streets in the ‘90s,” Zuccarini recalls, “and then the flagship luxury brands, like Chanel, moved in and the vibe changed.”

But even that designation took a hit. Soaring commercial rents of the late 2010s led to the closures of several well-known restaurants and lounges in Yorkville, such as Remy’s, Amber, Chabrol and Blu (which moved to Eglinton West).

Against that backdrop, Zuccarini says the restaurant’s approach has remained straightforward: consistent food and service. “Our staff is always friendly, smiling, and you’ll get the same great food here that might remind you of Nonna’s cooking,” she says, adding, “but maybe that Nonna is also sexy and single and enjoys a nice Negroni.”

She also points to location. “I’ll share three more reasons why we’re successful. Location, location, location. To be on a corner street like we are, with a patio that lets diners people-watch in Yorkville, that’s special.”

Janet McCausland, executive director of the Bloor-Yorkville BIA, credits Trattoria Nervosa for remaining a stalwart in the area by being a moderately priced option in a sea of fine-dining restaurants. “They don’t follow trends and offer classic Italian fare with an accessible price point,” she says.

The restaurant’s signature kale salad is $19, pizzas range from $20 to $27, and dishes like burrata are about $30.

‘I’ve always wanted to work for myself’

On a misty, drizzly day in June 1996, Zuccarini opened Trattoria Nervosa in a two-floor Victorian home after months of nonstop hustling and after earning an MBA at American University in Rome. For years before she got into the restaurant business, she saw how her father honed his customer-service chops selling espresso machines across the GTA, a skill she admired and brought into her experience as a restaurateur.

“He never missed a day of work and instilled a strong work ethic in me and my brothers,” she recalls.

After launching the restaurant with partners, she eventually bought them out. “I’ve always wanted to work for myself, and maybe I didn’t know anything about running a business when I started, but I learned a lot on the job.”

She built the menu around dishes that would become signatures, including mafalde ai funghi and the kale salad, known for its hand-shredded greens and lemon vinaigrette. “When I saw how big kale was becoming around 15 years ago, I knew I had to make this salad, and it’s Yorkville, right? Our customers want healthy quality food, and this is priced more reasonably than other restaurants here,” Zuccarini says.

Customer service quickly became central to the restaurant’s operations. Early on, she told staff they had just 60 seconds to acknowledge guests at the door — or risk losing them.

The early days were hectic and chaotic, as Zuccarini took on a slew of roles, from server to greeter, and turned the upstairs cigar lounge into a smoke-free dining room. “Most days, I worked around 16 hours nonstop,” she recalls.

She wanted to expand beyond Trattoria Nervosa, opening Gusto 101 on Portland in 2012 and Gusto 501 on King East in 2020, and launching her Gusto 54 hospitality group, which now includes Pai, Kiin, Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen, Azhar Kitchen and Bar, and Café Zuzu. While she lives in L.A. most of the year, she credits her executive team for managing the many moving parts of the restaurants under their umbrella, such as the recent renovations at Trattoria Nervosa that saw the upstairs room revamped and the lighting downstairs take on a more subdued, warmer atmosphere.

When she does return to Toronto, it’s often to film “Top Chef Canada” as a judge, a role she’s held for 10 years. Surveying the food scene from this role excites her, especially when she sees chefs surpass expectations. “The show isn’t really about being the most talented chef, but about understanding the challenges and saying to yourself, ‘What do I need to do to deliver here?’”

Whether she’s in Toronto or not, she’s heard about the many celebrities coming through the doors of Trattoria Nervosa, such as Drake, Yankees all-star Alex Rodriguez, Leonardo DiCaprio and a widely publicized appearance by Jay-Z and Beyoncé. “That photo on our doorsteps with their daughter Blue Ivy was big for us, as it went viral because it was the first public image they allowed with Blue,” Zuccarini recalls, “and sometimes folks would come here asking to be seated where Jay-Z and Beyoncé sat.”

For Zuccarini, the appeal of Nervosa is straightforward. “I’ve always been a systems person, seeing a process from the top-down perspective, and I’ve always aimed to make the restaurant business more efficient, and to ensure restaurants like Nervosa have soul and the feeling of dining in someone’s home.”