05

Petit Socco

Winnipeg, MB

Duck with rice from Petit Socco in Winnipeg
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Petit Socco in Winnipeg takes the number five spot on the Top 10 list of Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.

Street Address

256 Stafford St.

City + Province

Winnipeg, MB

Reservations

Yes

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This has to be the Littlest Restaurant on the Prairie. It’s got just 10 seats, a tin can of an open kitchen and two employees, co-owners and life partners Adam Donnelly and Courtney Molaro. There’s intimate dining, and then there’s Petit Socco.

Partners and owners of Petit Socco, Adam and Courtney by the bar
Cake and marbled ice cream served at Petit Socco
Co-owners and life partners Courtney Molaro and Adam Donnelly; olive oil cake with strawberry-rhubarb ice cream.    
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A decade after enjoying chef Donnelly’s food at his former Winnipeg restaurant Segovia, I still remember his exciting flavours. He’s doing even more with less here, serving four-course menus twice a night, creating a delicious sense of anticipation. Whatever he’s cooking, we’re having.

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So, what are we all having? Tempura shishito peppers first, crisp and airy, dragged through house berbere-spiced mayo sprinkled with sesame seeds. Then a giant tostada for two piled high with chopped poached prawns, chunks of sushi-grade tuna, Salvadoran curtido with a jalapeño sting and a cooling base note of avocado crema. Buttery cubes of pork belly are unearthed from beneath a bright and acidic mound of panzanella made from Donnelly’s own sourdough, juicy tomatoes and nectarines, and a zingy lime vinaigrette. There’s olive oil cake for dessert, with homemade strawberry-rhubarb ripple ice cream and almond praline crunch. I’ll remember Donnelly’s panzanella for another decade.

A little port hole in the wall of Petit Socco where a hand is serving a cocktail
Petit Socco’s tiny kitchen party spills onto the patio.