Fabbrica has a location in the PATH that aspires to bring the level of upscale Italian expected from theiruptown restaurantto the downtown grab-and-go commuter.

Roman-style pizza is the specialty here rather than Neapolitan, and there’s a list of sandwiches, daily specials, and a hot and cold table.

The long, narrow space across fromthe PATH’s McEwan grocery outletdoes a decent job of imitating an Italian marketplace feel with pizzas displayed through windowpanes and a semi-open kitchen, while keeping the winding flow of bustling patrons as efficient as possible.

A cold antipasto bar and a hot table offer a huge range of upscale options for $2.99 per 100g, such as porchetta arancini, roasted seasonal veggies, marinated mushrooms or crostini laden with burrata, olive, pepperoncini, and white anchovy.

Colourful gourmet salads include a shaved fennel and citrus with radish and pecorino, cauliflower with almonds, capers and date dressing, artichoke and baby king mushroom, and classic caprese.

There’s also a spicy ceci bean salad with pepperonata and Genoa salami. Everything is made in house.

Roman-style rectangular pizza here is baked as opposed to wood-fired, and the dough is aged in a 72-hour process.

An eggplant pizza is $6.50 for a square, and (wait for it) $33 for half the pie, $65 for the whole thing.

Inspired by an eggplant parm sandwich, the puffy dough is slathered with a house tomato sauce topped with strips of eggplant that have been dried with salt on racks and brushed with olive pesto.

It’s baked with virgin and shredded mozzarella and topped with Italian sun-dried tomatoes and a basil puree (like a pesto without nuts).

The porchetta pizza ($6.50) is like a whole indulgent Italian meal on a pizza with a dijon truffle bechamel base, porchetta slow-roasted for twelve to sixteen hours, virgin and shredded mozzarella, steamed garlic chili rapini, ricotta salata, and a crispy skin crumble that goes on right before serving.

This week’s special is a calamari lightly tossed in seasoned flour and given a quick fry, served with a lemon caper aioli.

This whopper of a veal sandwich ($10.99) is much more over the top compared to the old school variety I’m used to with six ounces of milk-fed Ontario veal, though it is delicious.

Gourmet veal parm additions (75 cents each) include jalapeno relish, pickled eggplant and roasted peppers.

Vegan gemelli ($16) with fresh pasta made at the flagship and popping sweet peas is one of several vegan options.

It’s all totally cashless, and there are pantry items and prepared take-home meals as well. They’re not open weekends.