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Pizza e Birra

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Wander along Crown or Bourke on a Saturday night and it's clear that there is a healthy demand to meet the supply of restaurants. Pizza e birra, one of the suburb's latest additions, is beautiful in its simplicity: delicious wood-fired pizza served with icy cold beer. The glass-fronted restaurant, with its brown paper-topped tables and sparse fit-out caters equally well to children (although the inability to book may require patient tots) while the small bar area will keep adults sated while they wait.

 

Co-owner and chef Mauro Marcucci, a former Cafe e Cucina boy (the famed Melbourne eatery that has spawned as many kitchen off-shoots as Sydney's Banc) is ensuring that the restaurant succeeds with its simple offering, while adding plenty of other Italian delicacies to the mix. Start with the arancini (risotto balls) or the divine stuffed and deep-fried olives. Pizzas range from traditional toppings such as Margherita and Napoletana, to a delicious breasola (cured beef) and tallegio cheese pizza. Traditional flavours dominate the entrees and mains, with dishes such as vitello tonnato: house-made pappardelle with duck ragu and risotto.

The wine list is comprehensive, yet it is the house beer, specially brewed at the Hopping Mad boutique brewery in Orange, that has really got the locals talking.

Libby Travers, April 2006