Show Me The Dough

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday December 1, 2007

Helen Greenwood

Pizzeria e Cucina

315 Barrenjoey Road, Newport, 9986 0577

Tue-Thu and Sun, 5-10pm; Fri-Sat, 5-10.30pm.

An ambitious Italian menu mingles with an Aussie beach vibe at this popular eatery.

RESIDENTS in Newport generally agree that Pizzeria e Cucina has good pizzas, girls in very short skirts and can be very noisy at night. There is a difference of opinion about the service and the pasta but not about the ambience.

With its huge fold-back doors and shades of salt-bleached blue and driftwood grey, Pizzeria e Cucina is a welcoming, open and airy space to dine.

Large, forged-iron wheels hang at the front and the wine racks are also forged from black iron.

Lamps and whirring fans, more for effect because there is air-conditioning, hang from a painted-board ceiling that feels like a boat deck. A Carrara-style marble counter and bar, and a gelato cabinet divide the room from the open kitchen and serving area.

Most of the noise this Sunday evening is from the hissing sounds of cooking and clanging of pans as an appetising smell of garlic wafts across to us.

Tonight's customers are a relatively tame lot, even though family hour is in full flight. Prams and babies, teenagers and youngsters are dotted between cooing parents and proud grandparents. Boat shoes and burnt faces are evidence of a day on the water or at the beach.

A tall, young blonde whose apron is fetchingly longer than her denim skirt, apologises for not bringing the menus sooner. She and her fellow waiting staff cruise around the restaurant in a relaxed fashion but they are paying attention.

The other thing that isn't disputed is the ambitiousness of the menu. Authentic cooking is the aim, living up to the cucina part of the name.

Dishes such as bomba di riso con salsiccia, fave e provolone (rice cake with sausage, broad beans and provolone cheese) or pizzetta con pasta di carciofi, gorgonzola e miele (pizza bread with artichoke paste, gorgonzola and honey) are not the usual starters.

Pasta such as linguine tossed in olive oil with garlic, prawns, fresh basil and tomato con casse (crushed tomato) and bucatini with guanciale (cured pork cheek) and fave (broad beans) are definitely not run of the mill.

Nor are the pizze, emerging from an oven at the back of the room where a dedicated pizzaiolo is wielding his paddle. Words such as mozzarella di buffala, fior di latte, baby clams, gorgonzola, spicy supresa (sopressa) and fontina get the palate juices going.

There are the conventional (margherita, napoletana, quattro formaggi) and more modernist (zucca, agrodolce and funghi with the ubiquitous truffle oil) pizze and, no, the chef doesn't do half-and-half.

The panzanella surprises me. Instead of the usual cubes or torn pieces of day-old bread, there are bread crumbs. These are tossed through a restrained amount of diced tomato, cucumber and celery, and loads of spanish onion.

Like so many rustic Italian dishes, there are no strict rules. Panzanella is a way of using up leftovers. But for me, the essential joy of the dish has disappeared. Gone is the idea of sunny tomatoes releasing ripe juices that are soaked up by a strong bread, then boosted by olive oil and vinegar. Instead, a granular texture, overpowered by onion and undersold by a polite olive oil, is in its place.

Olive oil and butter flood my orechiette, which suffers primarily from being overcooked. The coin-sized pasta is heavy and, though the finely cut broccoli is generous and fresh, the promised contrast from the anchovy and the chilli is indiscernible. The size of the plate is staggering, enough, I would have thought, to feed two people.

The bresaola pizza, on the other hand, has come from quite a different hand. Feathery light dough, bubbling and higher around the edges, is topped with just melted fior di latte cheese, transparent pink discs of bresaiola, shavings of good reggiano and good-sized fresh rocket, none of that dweeby lawn-clipping stuff. It's gorgeous, light, modern and Mediterranean.

By 7.30, the room has emptied for kiddy bedtime, leaving us and a few other tables becalmed. We venture into pannacotta and lemon polenta cake. Neither are wonderful. The pannacotta lacks the shivery wobble, a telltale sign that too much gelatin has been used. The cake looks leaden and tastes that way, too; dry on the edges and soggy in the middle.

Our waitress appears to inquire about coffee and tea orders, and I have to say that she has hit most of her cues all night. Her casual, I'm-just-a-student attitude works with the breezy, comfortable personality of this place.

Pizzeria e Cucina has heart and ambition. The pizzas are worth crossing town for and the glitches can be fixed. Newporters should keep encouraging the owners of this touch of Italy by the beach.

DIGEST

Food

Aiming for authentic, modern Italian. The pizzas pull it off, other parts of the menu need a bit of work.

Service

Very beachy, casual and relaxed but not inattentive.

Atmosphere

Nice: an airy, open space in salt-bleached nautical greys and blues.

Value

Pretty good: about $30 a head, including dessert.

Noise

Medium to high level, depending on the time of day (out of kids' time can be much quieter).

Dishes recommended

Any of the pizzas

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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