Pendolino Pending
Nino Zoccali, you might remember, was opening exec chef at Otto and Nove. Turns out he also did a double major in economics and Italian before turning to the pots and pans. This will stand him in good stead at Pendolino, which is (or will be some time in March) a restaurant, caffe/olive oil shop called L'Olioteca (which morphs into a winebar at night), located in The Strand Arcade. On board are head chef Alfie Spina (last at L'Unico in Balmain) and architect Dominic Alvaro (he worked on the Ivy Hotel development).
Nino has been a busy boy since leaving Otto, one of his activities being sitting on the Australian Olive Association tasting panel and getting up to speed on the Australian olive oil industry. L'Olioteca will be around 25 per cent Italian and the rest the best of the Oz oils - he sees The Strand with its high turnover of high-rolling tourists as a good place to showcase them. He will have everything from the well-known Coriole from South Australia to oil from a tiny (700 trees) grove in Tassie that has picked up gold and silver medals. You'll be able to take you own bottle and fill up from bulk barrels, or buy by the bottle.
All that and a serious 120-seat restaurant that, Nino told us, will be "high end" Italian, reminiscent of the early days at Otto. And, finally, Caffe Pendolino will be an early starter in the new European-style bars we'll hopefully be getting a lot more of: slip down a ristretto on the way to work, stop for a Campari on the way home. It's about time we had a proper olive oil shop, too. Roll on, March. We'll tell you more closer.
Sydney Eats
February 2008
