Di Stasio Citta
To describe Di Stasio Città as one of the year's most anticipated debuts is akin to describing the tram stop on Flinders and Elizabeth as shady. After turning on the red light in its pod-like entrance portal a few weeks ago, it seems like half of Melbourne has been misty-eyed over the 30-plus-year heritage of St Kilda's Cafe Di Stasio and the even longer legacy of Rinaldo Di Stasio, the city's one-man answer to the Medici family.
Di Stasio Città (literally, "city") hasn't through telling its ribald tales. They'll show up. Ronnie Di Stasio returns to the neighborhood where he founded Rosati in the heady days of the 1980s, just before the fringe benefits tax and the stock market crash cruelled the decade's excesses. And the omens are favorable. It's a site of strikingly clean-lined brutalism, with concrete walls and pillars, a stunning terrazzo floor, and video works by artists Reko Rennie and Shaun Gladwell looping with the same mesmeric powers as the RSL's TV.
When confronted with a large single-page menu, you may experience choice paralysis. The ultimate aperitivo hour snack is sage leaves and anchovies coated in a lacy batter with a splash of lemon. A tray of cheesy, salty pastries, some with hints of prosciutto and others like a spinach-driven cucina povera finger, may appear to be the answer, but save your carbs for the pasta. A quorum of the St Kilda menu has traveled to Melbourne. The ragged flags of breadcrumb pasta with calamari and radicchio, known as pasta maltagliata, are now available.
Location: 45 Spring Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000
Website: www.distasio.com.au
