Leonardo’s Pizza Palace
LEONARDO’S HAS TAKEN up residence in the former Da Salvatore Pizza by the Metre and honours the spirit of the Wild West with leadlight windows, red brick archways and acres of dark polished timber. The equally irreverent sibling to Leonard’s House of Love in South Yarra, Leonardo’s is more spaghetti western than Neapolitan puritan. The pizzas follow suit, the New York-style pies going fatter on the base with plenty of spongy chew and char. This is a supremely bready kind of place. It’s where a side of ranch sauce arrives with pizza (you know… for crust dipping) and where crostini dominates the starters list. Saddle your toasted bread up with a spicy smoosh of ’nduja and jalapeños, or a butterflied, pan-fried sardine with creamy whipped bottarga and vivid yellow cucumber slices bringing the retro sweet pickle action. Spaghetti with mussels is elevated by a tomato-based sauce infused with enough crustacean bodies and souls to make a mockery of plenty of red-sauce joints a block away on Lygon Street. From the specials list, a lobster prawn cocktail swimming in Marie Rose sauce makes like the disco era never ended. Service from a tribe of uniformly tattooed waiters might be perfunctory, but either way it results in an unapologetic ham and pineapple landing at your table, complete with excellent charry-edged ham giving gravitas to the controversial combo. The Ramblr-inspired ‘Chinese Bolognese’ pizza is more like ma po tofu that got drunk and stumbled into a wood oven, a mismatch of textures and odd flavours, with added Sichuan pepper crackle. Possibly it comes into its own after midnight on a Friday or Saturday. The drinks don’t need such an excuse. In between those crostini and a classic ice-cream sundae doused in caramel squiggles there’s time to explore a small world of Italian and Italian-friendly wines. Leonardo’s mightn’t be perfect, but it’s one big Melbourne party you don’t want to miss.