Little Wolf – the leader of the pack

Changing to a simpler, more honest style of Italian cooking feels right for this McLaren Vale cellar door, writes Simon Wilkinson

Little Wolf at Mitolo winery

Gawd that plate is ugly. Even the chef agrees. Lumpy brown minced meat and diced carrots are splatted over a pile of pasta tubes in a style normally associated with a workers’ canteen.

But while it is never going viral on Instagram, Vincenzo LaMontagna’s paccheri with wild boar is beauty not beast.

The pasta is handmade each morning from Australian semolina. The carefully ground shoulder meat is slowly braised with rare saffron grown on mountain slopes in the Italian region of Abruzzo. The carrots bring sweetness. A little rendered pork fat adds lip-sticking body to the juices.

So simple on the surface, it is a plate underpinned by the experience of a lifetime and new-found energy and ideas. That is the secret of Little Wolf, the second and far more satisfying rendition for the restaurant at Mitolo’s McLaren Vale cellar door.

A different name comes with a different approach. The look-at-me cooking is gone. The new chef, best known for the uncompromising adventure of his Unley restaurant Vincenzo’s Cucina Vera, has opted for a more honest, heartfelt tribute to the Italian food of his and many other families – including that of the winery’s owner, and his long-time buddy, Frank Mitolo.

The construction of black-painted shipping containers still makes a strong first impression but, inside, the mood is vastly different. A room that previously felt somewhere between awkward and bemused is now filled with happy, talkative diners, including a surprising number of toddlers.

Octopus, chickpeas, potato at Little Wolf

A once unloved wood oven has been fired up and is fed with a constant supply of pitas and other snacks. Around it, what had been an empty counter is a hive of activity and laden with prosciutto and other salumi that are sliced to order.

Many of the floor staff are also new. Ricardo, our waiter, has the cheek bones, the accent and does a fine job of convincing us to visit his village in the little-known region of Marche. He also knows the story behind each menu item, from the puffed pillow of pita known as “baciata” to the sweet “maritozzi” bun loaded with marmalade.

The first plates are inspired by compulsory items on any Italian summer table. “Pomodorini” is an array of tomatoes, of different shapes and colours, some raw, some roasted, some pickled. Underneath is a puree based on Tuscan bread and tomato soup, as well as a drizzle of fermented tomato water. The same principle applies to “Peperoni”, this time with slices of roasted and peeled capsicum, lightened with mint, plonked on a creamy romesco-like sauce. A soft-boiled egg watches on from the side.

The tempo lifts with a perky salad of octopus tentacle, chickpeas, celery and potato (supplied via the Mitolo family’s main business). Red flecks of chilli help bring it all to life but a deeper, darker background flavour is harder to pinpoint. Vincenzo reveals later that he has roasted sardines and turned them into a fishy essence (like Japanese dashi) that is used in the pickle for the octo as well as the dressing. The diner, of course, will be oblivious to all this extra work – other than wondering what makes such a simple compilation taste so good. It is clever, ego-free cooking.

Little Wolf restaurant at Mitolo winery

For a single, plain-looking skewered king prawn, the hidden extras include the Japanese white oak that is selected for the charcoal grill, a basting with prawn head butter and a final touch of chive and finger lime. Improving on perfection, perhaps.

It’s certainly a stronger seafood statement than the spaghetti with blue swimmer crab in which the fragments of freshly picked meat are relatively anonymous in a Calabrese-style dressing of olive oil, chilli and parsley, boosted with a shaving of bottarga (cured fish roe).

The Little Wolf bistecca (or T-bone) is cooked “al sangue” or rare, which is how they do it in Florence but might require a little prior warning here. Some slices from our cut of black angus (charged at $13/100g), in fact, would struggle to make even that classification and lack the dark outer crust the chef is no doubt after.

Two permanent sweet dishes – a ricotta-filled, Sicilian-style cannoli and the kitchener-like, cream-and-marmalade-filled bun – would both traditionally be eaten with an early morning coffee more than at the end of a very large lunch.

My Italian mate across the table reckons his family would always have fresh fruit at a time like this. A fragrant peach, perhaps. For a restaurant that is all about elevating the simple things, it might be an idea.

LITTLE WOLF

Mitolo Wines, 141 McMurtrie Rd, McLaren Vale

8323 9304; mitolowines.com.au

OWNER Mitolo Wines

CHEF Vincenzo LaMontagna

FOOD Italian

SMALL $11-$22 MAIN $26-$36

DESSERT $6-$15

DRINKS Mitolo’s full range, including museum releases, is supplemented by a few Italian imports. Far more variety in red than white.

OPEN LUNCH Fri-Mon DINNER Sat

SCORE 15/20