Adelaide’s iconic La Trattoria restaurant to change owners
La Trattoria on King William St has had countless celebrity customers – including the time Bon Jovi was famously locked out. Now owner Andy Parisi is ready for his final shift.
Food & Wine
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There’s about to be a changing of the guard at one of Adelaide’s oldest and most iconic restaurants.
Next Friday, Andy Parisi, the man who two decades ago was crowned the world’s best pizza maker, will complete his final shift at La Trattoria after 47 years.
He and brother Chris have sold the King William Street institution to their much loved front of house man, Billy Duff, and a group of prominent local businessmen.
After 20 years in the business, Billy says he’s finished his work experience, and he’s up for the challenge.
If only the walls of La Trat could talk.
I dropped in there last week and the memories came flooding back.
The place is a shrine to some of the biggest names in entertainment, sport, politics and theatre.
The walls are lined with photos of grinning celebrities enjoying steaming bowls of pasta, pizza and red wine well into the wee hours.
Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Tom Jones, Sir Cliff Richard and Michael Hutchence are among them, so too Steve Waugh, Kevin Sheedy and Andre Agassi.
And they didn’t dine just once – they turned up every time they came to town, becoming like family to Andy, Chris and their young children.
Even Jon Bon Jovi, who was famously locked out because Andy didn’t like the look of him, eventually got served.
It was the summer of 1995 and after a hectic lunch trade, Andy rested his head on a corner table and drifted off to sleep.
He woke to the sound of 5 men banging on the door.
“They were people with tattoos, singlets and shorts – they didn’t look too desirable, so I kept the door locked.”
The “undesirables” went next door to Rowe and Jarman where Andy’s daughter Simone happened to be working and asked where they could get a meal.
She took them back, convinced her Dad to open up and 15 minutes later they were dining on bruschetta, La Trat’s famous spaghetti marinara and red wine.
Andy had never heard of Bon Jovi but he got to know him the following night when the whole band returned after their concert.
“I put them in a private room and they stayed until five in the morning telling us their life stories,” Andy says
“Bon Jovi was on tour around the world. He had a three month old baby who he hadn’t even met yet.”
When Adelaide came alive to the roar of the Grand Prix, La Trat was put on the map once and for all.
It became a second home to drivers Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Jean Alesi, an easy stroll from their digs at the Hilton.
After Senna died in 1994, his girlfriend, Brazilian actress Adriane Galisteu, visited La Trattoria, telling the Parisis how much the Formula One champion had loved it.
It’s impossible to replicate the atmosphere of a place that built its reputation on a thriving Adelaide night-life.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s it did a roaring trade.
Our city had never seen a restaurant that closed its kitchen at 3am and allowed diners to stumble out when the sun came up.
How things have changed.
La Trat has earned its stripes from decades of consistency, simple food and old school service.
So many South Australians have made memories there – from first dates and wedding celebrations to post nightclub drop ins when the rest of the city went off to sleep.
Children who used to nod off under the tables as two-year-olds are now bringing their children there for dinner.
It’s the go-to restaurant for local barristers and solicitors, perhaps the last one in town where they still gather to eat as a huddle.
And many times over the years, their potential clients have dined just out of earshot, members of the Rebels, the Finks and the Hells Angels.
Andy says he never had any problems with “the boys”.
“We looked after them, they paid and goodbye.”
Leading criminal barrister David Edwardson QC has been lunching at La Trat three or four times a month for more than 30 years.
“The one constant in a barrister’s life is lunch at La Trat,” he says.
“It’s authentic, traditional and has an almost timeless familiarity about it.
“It’s just got this wonderful vibe. For goodness sake, don’t change it.”
The new owners have no plans to change a thing.
Almost all the 30 staff members are staying.
“The menu, the decorations, the seating, the atmosphere – it’s not going to change one iota,” Billy says.
“Yes, it’s been sold but it’s been sold to me and most people who’ve been to La Trat know me.
“Andy and Chris have worked so hard to build this legacy and we’re not about to change that.”
The Parisi boys know a thing or two about hard work.
When their father Antonino opened Marcellina’s pizza bar on Hindley Street in the 60s, they worked there from 3 in the afternoon until 6 in the morning.
Now Andy’s three children Simone, Antoni and Chantal run the popular Parisi’s eatery on King William Road after learning their trade at La Trat.
Andy, now 76, says it’s been a “fantastic ride.”
“What I achieved in this place over 47 years, I did with my brother, our loyal staff and the help of my children.
“It’s my life.”
Bon Jovi wrote a song about that once.
He hasn’t been back in a while but someone should tell him the spaghetti marinara at La Trat is as good as ever.
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