La Trattoria | SA Weekend restaurant review

It’s an Adelaide dining institution that’s served its loyal customers for nearly 50 years. But with new owners now at the helm, has La Trattoria changed?

La Trattoria. Picture: Supplied

Adelaide’s beloved La Trattoria changed hands earlier this year for the first time in nearly half a century. See below for a brief history of one of the city’s oldest, most iconic restaurants and read Simon’s take on what, if anything, has changed since the establishment was taken over.

Imagine if scenes from all the great movies to feature an Italian restaurant were somehow mashed together.

If every character, every cliche was rolled out to be part of the action … the genial host, the long-suffering waiter, the loveable rogue, the prima-donna, the fiery young buck, the big-hearted nonna and even the accordion player. Pesci and Pacino … De Niro and Dukakis … And you and a few friends as extras, sitting in the corner watching the whole crazy thing unfold.

Such a scenario only hints at the joy to be found when dining at La Trattoria in King William St, a restaurant that transcends time and fashion and any po-faced assessment of what good food and service should entail.

Nowhere is as good for people-watching, whether it is the staff or their customers, who can often be hard to tell apart.

Spaghetti Puttanesca Picture: Ben MacMahon

And nowhere has quite the same sense of organised chaos, of people and plates and orders flying in all directions, yet through a mix of bravado and a baffling system, coming together, at least most of the time. Those in search of quiet contemplation will run a mile.

Fortunately for the future of La Tratt, the affection for its idiosyncrasies is deep-seated and widespread. So when founders Andy and Chris Parisi decided to sell the institution they opened nearly 50 years ago, a few of its loyal customers put their money where their mouths have been and bought the place. They include former Crows boss Steven Trigg and the man he works for now, wine impresario Warren Randall, as well as long-term employee Billy Duff, who is now the general manager.

Spaghetti Puttanesca and Scaloppina Cacciatora Picture: Ben MacMahon

And very little has been altered, for better or worse. Fixtures and fittings are all in place, much of it with the patina of the mid-70s. Portraits of the restaurant’s famous visitors, from Tom Jones to Stefan Edberg, still fill a whole wall. In one positive change, the wine list now reflects the pedigree of its owners, while largely keeping bottle prices below $50.

Given all this, writing about the food at La Tratt feels almost superfluous … but with a menu of Chinese restaurant proportions some advice on ordering might be helpful.

The dining room at La Trattoria Restaurant Picture: Ben MacMahon

First up, skip the antipasti. The shaved meats and cheeses are nothing special, and the mound of pickled veg is either viciously acidic (the carrot) or bland. Same goes for the bruschetta that, despite being recommended by the sly hustler taking our order, turns out to be a garlic-laden pizza base topped with large slices of pallid tomato that each, in turn, carry a disc of cold bocconcini. Weird.

Anyway, given the size of the mains, none of this is necessary. Scaloppine cacciatora, for instance, has four or five pieces of tender young beef buried beneath a colourful tomato-based avalanche including mushrooms, capsicums and, critically, an abundance of decent quality olives and capers. That’s just the start. To the side is a golden block of baked polenta and enough carrots, broccoli, beans and zucchini to keep the most finicky of nutritionists happy.

Olives and capers also play a lead role in the puttanesca, giving a De Niroesque punch to the sauce that coats strands of spaghetti cooked to the point where they put up just enough resistance. I prefer that to a prawn penne in which the peeled crustaceans are nice and springy but the heavier pasta cries out for a sauce with more depth. House-made spinach gnocchi that is neither pillows nor pebbles is tossed with a creamy marscapone and sun-dried tomato sauce, then blanketed in more cheese than your average rom-com.

There’s much more, of course, including old-school pizzas that have won awards, and a house-made tiramisu that has its own fan club.

Midway through dinner a family comes in with a bunch of kids still on a high after visiting the Show. It doesn’t get more Adelaide than that. And for this next generation of diners, La Tratt’s future once again looks secure.