Is this Brisbane’s best pizza crust?

It’s the one thing to get ditched when you’re watching your carb intake, but the crusts on the pizza at this new Italian restaurant are so good you’ll be devouring them first.

Last year was the year of the Italian restaurant in Queensland, with more openings than a hotel with bed bugs.

From Nonna Leotta’s House in Cairns and Bocca on the Sunshine Coast to Ramona Trattoria in Brisbane and Piatto on the Gold Coast, it was a cuisine restaurateurs embraced with gusto from the far north of the state to the south, rolling out everything from wood-fired pizzas to hand-turned pasta and burrata by the bucket load.

Inside at Italia Lane, Fortitude Valley. Picture: David Kelly

At the end of last year, James Griffiths and Marc Kimmich, the owners of Teneriffe’s well-known Dalgety 2.0 Public House, in inner Brisbane, decided to jump on the bandwagon, launching their answer to the trend, Italia Lane in Fortitude Valley.

Set back from the street alongside the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, this all-day operation running from 7.30am is more industrial cafeteria meets luxe nightclub than traditional Italian trattoria, with a grid metal ceiling, gold-backed, velvet booths, high bar tables and a small outdoor area.

What signifies its Italian roots, however, is an imposing white-tiled, wood-fired pizza oven imported from Italy that dominates the mostly grey room.

The pizza oven dominates the room at Italia Lane, Fortitude Valley. Picture: David Kelly

And it’s in this where the magic of Italia Lane comes to life. Head chef Stuart Smith recruited a pizzaiolo from the home of pizza in Italy, Napoli, to control the domed beast of heat and what comes out of its blazing pit is nothing short of remarkable.

There are 15 varieties to choose from ($22-$26) ranging from the classics like margherita, capricciosa, diavola and four cheese to a vegan option and another loaded with meat.

The diavola pizza with crust dipping sauce. Picture: David Kelly

But it’s the base, not the toppings, that make these pizzas shine.

The crust sits like a charry, puffy, inflatable pool ring around the perimeter of a paper-thin centre, supple from rich sugo.

The restaurant offers a trio of dipping sauces for $4 each to dunk your uneaten crusts into, but with the dough impossibly light thanks to deep pockets of air, the thought of leaving any crust behind is almost sacrilegious.

The rest of the kitchen team is not to be outdone, however, presenting a variety of antipasti, say mushroom and truffle arancini, bruschetta and meatballs; plus a quartet of pastas and a trio of classic desserts.

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To start, the prosciutto and pecorino croquettes ($12) should be a must – audibly crunchy crumbs hiding a core of creamy potato seasoned generously with the Italian ham and mustard before a flourish of grated pecorino and a swathe of tomato sugo. Delicious.

Also a hit is the pasta alla vodka ($26) with a chilli, tomato and garlic sauce pooling around a monstrous serve of rigatoni.

While the pasta is just a little over al dente, the bowl-scraping appeal of the cheesy, pecorino-infused sauce means all is forgiven.

Pasta Rigatoni with vodka sauce. Picture: David Kelly

The strongly Italian-leaning wine list is well matched to the food, though it would be great to see more by the glass; while cocktails are the big focus here, with a lengthy list of classics joined by dessert-style drinks (tiramisu martini anyone?); and a signature spritz menu with everything from the fruity and floral blueberry, lavender and gin number to the citrusy and refreshing pineapple, lemon and elderflower version.

Our waiter is working incredibly hard for her money on our visit, running between making cocktails and pouring wine to serving tables, while her languorous offsider keeps disappearing between clearing tables.

She’s clearly doing her best but it’s not enough for a couple who storm out of the restaurant as we arrive, claiming they’ve been waiting 10 minutes for someone to take their order.

It’s a shame as the couple missed out on a terrific pizza, and the restaurant missed out
on a sale. Fingers crossed management can pull it together because the food is worth venturing in for.

900 Ann St,
Fortitude Valley

3252 2115

italialane.com.au

Open

Mon-Tue 7.30am-3pm; Wed-Thu 7.30am-9pm; Fri 7.30am-10pm;
Sat 11.30am-10pm;

Sun 11.30am-6pm

Must try

Diavola pizza

Verdict

Food 4

Service 3.5

Ambience 3

Value 3.5

Overall 3.5