Ercolano in Patterson Lakes serves elegant trattoria Italian worth travelling for
COME for the “spicy sausage” but stay for a pasta that’s good for the soul. This Patterson Lakes gem is clearly beloved by locals, but the secret’s out now, writes Dan Stock.
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IT WAS a fairly gutsy move.
Not only because it contained the phrase “try Nino’s spicy sausage”, which should’ve caused it to go straight to the spam folder with all the other Bigger! Longer! XXX waiting for you! emails, but because it arrived soon after my not-so-favourable review of Melbourne institution, Grossi Florentino.
“Dear Dan, we’d love you to come and visit us in Patterson Lakes. We are a full family business with our youngest son Marco being our head chef and my wife making some of the best pasta on the peninsula.”
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While I’m probably now making a rod for my own back, I’ll always follow up on an email tip from a reader or owner-operator for these, rather than the PR-generated alert, are where Melbourne’s real gems – and, yes, some stinkers – can be found. Be careful what you wish for.
So off I went to an unfamiliar bit of Melbourne, the rain-drenched, wind-whipped stormy night adding an element of intrepid discovery to trawling a strip of suburban shops looking for Ercolano.
It was not entirely unlike following a hot tip off for, say, the best pizza in Naples, where Google Maps takes you down shady streets and through dubious neighbourhoods but where the pay-off is, hopefully, a life-changing slice in your belly and not a life-ending knife to the throat. (The pizza was indeed amazing.)
Named after the town at the foot of Mount Vesuvius from which the Cuciniello clan hail and helmed by patriarch Nino, Ercolano has the easy bonhomie of a neighbourhood favourite with all the idiosyncratic charms of a family run restaurant. Nino buzzes about cracking cheekily chaste jokes with those who are obviously regulars at this trattoria that opened at the end of last year.
And why wouldn’t they come back? The welcome is open-armed warm, the offer of a drink as equally quick as the Menabrae beer and chilled glasses are delivered; the wood-beamed, trinket-filled room is comfortingly homely and handsome, the row of salumi hanging in the entry traditionally inviting and Nino’s sausages are, it turns out, rightfully famous.
Pig rich, soft and with lingering spicy heat, they’re served in a cast-iron pan bubbling with a white wine sauce ready to be mopped up with lovely little thin focaccia squares hot from the wood-oven. ($25). Just terrific.
Equally memorable, a wooden board laden with thick slices of Nino’s bresaola, the ruby rich beef cured in salt and chilli delivering chewy meat with sweet heat, a couple of olive oil-drizzled charred crostini the only accompaniment needed.
It’s an accomplished, very impressive addition to the cured meat canon ($16).
The restaurant is packed this Friday night, with two seatings mainly made up of extended family groups, but Marco’s running a tight ship for the kitchen kept up, sending out plates at a Goldilocks pace, including lovely baby octopus lightly dusted in semolina fried crunchy and tender with good aioli alongside for dunking ($16).
There are 10 pizzas flying out of the wood oven, the nicely charred and chewy base for the margarita made for Melbourne tastes rather than the soupy wet slices you find in Naples, the tomato sauce bright with acid, the mozzarella molten into pools of creamy curds ($19). It’s good, though not 400 Gradi great.
Pastas, though, are, with Natalie busy hand-making the tagliatelle, spaghetti, gnocchi and, interestingly, rigatoni, during the day before helping run the restaurant by night.
Before they arrive, a bowl of chopped chilli in oil and fresh grated parmesan are delivered to the table in another quietly classy move.
Fat, supple ribbed tubes of rigatoni come in a glorious lamb ragu that’s deeply rich and slow-roasted tomato sweet. Generous with meat, it’s return time-again for magnificent ($24).
Feathery nuggets of gnocchi come hot from the oven in a cast-iron pan, a judicious amount of good bolognese providing soupy sauce, melted fior di latte providing a melted cheese crust. A teaspoon or two of fresh chilli drizzled across lifts the lot into a comforting hug of yes ($25).
The short wine list sticks fairly faithfully to Italian imports and varietals, with just a couple of nods to the peninsula, at a market-reading $40-odd price point (with a couple of big Barolos for special birthdays).
Served in a glass with whipped cream atop, the mascarpone-dominant tiramisu light on coffee and booze is more like a trifle and won’t win over traditionalists ($12), but an excellent macchiato finishes the meal on a high.
Trattoria Italian we’ve seen countless times before but done with an elegance and style that properly elevates the offering, Ercolano is an evidently loved local, but with ample off-street shopping centre parking, is worth a drive. Thanks for your email, Nino.
NEED TO KNOW:
Ercolano
Shop 15 Harbour Plaza, 21 Thompson Rd, Patterson Lakes
Phone: 9772 8996
Open: Tues-Sun, 11am-3pm; 5.30pm-9.30pm
Go-to dish: Nino’s spicy sausages
Score: 14.5/20
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