Cappo Sociale Fitzroy review: 72-hour pizzas worth the wait at Italian restaurant

A satisfyingly good pizza at this new Fitzroy Italian restaurant takes 72 hours to make and is worth every mouthful.

There’s a lot you can do with 72 hours.

You could tick off the highlights of Hobart, drive to Port Douglas, read Finnegans Wake, or watch the entire series of The Sopranos.

Or you could be like Ivan Rizzo and do nothing.

For three days he leaves balls of dough to slowly prove before kneading, rolling and spinning them into discs destined for the Moretti Forni double-decker electric oven that’s the workhorse of the Cappo Sociale kitchen.

Good things come to those who wait at Cappo Sociale. This rosso pizza is one of those things.

The resulting pizzas prove good things come to those who wait: the base is terrific, light yet elastic, satisfyingly chewy with charry blisters on an airy crust with tangy bite.

They come in a half-dozen versions built from either rossa or bianca bases — the Le Regina (The Queen) is an artful rendition of a margarita, the passata bright and vibrant, the fior de latte and mozzarella bubbled brown, cool and creamy ($23). It’s just one of the very many good things across the large Cappo Sociale carte.

Six years ago, Vince Sofo and Paul Adamo turned The Old Colonial Inn on Brunswick St into a Japanese izakaya bar, with Ichi Ni Nana joining their popular Ichi Ni in St Kilda.

Now the three-level building has returned in spirit to the 1854 pub it was, reopening as Hotel Fitzroy earlier this year.

Spaghetti with Balmain bug tails.

To that end the building has been opened to Brunswick St with streetside drinking and dining now offered. And while the bustling Japanese Ichi Ni Nana remains on the ground floor along with the new public bar, the second floor space that was the Village People hawker restaurant is now Cappo Sociale, a 150-seat modern Italian restaurant.

Leading the kitchen is one of Melbourne’s most experienced Italian chefs, Maurice Esposito – Cecconi’s, Esposito at Toofeys, Il Bacaro and Becco among the many names on his CV – who has devised a menu that covers those pizzas, pasta and secondi piatti with a modern Melbourne twist.

Along with a verdant rooftop terrace for dining when the sun’s shining, there’s a bar for Birra Moretti on tap ($13) and spritz with a twist (Montenegro with grapefruit and rhubarb bitters, $20) and a bottle-o downstairs if you’re particularly taken with something from the large, Italian-leaning list.

Mushroom agnoloti, parmesan sauce and warrigal greens.

While the balcony opens to let the outside in during summer, it’s cossetingly cosy when cool.

Though one restaurant it comes with two distinct moods: on one side there’s the light, bright ballroom that looks over the bustling open kitchen; on the other, spot-lit dark and deeply moody booths by the bar. One’s great for groups, the other has romance writ large.

Seafood was an Esposito calling card and so it is again here, the chef’s experience shining bright in such plates as the SA octopus, boasting fat, meaty tentacles with terrific texture and chew.

Properly charred octopus with Calabrian sauce and ‘nduja.

They come properly char-branded and served on a Calabrian sauce with a lovely tickle of ’nduja heat ($26).

In the pasta section, you’ll find cuttlefish ragu tossed through linguine ($29), along with rocket spaghetti strewn with sweet, meaty Balmain bug tails. Finished with more rocket wilted through and a handful of crunchy breadcrumbs, it’s a terrific dish ($36).

Also great: fat agnolotti pillows plump with earthy mushrooms that swim in a parmesan creamy sauce brightened by the interesting addition of native warrigal greens that add subtle, salty freshness ($29).

“People come just for the potatoes,” our waitress tells us, and well they should, for these spuds are crunchy, fluffy, rosemary-scented delights with enough little crisp bits to pick at while finishing your glass of d’nero or pecorino from that good wine list.

Team with parmesan-crumbed squares of tender veal cotoletta ($34) and you have comfort food writ with class.

Balanced and not overly sweet, the signature trifle with poached peaches is a lovely way to end ($18) especially with a house-made limoncello ($12).

All up, it’s a great renewal of a space already heartily embraced by the hood.

I doff my Cappo.

Cappo Sociale at Brunswick St, Fitzroy.

CAPPO SOCIALE

127 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

Open: Nightly from 5pm

capposociale.com.au