Veteran restaurateur Joe Di Cintio has opened Italian restaurant Grazia in his home patch of Glen Iris, bringing new glamour and poise to the neighbourhood. Di Cintio has lived in the area for 24 years and finally decided to bring the under-served suburb something he was sure it was crying out for. The immediate clamour has proved him right.

Di Cintio says his phone has been ringing non-stop with inquiries from bereft customers of his previous businesses, St Kilda’s Sapore, which he founded in 1995, and Sette Bello in Glen Waverley, which opened in 2009 and which Di Cintio sold in 2019.

He’s using a similar formula in Glen Iris. “It’s classic Italian food with a twist, and warm, inviting service in a local area,” he says.

Clearly, there’s a keen appetite for his offering. For the restaurant’s first night on May 3, staff capped the 100-seat restaurant to 70 diners and estimate they turned away 150 people.

They’re coming for shareable snacks such as battered zucchini flowers with a four-cheese filling, chargrilled octopus with ’nduja dressing, gnocchi with slow-braised beef cheek, rolled porchetta, and pizza made with dough that’s been fermented for three days.

The two-level restaurant is named after the owner’s nonna. “My grandmother and my mother were fantastic cooks,” says Di Cintio, who was born in Australia to Italian parents. “They weren’t restaurant chefs but what we did at home, and what we do at the restaurants, it’s all produce-driven. I buy the best of everything and concentrate on cooking it properly.”

He points to a signature dish of handmade pappardelle with lobster, prawns and lobster bisque. “I get lobster from Robe in South Australia,” he says. “I could get it for one-quarter of the price from elsewhere, but I want the best.”

The assured fitout whispers Italian style, with Venetian plaster wall finishes, rattan sconces, custom-made tables and marble bars. A glass roof over part of the second floor spills light to the mid-level, where there are 60 seats (or two private dining areas of about 30), and down to the 30-seat ground floor, where a mature indoor tree gives the space a conservatory feel. There are 12 more seats in a heated and sheltered dining area on the pavement.

There’s no problem coming in for a nibble or a drink, with Joe’s Punch one of the signature cocktails: it’s a spin on a spritz with vodka, Amaro Montenegro, passionfruit, lemon juice and prosecco.

During the pandemic, Di Cintio started bottling and selling Chef Joey D’s Chilli Crisp, a condiment that’s like XO sauce on holiday in Tuscany. He serves the balsamic vinegar and oregano-spiked spice dollop in a few dishes at Grazia.

“We have it with our focaccia, I put some on our kingfish crudo, and it’s on a king prawn pizza with rocket pesto and green olives. It’s an explosion of flavour.”

Open daily noon-11pm.

159 Burke Road, Glen Iris, 03 9470 3540, graziarestaurant.com.au