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Among the tattoos that crowd Paul Bentley’s right arm is the word Magno.

The Perth-born chef got it to mark the opening of Magno Brasserie, a French bistro in the Mexican state of Guadalajara as well as the first restaurant he launched as chef-owner.

He’s since opened other restaurants – and, yes, occasionally gotten inked to mark the occasion – with concepts including ramen bars in Mexico, plus real-deal taquerias in Hawaii. The result is a diverse CV that Bentley, after returning home in 2020, has utilised to shape the menus at Si Paradiso, El Grotto, Lawson Flats′ inhouse restaurant Luis, and Casa.

Yet as fun as it is discussing who has which tattoos on which arms, it’s what a cook does with their hands that really matters. At Casa Pizzeria – Casa’s pizza offshoot that opened in April – Bentley does very good, very interesting things with both of his. You’ll find Casa Pizzeria next door to the mothership: a sparse room set with tables, bentwood chairs and bench seating that speaks to designer and Casa partner Cale Mason’s less-is-more spirit.

Originally Casa Pizzeria traded on different days to the bar, but the pair have since synced schedules. This is excellent news, certainly for guests who can’t get a walk-in table at Casa who now have a solid plan B to fall back on. There are other connections tying the two operations, too, including being able to buy wine from Casa at takeaway prices and drink it at the pizza shop with no corkage.

(Or at least until Casa Pizzeria’s liquor license comes through, anyway.)

Turning leftover Casa focaccia into terrific garlic bread ($12) doused in a verdant
green butter high on garlic, chopped herbs and spring onion also speaks to the
healthy working relationship between the two Casas. The bread is also one of the
pizza-adjacent snacks that the kitchen steadily rotates through. Others include
French onion soup arancini ($12 for two) made with first-use arborio rice rather than leftover risotto, plus considered salads a la gem lettuce leaves anointed with green Goddess dressing ($16) that go some ways to easing feelings of guilt.

Or at least enough to make you feel okay about ordering the truly excellent, truly luscious house gelato ($10). While flavours such as pistachio, hazelnut and espresso stay true to Italo ideals, the option to add a squeeze of “unashamedly out of the bottle” Ice Magic ($3) to your gelato is typical of Bentley’s wry thinking.

This high-low approach carries through to the pizzas, too: magnificent discs of dough that, as per contemporary pizza thinking, celebrate both cucina Australiana and the Old Country. So the dozen-or-so core pizzas include a Hawaiian ($28) albeit one made with good speck and a bright, piquant pineapple and habanero salsa.

Among the white-based “bianca” options is a prawn pizza ($30) turbocharged with the same garlic butter used to rejuvenate the focaccia. Pizza purists, generally speaking, dislike seafood on pizzas. Yet despite this disruptive streak, Bentley is also that rare pizzaiolo serving a legit no-cheese, no seafood marinara ($23), even if it’s finished with an oil flavoured with toasted kombu.

I won’t torment anyone with hours or temperatures, but Casa Pizzeria’s long-
fermented dough is a fine medium for Bentley and pizza chefs Gianluca Aufieri and Cristian Paladini to work with.

After opening with a strict no-changes policy, the kitchen has softened its stance and now includes suggested extras for each pizza.

Add-ons such as lightening your pepperoni pie with fresh Italian buffalo mozzarella ($6) or slipping some Guindilla chillies ($3) on to your asparagus pizza.

Whether you order your pizza standard-issue or bolt on some power-ups, you’ll eat the same nutty, pliable dough that folds up like a paper plane. A gently blistered crust rings the pizza like a bicycle tyre inner tube. Toppings are deployed with measured generosity.

The result is a sturdy, versatile pizza that eats nicely out of the oven but can also survive a short car ride: essential when making pizza designed for both dine-in and takeaway guests.

Based on my grossly unscientific testing, the 20-minute drive home barely diminished the eating qualities of my pizza, nor did a sleepover in the fridge. Who doesn’t love fridge-cold pizza for brekky?

Opening restaurants is hard. Opening a second restaurant next to an established
prospect is harder still and invites all sorts of extra comparisons. Open something that sucks and guests will wish they were at the original. Open something that’s too similar and you’ll cannibalise your initial proposition. But open something as fun as Casa Pizzeria and you’ll have a likeable sequel that complements rather than compromises the OG. (It doesn’t hurt, I think, that management has expanded into takeaway and delivery, albeit takeaway and delivery on Casa’s terms.)

The Mount Hawthorn house party continues in fine fashion.