Page 20 - foodservice - June 2018

20
TRADE TALK
you do, use oregano, not marjoram.’ Needless to say, the first thing I did was create our signature pizza
with marjoram.”
He pairs it with a medium to full bodied, Italian wine like montepulciano or sangiovese. “That’s not to say if a cold Peroni Gran Riserva Rossa
can was placed in front of me
I wouldn’t drink it.”
“When I told one of my staunch, Italian suppliers that I was going to start serving pizza, he said, ‘Whatever you do, use oregano, not marjoram.’ Needless to say, the first
thing I did was create our signature pizza with marjoram.”
offerings, high quality gluten free and vegan toppings. I believe that this is a transition to an all-new style of pizza that fits well within the Australian culinary scene.”
Accordingly, his approach to pizza has evolved over his career. Starting out with a traditional outlook at St Kilda’s Pizza E Birra, he’s embraced something more modern at Stretched Pizza in Coburg with wife Ly Nguyen and business partner Joe Codespoti. From the get-go it was about “Italian-style, hand-stretched pizza with multicultural, innovative and creative toppings”.
The Stretched Pizza
menu features such inventively name pizzas as ‘Trick O Treat’ (pumpkin, caramelised onions, mozzarella, feta, pesto and pumpkin seeds), ‘Big Fat Greek Wedding’ (pulled spiced lamb, caramelised onions, feta, tzatziki, mozzarella and lemon), and ‘El-Chapo Cobuzman’ (cartel sauce, black beans, medley tomatoes, jalapeños, corn kernels, mozzarella, shallots and coriander). Their version
of the Margherita is the tongue- in-cheek, ‘No Brainer’.
His top pick, ‘Un-Pho- Gettable’, is a Vietnamese- inspired affair with a house- made hoisin and tomato base, marinated sirloin steak, spring onions, sprouts, Vietnamese basil, red onions, mozzarella and a Sriracha sauce.
Typically, Stretched Pizza uses Type 00 flour milled from Australian durum wheat, however the team, strongly
of the view that pizza should be enjoyed by all, also caters to variety of dietary requirements offering a range of vegetarian and vegan options, and gluten free bases at no extra charge.
D’Agostino believes this has given the Stretched Pizza business a boost, finding vegan cheese and gluten free options as well-received with customers, both with and without intolerances.
But whatever the style of pizza or dietary requirement, D’Agostino believes it important to use quality ingredients and
to develop strong ties with suppliers. He also considers
it crucial to upskill your team and “to have a team that is up
to speed and understands costings,
Above clockwise from left: ‘Planet of the Vegans’ at Stretched Pizza; ‘Fatto Bar & Cantina’s James Kummrow; and Dario D’Agostino, co-owner of Stretched Pizza.
STRETCHED PIZZA
WITH DARIO D’AGOSTINO Co-owning two, vastly different pizza venues as well as a third cafe in Port Melbourne, Dario D’Agostino is in the unique position of being able to appreciate the trends impacting Italian cuisine in Australia.
“In the last couple of years pizza in Australia has absolutely exploded,” he says. “Many new pizzerias of different styles have opened, bringing the quality of pizza to the next level. We have seen an increase in fusion pizza