Bootleg Bar and Italian Restaurant, Potts Point

Hello friends. Apologies for the brief absence, no excuses here - just be assured that I have missed you friends of the fridgers. Now lets get back to all things boozy, tasty and ridiculously good and forget about me going M.I.A. and slipping into a black hole of bleagh.

 So here we go...  Let me start with a confession. I dont consider myself as bonafide foodie; I don't fit the description of "Living, Breathing and OBSESSING over food" which is quite odd for a food blogger, no? The focus of this blog has always been about the experience - the good times and the fun times involving food. I've had a thinky thinky moment while I've neglected this blog and realised that although I do love a great meal; I'm more about the experience, the stories, the atmosphere... the fun, getting people together, the memories. Queue segway...

Good food experiences shared with a bunch of friends make for a great night out. Along with our friends Lu and E; Demos and I led the way to our venue for the evening. Bootleg was buzzing with the Potts Point crowd and was pretty busy for a school night - we were able to score a table in the back corner and get acquainted with a medium bodied bottle of Negroamaro. Such a thirst quencher on a balmy night and not too heavy to overpower the meal ahead. The lighly battered calamari ($17) could not be ignored on the menu. Light and crispy; we fought over the last few pieces and drowned them in lemon juice. Simple Pleasures really.

The arancini that came next were not your usual standard Italian fare ($10 2/pc). Topped with a tangy and almost relish like tomato sauce with some bitey provolone - it was a taste sensation; especially as we bit into the crunchy coating through to a treasure trove of more melted provolone.

Once inside and away from the hustle of Kings Cross, once can be forgiven when thinking about Bootleg as an escape. Framed photographs with scenes from a very hip circa 1990 New York era put a smile on my face as did the boomboxes and random religious statues. They could be channeling Harlem or Queens or Compton perhaps - without overdoing the kitsch factor and making it feel like an awkward themed Christmas party venue. Comfortable booths and tables line the walls and the neon lights above the bar give Bootleg a subdued liveliness..save the bright lighting for the Coca Cola sign around the corner.

Tomato Sauce Day - Italian Backyard Style.

Mention the words "Tomato Sauce Day" to several Italians and you can guarantee that they would get flashbacks of their respective family memories. I distinctly remember a scene from the movie "Looking for Alibrandi" where everyone gets together in the backyard to make sauce. It looks like a blast with Italian folk music playing in the background..but, as is often the case - our Italian backyard is not like the movie. I have to burst this imaginary notion of a  laid back and relaxing Tomato Sauce Day (TSD) -it is not a time nor a place to Mambo Italian in the backyard. It is that one day of the year where everyone is expected to perform back breaking labour to produce bottles of precious, homemade tomato sauce which serves as the base of family meals throughout the year. And when they say they make it in bulk - they mean BULK!

The night before, the Boss Lady and I were out, enjoying a rather boozy saturday night. She says : "Tomorrow is TSD..you are coming and you are writing about it, you are an adopted Italian anyway". Boss Lady clearly gives no options - and I was more than happy to oblige! I have always wanted to participate in this tradition, so come Sunday morning my adoptive Italian family, Boss Lady, and our respective hangovers were all present in the backyard. We already got scolded because TSD starts at 6am sharp.. I can't even tell you what time we started participating! And so the day begins, surrounded by tomatoes!

TSD is a very well organised affair. I can tell that my adoptive Italian family are experts in the art of TSD and have their well oiled procedure down pat! I'm  lucky because some strict Italian families do not let non-italians help during TSD. Apparently ruins the sauce! This is a silly myth but I washed my hands with Italian soap (Palmoli-vino) as a preventative measure.The first sets of photos above show the preparation. The ripe tomatoes are sorted and selected, washed, cut in half and put aside. All up there were 34 large boxes of fresh tomatoes to turn into rich tomato concentrate (passata), and this was just for the small immediate family! Some families make TSD a major "once a year" family affair - producing massive quantities of sauce with Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents involved in the process. This was TSD was small in comparison!

Vessel Italian, King St Wharf

Tuesday night date night had come around once again. Fortunately there was not much to think about this time around because luckily enough we were invited to come and dine at Vessel Italian. Situated on the ground floor of the new Macquarie building it is easy to get to and would be perfect for those wanting something to peck on after the Friday booze sessions especially as the silly season approaches.  

After finding parking on nearby Hickson Road Gianna and I meandered down toward Vessel lapping up the sun on this balmy Tuesday night. I must admit that nothing beats the summer weather, sun shine and good food - exactly what was in store for the evening. Having booked an early table, we were able to admire this beautiful restaurant before the other guests started to arrive.

Vessel has a very good location and when the sun is out and fills the space inside you can't help but feel that you are out having Sunday lunch, such a good respite for those slogging through yet another rough day at the office. Its location is prime for CBD workers who just want to whisk themselves to a elegant space and forget about looming deadlines. It is a beautiful venue and makes good use of the space. Open, airy with lots of light and accentuated with glass, steel and timber - it's like an architect's dream. I really liked the chairs, honeycomb openings matching the honeycomb cladding of the building, a nice touch. Once settled and seated we were given the menu and our friendly waitress suggest we begin with stuzzichinni (starters).

Along with the delicious bread, a selection of mixed marinated olives arrive with some crunchy grissini, a perfect accompaniment as we go through the menu

We also started with Suppi 'al telephono - fried saffron risotto balls with mozzarella and basil. There were a few starters that sounded quite delectable such as the asparagialla milanesse - grilled asparagus with poached truffled egg and parmesan but we settled on something small to get going. Nonetheless I think you can't ever go wrong with olives. Throw some bread in the mix, some olive oil and salt and you can sit quietly and eat to your hearts content. Well that's what I think anyway, must be the Greek in me - please ignore my momentary Mediterranean inspired musings.

La Bella Notte, North Bondi Italian

When you think of Sydney the association with beaches instantly springs to mind. We are pretty lucky to be surrounded by very beautiful beaches, Bondi being the most famous of all with thousands of tourists coming to visit frequently. So what could make what countless people already think is one of the greatest places in Sydney any better you might ask? The answer is one very good Italian restaurant - North Bondi Italian. With gorgeous scenic views of Bondi and damn good Italian food there is nothing better to experience. Looking at the photos taken while writing this post I can easily say that it would be impossible to argue otherwise. 

To kick off the festivities we start of with a bottle of red. Cant remember the name except that it was a chianti. The waitress had brought out and served a different bottle to what we had ordered but she was nice enough to charge us the same price as the original bottle. Not to worry though, it still went down an absolute treat as most Italian reds do.  So while downing our glasses we began pouring over the menu to decide on what to eat. 

 

Luckily picking on bread with olive oil and salt is quite handy when going through the menu, solely on the fact that you get so hungry by reading about all the offerings available. Joking around with Gianna I said I would order some offal - crumbed and fried lambs brains specifically. It didn't eventuate this time but I most definitely will try it next time around. The menu offers a good selection of antipasti, pasta, carne, pesce, daily meat specials and dolci. If we could order it and eat it all in one sitting we would. It all sounded so delicious. Even the offal. 

Having decided to just get stuck into the mains we thought that we could at least try the Arancini, Crumbed Spinach Risotto Balls ($18) to get things going. Crispy and salty on the outside and full of warm gooey and cheesy risotto, its pretty hard to go wrong id say. One could very easily get carried away and knock these back like no tomorrow. Very simple and very tasty.


Now to talk about the mains that we ordered. Pasta, pasta and more pasta with some steak on the side. Im salivating at the thought while writing this. I wont lie, im a little wog boy at heart and there's nothing more that I love more than a great plate of pasta. It's the comfort food of all Europeans and I think that nothing can make anyone feel any better than a hot plate of pasta with some parmesan liberally sprinkled on top. Gianna can testify to this but I digress.

Spaghetti Arrabiata - Crab, Chilli, Tomato - Cooked in a Paper Bag $30 
Gianna's mum ordered this amazing pasta dish. Spicy hot and littered with juicy crab meat. Having it cooked in a paper bag keeps in all the aroma and warmth and gives the dish that rustic feel to it. The sauce is really nice as all the crab juices are mixed in. By the time you get to the bottom you better hope you have a chunk of bread to mop up all the leftover sauce.

La Tagliata - Chargrilled Hereford / Angur Rib eye, rocket and Green Peppercorns, Chilli $29 
This dish was ordered by Gianna's dad. He had his heart set on steak for the night and steak is what the man got. Managing to get a piece to try I can say that it was very tasty. The meat was juicy and tender and very smoky in flavour.

Tagliatelle - Gorgonzola, Flowering Garlic Chives $24 
This was ordered by Gianna and didn't last very long on her plate. Putting my hand up to take part of the blame here. Creamy gorgonzola sauce and garlic. Yum. The broad tagliatelle does a good job of being able to mop up a lot of the sauce with each forkful as well.

Rigatoni - Berkshire Pork Sausages, Sage, Tomato, Garlic and Chilli $27 John, Gianna's lil bro got this pasta, one of the favourites I might add. Big rigatoni, chunks of pork sausage and a rich tomato sauce with sage - this is one hearty pasta. What I love is that it just screams out EAT ME! If you happen to be very hungry I would advise that this is what you order. Even if you aren't order it anyway. It is absolutely delectable.

Bucatini al Amatriciana - Pancetta, Tomato, Chilli  Ordered by yours truly, this is a pretty simple pasta. Thick spaghettiesque bucatini with salty pancetta littered about quite liberally. A tasty tomato sauce and spicy chilli. Sprinkled with parmesan I was quite content to just eat and remain quiet whilst doing so. 

The atmosphere at the North Bondi Italian was fun and casual. It was such a beautiful night out so it was nice to be able to sit in the outside area, where it was not as noisy as the inside. The restaurant does not take reservations so make sure to get there early to avoid disappointment. I don't know what it is about us and going to places with no bookings policies..we've been lucky so far!

The hungry family - G's Parents and Little Brother. The food crew out in force to celebrate G's birthday because eating is what this family does best, with a second bottle of red of course - this one is a Corvo Nero D'Avola. All in all a very good night out with beautiful food, beautiful wine, beautiful views and of course such good company. 

Empty plates all around. Good times. You wouldn't expect anything less. 

North Bondi Italian 02 9300 4400 118-120 Ramsgate Ave Bondi Beach NSW