Pippo’s Pizza E Cucina

Pippo's Pizza E Cucina is a home-style Italian pizza restaurant from the owners of Redfern's La Coppola, focusing on old-school hospitality and local charm. At the helm is owner Stefano Scopelliti, alongside his daughter Cassandra and son Salvatore—a full-blown family affair. 

"I was born in Sicily and have over 30 years of experience working with pizza", Stefano tells Urban List. "The opportunity to get to work together with family, sharing something we are all passionate about, is really so lucky. At the end of the day, we all just really love good food."

And good food it is. Stefano is joined in the kitchen by Head Chef Simone Dal Col, who's taking on traditional family recipes and creatively modernising them. Take the Elio: reflective of seafood from Catania, they grill prawns over the coals in the woodfired oven—giving them a rich, smoky BBQ flavour. The prawns are then complemented by preserved lemons, fresh ricotta and capers.

"I grew up in the hills of Italy with a passion for food", says Simone, on his place within the venue. "While living in Italy, I spent 5 years working in fine dining, deepening my knowledge of food, before moving back to join the team and head up the kitchen."

There's also the Eggplant Scarpetta—Sicilian-style eggplants slightly pickled with garlic and chilli, laid on a bed of ricotta and grated tomato, with some fresh bread to mop up the plate. 

"The Sicilian-style eggplants on this dish are so reminiscent of the days we would spend at our Nonna’s making jars and jars of this, along with things like sauce, sausages and olives", Cassandra tells us. 

"The food comes first - we’re just doing what we know, Sicilian", says Salvatore. "Our food and culture are down-to-earth and chaotic, but also exceptional. So everything we do reflects this idea."

In terms of design, it's all about homey furnishings and shared dining. "Dad arrived here in the 60’s, so the interior reflects that period. Earthy red terrazzo and warm yellow walls reflect the colours of the Sicilian flag and the landscape", he notes. 

The wood-fired oven takes pride of place in the centre of the space, the beating heart of Pippo's day-to-day operations. In the dining room, a large communal table is designed for friends and family to gather over a meal, and for locals to mix and mingle.

"We really want them to feel like they have popped over to a friend's place who just happens to be an incredible cook", Cassandra tells us, when asked what kind of experience Pippo's should give to guests. "It's a classic, old school local joint that can be as low-key or fancy as you want."

"We’re just doing what we know and what we like", Salvatore adds. "Whether it overlaps with trends or moves away isn’t important to us."

Pippo's is walk-in only, but feel free to give them a call for parties of 8 or more. 

Image credit: Pippo's Pizza E Cucina | Supplied