WARREN Mead is going ahead with plans for his latest restaurant, this one to be located at the ground floor of Exchange Plaza on St Georges Terrace.
An application for a hotel licence for the premises, to be called Oyster Bar on the Terrace, has been lodged with the Liquor Licensing Department. Gusto reckons Mr Mead won’t be kitting out any hotel rooms but, if successful with the hotel licence application, will use its flexibility to allow patrons to have a glass of wine or beer without needing to order a substantial meal. Currently, restaurant licences only allow an operator to serve alcohol without serving customers a meal on 20 per cent of the premises. No word yet as to when the venue will open but Gusto will keep readers updated.
• • •
Jeff Ogden has lodged an application to alter/redefine his White Sands Tavern in Scarborough.
Gusto thought Mr Ogden might have decided to go ahead with development plans that were thrown into turmoil after Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah McTiernan limited Scarborough’s high rise to eight storeys.
But alas, there’s no big scoop about the application, according to Mr Ogden.
He told Gusto this week that it’s nothing more than redefining the area and extending the bottle shop.
• • •
Perth restaurateur Brett Carbone is using his restaurant as an ongoing reminder to patrons of the need to help those affected by the Boxing Day tsunami.
In light of the recent tragedy, Mr Carbone will provide diners at his Mosman Park Japanese restaurant, Tsunami, which opened in 1998, with the opportunity to donate to World Vision’s Tsunami Appeal.
The initiative is called Tsunami’s Tsunami Appeal, Mr Carbone says patrons will be able to donate to the appeal upon leaving the restaurant.
There is also a link to donate to the Red Cross appeal via its website, tsunamisushi.com.au
• • •
Dropping the fine-dining style of Reflections, and the name of the restaurant, has been a good move, according to owner Joe Parlapiano.
Mr Parlapiano, also the chef, became fed up with pressures of maintaining high quality silver service and decided to go for a more casual approach. He’s gone back to his Italian roots, designing an authentic Italian menu that offers quality classics ranging from $14 to $25 dollars, and renaming the restaurant Parlapiano.
There’s also a good range of wood-fired pizzas available, thanks to a new outdoor pizza oven. All the linen is gone and the restaurant is now BYO.
But some of the favourite elements remain, including the oyster bar, with oyster shucker Jerry Fraser to continue shucking oysters at the venue every Friday evening.
“I felt that the top level dining was getting too hard; we did it well but I was getting tired of it,” Mr Parlapiano says. “It was hard to provide the expectation and meet the costs and trying to get the staff. So I decided to go more casual.
“We closed for two days and painted and created the outdoor area with a pizza oven and bar so people can sit outside and have a drink.
“It’s been very popular because people can come out and have a cheap night if they want to. They can bring their own wine and have a pretty cheap meal.”
And you can order Parlapiano’s new menu to take away.
