LOCATIONOpposite the Old Adelaide Inn on O’Connell Street.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAWhen customers realise your product is as frozen as a botoxed soap star, you may lose them forever. “Frozen” is simply a dirty word in seafood talk – and don’t these guys know it. Owner and chef at this inner city eatery, Joseph Carbone and Lou Buccini appreciate the value of sourcing from local suppliers. And, after luring bucketloads of diners to Line Bait’s prior location in Henley Beach, in 2006 they brought their tastes of the sea to fashionable North Adelaide. Here Aussie fish and chip plates with thick-cut fries please traditionalists, while non-conformists revel in the Mediterranean flavours running throughout.
A blackboard is chalked with eye-catching specials, and shares the walls with a wide-screen television. Some may argue this “sign of the times” is a conversation killer, but it would be hard not to get vocal about chef Lou’s dishes. Served on linen dressed tables, sashimi-quality scallops topped with truffle oil infused fish roe are a standout, and chowder, paella, bouillabaisse and a hotpot are used to showcase local fish, prawns, mussels and calamari. Dedicated fish mains include King George whiting, garfish, barramundi, salmon and whole baby flounder, while the seasoned South Australian snapper pan-seared and presented with garlic mash, sauteed spinach and a squeeze of lemon, reels compliments in. The pasta section, which tugs at Lou’s Italian culinary heritage, offers choices such as crabmeat linguine rounded out with Napolitana sauce and cream. Your meat-loving companions can try the equally-Italian veal dish from the grill, with prosciutto, sage, butter and white wine jus. Manager Tate Hinson drives the wine list and front-of-house with an attitude of efficiency that is most reassuring.
Roz Taylor, June 2009