The team behind Porteno will hand over the keys for the eye-catching Enmore Road property to a top Italian chef.
One of Sydney’s inner west dining gems, the chefs’ hatted Bar Louise, will close within months after its owners sold its distinctive Enmore Road home to one of the city’s top Italian chefs.
The pink and purple facade of Enmore’s Marie-Louise Salon has survived 75 years of changing fashion, but what will happen to the exterior now that Italian chef Alessandro Pavoni has snapped the building up with plans to open a wine bar?
The answer? Absolutely nothing. “It’s heritage listed,” Pavoni said. Good Food can reveal Pavoni – the chef behind Ormeggio at The Spit, a’Mare and Postino Osteria – his wife Anna, and long-term business partner Bill Drakopoulos bought the building in recent days. (Drakopoulos also operates Sydney Restaurant Group, which runs Sails Lavender Bay and Ripples Little Manly).
Pavoni said they’ll get the keys to the property when the purchase settles in June.
Anna Pavoni has looked into the history of the Enmore Road building and its slightly faded enamel facade. Every bit as much a Sydney shopfront icon as the Olympia Milk Bar on Parramatta Road Stanmore, Marie-Louise Salon is generally thought of as a product of the colourful 1950s.
“It was actually built around 1949,” she said. She points to some late art deco curves. Its bright, smiley facade could be characterised as post-war optimism.
“The owners of Bar Louise did such a beautiful reno of the interior; it’s still new and shiny,” she said.
Bar Louise co-owner Joe Valore said the decision to sell one of the jewels of Enmore Road was motivated by his group’s nearby expansion on Australia Street in Newtown, where Valore and his business partners have opened a number of venues, including Mister Grotto. The group also intends to focus more on core brands Porteno and Humble Bakery.
Valore said Bar Louise would continue to trade until mid-June, and with the recent business expansion, there would be opportunities to relocate staff within the group.
“We’re sad to see it go,” he said of the building where Stanbuli traded before Bar Louise opened in 2022. The sale price wasn’t revealed, but its new owners intend to continue to honour the heritage-listed name on the shopfront.
“The plan at this stage is to rename it Vineria Luisa, the Italian word for Louise, and open in late July,” Alessandro Pavoni said. The building’s facade reminds the chef of mid-century architecture in the north of Italy, and one of its hot trends will be a cornerstone at Vineria Luisa.
The gin and tonic will star alongside a large wine program and a sweeping food menu. “Ginoterias have become really big in the past five or 10 years,” Pavoni said.
Pavoni is impressed by Italy’s ginoterias, particularly in Milan. They’ll stock 20–25 gins in Enmore, predominantly from Italy and Australia, and 15 tonic waters. With all that gin on hand, there are also plans for martinis. And the food menu?
“There’ll be snacky stuff and small plates. Around eight pastas, all made in-house. Pizza fritta and some vegetarian dishes,” the chef said.
Pavoni has been in business with Drakopoulos for the past 14 years, teaming up at north-side restaurant Ormeggio at The Spit, where they’ve earned two chefs’ hats. Last year, they expanded to Summer Hill, buying the old post office building where local favourite One Penny Red traded. They then launched Postino Osteria in the space, snaring a 15/20 Good Food review in October.
The Marie-Louise Salon site will be their second incursion into the inner west. “We really like the people here. They’re friendly, responsive and adventurous. If you put tripe on the menu, they’ll try it,” Pavoni said.
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