Carlton’s food renaissance keeps on rolling, with four new venues adding further cred to the suburb’s already impressive form.
The team behind Brunswick cafés Wide Open Road and A Minor Place (Hootan Heydari, Jono Hill, Emily Bitto & Nathen Doyle) have scored prime Lygon Street real estate for their latest venture, a cicchetti bar called Heartattack and Vine (yes, it’s named after the Tom Waits song), with Jimmy Watson’s Wine Bar and the glam Brunetti mothership as neighbours, and the northside outpost of St Kilda fromagerie/bar Milk the Cow opening three doors down next month. Loosely modelled on the neighbourhood bars of Venice and Florence, Heartattack and Vine opens from seven in the morning for coffee and pastries and then continues throughout the day with porchetta rolls at lunchtime and cicchetti, aperitvi and wine from early evening onwards.
Also in the neighbourhood, Hotel Lincoln, taken over by MoVida group veteran Iain Ling and his wife Stella, will reopen next month after a renovation with chef Lachlan Cameron (Supernormal, MoVida Aqui) running the kitchen and Emma Ramos (Le Bon Ton, The Everleigh) behind the bar. The Lincoln’s wine list will be compiled by Lachlan Barber, who has helped pull together lists at The Town Mouse and MoVida Aqui.
But wait, there’s more.
Will and Mick Balleau, the siblings behind Richmond taqueria Chingon and late-night Collingwood haunt Le Bon Ton, are gutting a two-storey venue on Elgin Street to create Five Points Deli, their homage to the traditional Jewish delis they visited as children on family holidays to Manhattan. Their baker will pump out fresh bagels, pumpernickel and rye, there’ll be cured and smoked pastrami courtesy of Le Bon Ton’s 500-kilo smoker, and chowders, salads and fermented and pickled vegetables will also make an appearance.
Above the deli the brothers will tap into their New Mexican roots with The Longhorn Saloon, a grill/chophouse with a dose of rock ‘n’ roll. Five Points Deli and The Longhorn Saloon are both slated to open in February next year and will add yet another feather – and angle – to Carlton’s increasingly impressive cap.
Heartattack and Vine, 329 Lygon St, Carlton, Vic, (03) 9005 8624
Milk the Cow, 323 Lygon St, Carlton, Vic
The Hotel Lincoln, 91 Cardigan St, Carlton, Vic, (03) 9347 4666
Five Points Deli & The Longhorn Saloon, 118 Elgin St, Carlton, Vic
Looking for more Melbourne dining options? Check out our list of the best restaurants in Melbourne.
