- Robert Cockroft
In 1976, Salvatore Dammone established a small pizzeria in a parade of shops in Headingley, Leeds.
Word circulated that not only were the pizzas good but that an extra ingredient went into their preparation. We went. It did. At the time Salvo's was a single shop unit, long by narrow. At the head of the room, facing the tables, was a pizza oven attended by a round man with a round face and famously mobile features. This was Pinu. As he stretched the fresh dough and applied the various toppings, he would offer a running commentary on life, the world, his colleagues and the customers, often candid, always funny. And he'd burst into spontaneous song, to volleys of good natured Italian insults from the kitchen. His was not a vast repertoire, and Pavarotti had little to fear, but his lyricism always sounded deeply - felt and the pizzas somehow seemed better for it. Customers loved them, but they seemed to love his quirkiness even more and an evening table at Salvo's became a very hot ticket for a wide social range.
Because space was so tight, people would turn up and queue outside. Even though the bar and restaurant had since enjoyed marginal expansion (and a Mediterranean makeover), 21 years later, they still come and queue at night.
When Salvo died, the business and its general informality passed to his two sons Geppino and John and last year an offshoot opened in Rothwell in the form of Salute. Salvo's brother, the singing chef, is retired, though he occasionally returns to eat, and Michael Leggiero who started as a kitchen boy, is head chef. The place, meanwhile, continues to sing. The welcome is amiable, the service friendly and the atmosphere cheerfully laid-back, creating the sort of environment where you find yourself nattering away to the next table. But there's more. From the start, pizzas and pastas told only part of the story. There were usually a few blackboard dishes, often involving fresh fish.
Specials now occupy an important section of the menu and its here that the menu's claim to serve 'contemporary Italian food' finds its clearest expression. It's a struggle to see where Thai-style chicken noodle soup comes into that, but fitting the bill rather better are marinated anchovies crostini; grilled snapper with herbed caper butter; char-grilled tuna on green bean salad with tomato and lemon vinaigrette; lamb rump with beetroot and potato rosti with thyme jus; and penne with fried asparagus, leeks, chilli and crème fraiche. But even the regular menu (pasta starts at £6.50, pizzas at £6.70) offers a reproach to those 'trattoria' that are still lazily content to trot out platitudes. Anyone for seafood salad with pickled vegetables; linguine with shellfish, green chilli and coriander; roast ham shank on basil whipped potatoes and fresh thyme jus; or pizza topped with roasted aubergine and rocket? And the menu east as well as it reads, not invariably the case in our Italian cafes. They might admittedly have found sweeter tomatoes for the bruschetta, but with a starter of deep-fried squid and king prawn with garlic mayonnaise spoke loudly enough of the kitchen's skills.
This was a lovely fittura: the light, thin, crisp blond batter, lifting rather than compromising the flavour and texture of the squid and prawn. A mixed leaf salad with baby mozzarella, vine tomato with balsamic showed a similar capacity for making a dish more than its sum, and a fillet of seabass on spiced roast new potatoes and herbed olive oil emphasised it. It helped that it was a beautifully fresh piece of fish, but it takes an experienced had to make the combined flavours (rocket, fried and fresh, and pesto appeared in supporting roles) emerge quite so vividly.
And it takes faith to place together big flavours like duck, roasted Italian sausage and caramelised tomato sauce with penne in the hope that they won't brawl. They don't. Puddings? Some Italian chefs buy them in but prefer not to announce it. Here the tiramisu, like that old Roman stager, ginger sponge, is home-made and tastes so. For the terminally self-indulgent, there's Mars bar fondue with marshmallows and fresh fruit. Coffees are excellent and, final touch, the wine list is allowed to roam well beyond Mediterranean shores. Here's to 21 more years of this engaging mix. |
