THE ITALIAN JOB

Restaurant Magazine 27th February - 11th March 2008

Gip Dammone, joint proprietor of family owned Salvos, spills the cannellinis on the restaurant that brought a little Italy to Leeds

“In the 1970’s, most people didn’t use mozzarella on their pizzas. They didn’t see the point. Everything was from ‘analogue’, that cheese-flavoured fat compound found in all the best takeaways. Which is madness. We got mozzarella directly from Italy, and it was a world of difference in taste.”

Gip Dammone, the engaging 52-year-old hipster behind Leeds institution Salvo’s, is reminiscing. With him at the stove, his father, Salvotore, opened in Headingley in 1976. Gip remembers the 1970s as a culinary disaster. Eating out was split between formal restaurants and bad Chinese and Indian. “I can still taste it to this day,” he says of a curry he once had, “tiny little prawns, harsh madras curry powder”. Salvo’s superior pizza and pasta was “immediately popular”. “The menu stands the test of time,” insists Gip, who after catering college spent two years at a family restaurant near Salerno. “I’d just come back, so my point of reference wasn’t Italian restaurants in Britain. We had baked eggs with pancetta, and college dishes like Grapefruit Mexicana, which was grilled grapefruit, brown sugar and peppers. Move over Anthony Flinn!”

Modern Salvo’s, a bustling, friendly, Habitat-chic restaurant, may look different but its principles – good ingredients (local where possible), honest pricing, authenticity – are unchanged. In the reception/bar, a large file of newspaper cuttings, local awards, Harden’s and Good Food Guide stickers attest to Salvo’s popularity.

Their business model, says John, Gip’s brother and Salvo’s financial director, is based on 1,200 people a week in a 65-cover restaurant. They achieve this by sticking rigidly to a no-booking policy. “When I come with my family, I wait,” says Gip. This enables them to “turn the tables over four times” on a Saturday night. John: “Our average evening spend is £22. If I did less people I’d have to charge more. A plate of pasta wouldn’t be £8, it’d be £12. Talking to customers, they’re also prepared to sacrifice not being able to walk in at 8pm and sit straight down, for a great meal at affordable prices”.

Salvo’s is constantly evolving, the most recent project a new upper-floor bar designed by Gip, with pride of place given to a beautiful vintage jukebox (in the 90’s, Gip was a promoter/DJ on the acid jazz scene).

A few doors down, meanwhile, Salvo’s recently opened its Salumeria. For Gip, a man with an infectious enthusiasm for Italian food and artisan produce (his role, these days, is, “to inspire the kitchen and make sure they’ve got nice ingredients”), it’s a labour of love. By day the Salumeria is a deli-café selling speciality Italian ingredients, coffees and pasta. Wednesday to Saturday evenings, it’s a 30-cover restaurant, with seasonal rustic Italian food. Prices and themes (seafood, wine-matching, food from Italian regions) vary, but at its cenare con amici nights, diners get a set, six course meal for £16.50. Many of the dishes wouldn’t work at Salvo’s because they “sound boring on paper”, but Gip loves turning people on to peasant dishes or ingredients they clain to hate, “Once you’re in, we pour Italian love all over you”.

“It’s also a really good way of cross-selling different sectors of the business,” says John. After 32 years, it is easy to assume that everyone knows what you do, but that’s not the case. Internal advertising is crucial. The gourmet who visits the Salumeria in the evening should leave aware of Salvo’s, just as the passer-by who drops in for a coffee should be able to read about the Salumeria’s events over his or her espresso.

Between Gip’s passion and John’s business acumen, Salvo’s looks set for decades to come. “Do we feel ‘established’?” asks John, rhetorically, “No. We still work ours butts off. We believe in continuous improvement”.

A TASTE OF TUSCANY

On the menu?

SALVO'S:
Fennel Salame; Warm Flatbread; Affumicato Pizza and Smoked Scamorza; Pancetta; Swordfish with Pantelleria Capers; Pasta with Aubergine, and Smoked Ewes’ Ricotta.

SALUMERIA:
Sorpressata selection; Artichokes stewewd in Olive Oil; White Bean Puree, Polenta Crostini; Winter Vegetable Soup; Slow-cooked Mutton Leg; Mullet marinated in Wine Vinegar and Saffron.

Size? 65 (30 Salumeria)

Where? 115 & 109 Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 3PX, 0113 275 5017