If you're in Maitland and you want good pizza, you go to Ometto Pizza Bar.
This is common knowledge amongst locals since 2016 when the shop opened on High Street, and although the oven-fired pizza place has changed owners, the Italian essence from the original owners remains.
This was the plan all along for Kris Anderson, who purchased the business in 2019. He says Ometto still has a few original staff members employed.
"I bought it and it was established I didn't change anything, it was already working and making money," Anderson says.
"I've just expanded the wine list, added extra pizzas but kept the ones that the regulars always buy: Margarita and Carnivora, which is meat lovers."
Anderson grew up in Lennox Head and moved to Sydney when he was 18. He started out working in kitchens and then front-of-house, mostly working as a bartender.
Before he purchased Ometto, Anderson studied hospitality. He has worked in various food and drink venues, including what was called Mavericks - this was the first business he'd ever owned.
He and his family moved to Newcastle five years ago.
Anderson remembers the previous owner of Ometto being "a very traditional Italian" who "wouldn't do a supreme as it had too many toppings".
When Anderson took over the shop, customers were asking for it, so he added a few pizzas here and there, while keeping the originals and the base recipe.
"We've just got the wood-fired pizza oven, everything is based around cooking with that, keeping it simple," Anderson says.
The Ometto building has been some version of a cafe or restaurant since the 1930s and '40s. It was once two storeys with a grand piano and a dance hall.
A metal worker named Alan Curtis lived upstairs and he put in a flue 60 years ago. Curtis sadly passed during the pandemic, and everyone knew him as a local character.
Anderson bought Ometto just before COVID hit and at first business was slow, but after two weeks people were out and about getting food again.
"At the end of the day COVID was good for us - it made people go out and find more local things that weren't just the pub for food options," he says.
"It sort of helped us along. We added delivery, which is something I've wanted to do."
At Ometto they only use their own delivery drivers rather than Uber Eats or Menulog.
They are a staff of 15, and their till system tells them they have 70 per cent repeat customers, if not higher.
Their weekly specials change every Friday, and social media is their only advertisement.
Because Ometto is going so well, Anderson is considering opening another shop in the Hunter Valley. He just hasn't found the right place available at the right time.
In terms of his favourite pizza, Anderson likes it all, and he likes to mix it up.
"I would go quattro formaggi with olives and pork sausage," he says.
"The best flavoured one is the calabrese piccante. It can be quite hot, we don't add chilli - it's just from the two salamis."
The wine list is truly eclectic, featuring a huge range of varietals and brands.
The sparkling and whites include prosecco, lambrusco, pinot grigio, grillo, orvieto, rosato, verdelho, sauv blanc, chardonnay, fiano and albarino. The reds are just as extensive: dolcetto, montepulciano, nebbiolo, barbera, chianti, merlot, cab sav, shiraz, pinot noir, sangiovese and tempranillo.
Local producers include Boydells, Margan, Tinkler, First Creek, Leogate and Glandore.
"The wine list was solely Italian pretty much, so I brought in some house wine and also some local stuff as well," Anderson says.
"We work with Glandore a little bit, we do some functions out there for them. There's 30 varieties on there.
"I'm trying to do the Australian variety of Petroni and Nero, things like that, that. I'm getting imported ones and trying to source Australian grown ones to keep it Italian, but if people want Australian..
" When I first took over no one was really wanting local, no one was putting their hand up, but then when COVID hit it sort of clicked that people wanted Hunter stuff and also organic."
Ometto Pizza Bar, 489 High Street, Maitland. 4030 5916
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