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Cronulla scores rising culinary star

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Instant hit: Joe Natale's Cronulla restaurant, Alphabet Street.
Instant hit: Joe Natale's Cronulla restaurant, Alphabet Street.Brianne Makin

Cronulla continues its rise up the food stakes, pinching one of Sydney's hottest emerging chefs for a new Italian restaurant.

Ruben Martinez, Darren Simpson's long-serving deputy in the kitchen, has jumped from Simpson's shadow in recent times as head chef at La Scala on Jersey, where he snared some stellar reviews. Now Martinez has teamed up with Joe Natale, who cashed in his chips at Rambutan on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst and opened Alphabet Street, an instant hit in Cronulla.

''The new place will be called Giro Osteria, a few doors along from Alphabet Street. I met Ruben 10 years ago when he was at Aqua Luna. He finished up at La Scala last Saturday night, hopefully we'll open in about six weeks,'' Natale says.

The restaurateur says relocating from the city last year was the best move he's made. ''The people of Cronulla have reminded why I'm a restaurateur,'' he says. ''My 10-year goal is to put Cronulla on the food map.''

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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