Espresso

Legends of the festival

It's a stellar collection of names, the members of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival hall of fame. And joining luminaries such as Alla Wolf-Tasker, Paul Bocuse, Stephanie Alexander and Antonio Carluccio are this year's Legends: Brown Brothers winemaker Ross Brown; MoVida chef and restaurateur Frank Camorra; Seven Seeds, Paramount Coffee Project and coffee farm co-owner Mark Dundon; China-based Melbourne chef and restaurateur Michelle Garnaut; and Epicure wine writer Jeni Port.

Melbourne food truck pioneer Rafael Rashid of Beatbox Kitchen and Taco Truck received the 2014 HOSTPLUS Trailblazer Award for opening up a new path of opportunity. Receiving the award, Rashid said his success could only have happened in Melbourne. For the first few months they opened only one day a week and sometimes sold only burgers, "but I knew the people of Melbourne would eventually come out and support this, and they did."

Frank Camorra opened MoVida almost 11 years ago and now has several restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney. "But it feels like the I've only been in the industry a short time," Camorra said.

He says he's honoured by the acknowledgment, which he hopes will encourage young chefs. "Hopefully they'll see that you can make a great career in this industry without having to sell your soul and can cook the food you want to."

The Legends program was launched in 1993 to acknowledge the contributions of Victoria's food and wine visionaries. Since then, almost 100 people have been recognised. Many previous inductees attended Monday's ceremony, including French chef Philippe Mouchel (2007), cooking teacher Elizabeth Chong (1993), former Sunnybrae owner-chef George Biron (2001), and Donovans' Gail Donovan (2004).

This year, festival organisers have introduced a scholarship for someone aged between 18 and 30 working in the food, wine and hospitality industry. The program offers experience in three restaurants or wineries overseas, international flights, $2000 and a year-long mentorship with a Melbourne Food and Wine Legend.

Applicants must submit a short video online at melbournefoodandwine.com.au/industry/scholarship. Submissions close April 23.

Piccolo

■ Coffee roaster Industry Beans on the corner of Rose and Fitzroy streets, Fitzroy, celebrates its first birthday on Friday with free coffee all day, and brew classes at 10am, noon and 2pm. Coincidentally, KereKere at 207 City Road, South Melbourne, is also giving away free coffees on Friday to mark its seventh anniversary.

■ The three women behind Collingwood's Fox Hotel, Clodagh Harris, Bridie Harrop and Tracey Walsh, are taking over South Melbourne's Montague Hotel. They hope to reopen in May as the Fox Hotel at the Montague, serving seafood and craft beer..

■ Rumour file: with Phaidon Press publishing Ferran Adria's mighty seven-volume set of El Bulli recipes this month, the legendary chef is tipped to be including Australia on his tour schedule. Stay tuned.

■ Tansy Good, whose Carlton North restaurant Tansy's The Age Food Guide 1987-88 described as "the model of a small restaurant", has returned to her old stomping ground, making simple lunches, along with vacuum-packed dinners to heat at home, at Skinner & Hackett butcher (400 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North) from Wednesday to Saturday.

■ Restaurateur Rinaldo Di Stasio, of St Kilda's Cafe Di Stasio, is being honoured tonight at a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra. The event brings together the 2013 Restaurant and Caterers' Association lifetime achievement winners from each state. "Ronnie is one of the true greats of our industry and considered the Godfather of Melbourne restaurateurs," says association president Matteo Pignatelli.

■ Apprentice chef Ashlee Carter from Voyager Estate in Margaret River, has won first prize in the 15th annual Fonterra Proud to be a Chef competition, which recognises promising apprentice chefs. Carter will receive a paid international culinary placement.

■ Siriporn (Pla) Liamthong and Dave Holtum have sold their share in city Thai cafe Mr Nice Guy to business partners Bon Faisingha and Sandra Phungmanee to refocus their energies on their original Carlton cafe, Middle Fish. The couple also hope to start a curry paste business.

■ The Swinburne strip of Glenferrie Road is abuzz with rumours of a fourth Huxtaburger outlet opening but Daniel Wilson is keeping his lips firmly zipped.

■ Chef Jacques Heraudeau has died after a long illness. He was 70. The Frenchman opened South Melbourne restaurant La Madrague in 1978 and operated it with his wife Annie for 25 years. Former Age Good Food Guide editor Rita Erlich says Heraudeau made an important contribution to the Melbourne food scene.

Goz city

You may have eaten Turkey's famous gozleme flatbreads at markets. Now a stand-alone gozleme store has opened in the CBD. "I'm confident in saying that it's the first," says owner Taylan Aksoy, who opened the small shop at the William Street end of Little Collins Street in late January after spotting a gap in the city market.

With his father Alan, Aksoy also owns Koy in South Melbourne where, on their busiest days, they sell more than 300 gozleme. At Goz City, the savoury flatbreads' yufka pastry is rolled and filled in the front window before being cooked to order. It's mostly about takeaway - with just 14 chairs, queues are already starting to form at noon. Best to get in early or Aksoy will have to start thinking about a second store.

Goz City, 502 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 9041 5667.

Empire building

A short history lesson: Second Empire is a grand, monumental architectural style popular during the Second French Republic, between 1852 and 1870. It's also the name of the latest cafe on Hawthorn's buzzy Burwood Road strip. A $17.9 million redevelopment has transformed Hawthorn's heritage-listed town hall into the Hawthorn Arts Centre, with Second Empire Cafe, operated by Epicure caterers, on the ground floor. French-born chef Christophe Serre heads the kitchen, serving breakfast and lunch dishes such as eggs benedict with Istra ham, fruit salad with Tasmanian lavender honey and vanilla yoghurt, and a wicked Thai sticky pork belly salad (pictured). Coffee is Genovese Fair Trade. Open Monday to Friday, 7.30am-6pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 7.30am-4pm.

Second Empire Cafe, ground floor, Hawthorn Arts Centre, 360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, 9290 9400.

Oliver Mckay and Chrissie Trabucco have opened Espresso at Assembly, next to their Carlton filter coffee and tea business Assembly. Until recently, the couple also owned Thornbury cafe Lowlands but since it closed, regulars have made a beeline for their small, minimal space on Pelham Street. Beans change regularly. At the moment both venues are serving the Kochere Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia. "We want to show the variation of the same bean and we can do that here," says Mckay. Food is limited to sweets and pastries and the filter store also sells equipment to brew your own at home.

Espresso at Assembly, 62 Pelham Street, Carlton, assemblystore.com.

Meatballs at Johnny's

Naomi Pasinetti describes her new Essendon eatery, Johnny Pump, as "a little bit of nonna's kitchen with some US influence". Pasinetti and her business partner, Jeff Booth have renovated and relaxed the space, which was Fletcher's Pasta Bar for many years but has been vacant for the past two, exposing the brick walls and adding canteen-style furniture. One wall carries a mural of the Big Apple. "It took a few months of work," Pasinetti says. The menu is a mix of pasta dishes - baked gnocchi with vegetables and mozzarella, spaghetti with meatballs and napoli sauce - and US touches, including Burger Me Up Scotty, a beef burger on a brioche bun, and waffles with whipped cinnamon butter.

It's open Wednesday to Sunday for breakfast and lunch, and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday.

Johnny Pump, 87 Fletcher Street, Essendon, 9375 4408.

Go nuts

Chef Matt Fallon has taken a crash course in Nordic food for his new gig at cocktail bar DuNord. He's combining foraged acorns with smoked eel and Danish blue cheese in popcorn-crumbed croquettes. Acorns must be boiled five or six times to remove the tannins, says Fallon, before they're seasoned and roasted in butter.

DuNord, at 367 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, kicks off its menu this week.