New wine bar set for Fitzroy

When sommelier Simon Denman went looking for a location for the wine bar he was planning to open with his wife, chef Almay Jordaan, and brother Matthew, he snapped up 1 Reid Street in Fitzroy North. The rooms directly above Woodstock Pizza were once an illegal casino run by crime boss Alphonse Gangitano, who was gunned down in January 1998. According to Denman, the rooms had been untouched since the casino was closed down by police in 1991, ''there was an inch of dust on everything,'' he says, ''and poker chips and cards in drawers everywhere.'' They have tidied up the place, removed the old maroon carpet, polished the floors and updated the lighting, but left everything else as it is, including a Gangitano's full-size billiard table. The plan for Neighbourhood Wine is to be ''a good value, local neighbourhood wine bar'', Denman says. There's a list of about 200 wines and a menu that features retro dishes, such as prawn cocktail and chicken Kiev. Head chef Jordaan was most recently at Brunswick Street's Rice Queen and St Jude's. Neighbourhood Wine is open Wednesday to Monday from 4pm.