Short black

Racy name gets results

Desserts are often given names as left-field as pop stars' children but this still raised eyebrows when it appeared last week on the menu at Xanthi restaurant. The Lesbian Delight has already become a bestseller for the restaurant at Westfield Sydney. ''It just seemed like an appropriate name for a dessert using ingredients from the island of Lesbos, including pineapple, which recently started growing there,'' says the dessert's creator, chef David Tsirekas. ''It is sweet, delicious and feminine in nature.''

The granddaddy of all milk bar shake-ups

After Emmanuel Benardos opened Bernie's Diner in Moss Vale in 1925, the governor-general popped in for a milkshake. He soon became a regular. Next weekend, Benardos' grandson, Ioannis, reopens Bernie's, part of a new local movement reinventing milk bars and diners. He'll even serve the same milkshake his grandfather did. ''We've got the original syrup recipe, no preservatives, fresh ingredients and organic sugar,'' Benardos says. Part of the new breed of uptown restaurant talent putting some gloss on lower-end food offerings, Benardos joins US chef Dan McGuirt, who recently opened Jazz City Milk Bar at Republic 2, and former Manly Pavilion head chef Tony Gibson, who is opening a New York-style deli in East Sydney. Benardos' partner at Bernie's Diner (402 Argyle Street, Moss Vale) is Giuliano Colosimo, a graduate of the kitchen at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar. ''We'll do pastrami and corned beef, but it was always a blackboard menu when my grandfather was here, and we'll reproduce some of those Greek classics, like braised lamb shoulder and spanakopita,'' Benardos says. ''The family sold the business in 1957 after my grandfather died but they kept the building. It has had about five different tenants since. When I wanted to do my own place, it felt like a good spot to do it. We've gone for an old-school take with the interior, with elements of art deco from its early days and a 1950s-style update.''

In Bondi, all roads lead to Sydney's latest Little Italy

Step aside Leichhardt, Bondi Beach is making a serious play for the title of Sydney's Little Italy. As revealed in Short Black (12/2), Icebergs Dining Room and Bar owner Maurice Terzini is poised to open a casual Italian spin-off in the beachside suburb, the location of the venue confirmed as the new multistorey development Boheme, on the former site of the Hakoah Club in Hall Street. A Tavola and Gelato Messina, which are opening outposts in The Hub, will also add an Italian flavour. Terzini is downplaying talk that the yet-to-be-named restaurant, which opens later in 2013, is a shot at former business partner Rob Marchetti, who kept North Bondi Italian Food as the spoils in his split with Terzini. ''They are different products, we'll be heavily pizza-based,'' Terzini says. ''A wood-fire oven is central to what we'll do across the menu. I'd like to do porchetta over coals, lamb skewers, everything under $25-$30. [Former Popolo chef] Orazio D'Elia and key Icebergs management will be involved.'' The veteran restaurateur wants to recapture some of the essence of his early ventures, such as Melbourne's influential Caffe e Cucina. ''I'd love [the ordering] to be verbal, I don't want dockets,'' he says. The 60-seat restaurant will front O'Brien Street, already home to The Italian eatery, and just a short stroll from Pompei's and La Macelleria. ''There's a lot of Italian in Bondi,'' Terzini agrees. Diners do not live on antipasti alone, so it is good news to hear rumblings the owners of China Lane in the city are also in talks to open at Boheme.

A new Greek empire

Greek food is about to get a giant leg-up in Sydney, with the opening of a Hellenic answer to Establishment or ivy. Modern Greek food pioneer Peter Conistis, who confirmed in January he would steer the food venue at the Hellenic Club's new building at 238 Castlereagh Street in the city, has given more details about the multi-venue launch. ''We'll open the first three venues in early April,'' he says. ''There'll be a casual diner, a cafe and a food store [that sells Greek baked goods and pastries].'' Hold your gyros, because there's more: the venue will also have a mezze bar and ''fine diner'' restaurant.

Hot 'Air' rises

Pacharin ''Air'' Jantrakool, the talented Thai chef who returned to Sailors Thai in 2012 (having previously run Sailors Thai Canteen), will depart the restaurant again at the end of this week. Jantrakool told Short Black she rejoined Sailors because David Thompson asked her to step in during a change of owners last year. ''Now they are stable with a good team, that's why I can go back to concentrate on my own business, Tapioca [restaurant in Cremorne],'' she says. Former Sailors Thai head chef Ty Bellingham will take the reins in the kitchen at The Rocks' eatery.

Wallace purchase points to a jazzed-up menu

Dinner and a show has always been part of the package at live-music stalwart The Basement, but expect some serious ramping up of the food under a new owner. Tim Read and Jane Burridge put the Circular Quay venue on the market in 2012, and Sydney restaurant consultant David Wallace is believed to have signed the paperwork to buy the business. Wallace is quietly amassing a Sydney food empire. He is behind the clever Opera kitchen development at the Sydney Opera House, a shareholder in Cloudy Bay Fish Co at Westfield Sydney, and has co-purchased Steel Bar & Grill. Numerous small bars and restaurants have popped up in the precinct around The Basement, and Wallace is believed to have big food plans for the venue while maintaining its musical legacy.

Making heavenly matches

The NSW Wine Festival is in full swing. As part of the program, Dine with NSW Wine is offering a 2010 Printhie MCC Chardonnay or 2009 merlot plus a fine pork belly and artichoke dish at Claude's - a two-hat steal at $30. Likewise at Ormeggio at the Spit: 2011 Logan Weemala Pinot Noir pairs up with suckling pig and fennel, Dutch carrots and a side salad, $40. See nswwinefestival.com.au. Until March 31. NSW wine also comes to the Sydney Morning Herald Growers' Market on Saturday (March 2, 7-11am) with guest market chef Jared Ingersoll as well as winemakers from Hungerford Hill and A. Retief offering tastings and food/wine matching tips.