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World pizza champ Johnny di Franceso to open Essendon Gradi restaurant

Hilary McNevin

World champion pizza maker Johnny di Francesco (right) with group executive chef Harry Lilai at the new Gradi in Essendon.
World champion pizza maker Johnny di Francesco (right) with group executive chef Harry Lilai at the new Gradi in Essendon.Wayne Taylor

It's onward and upward for champion pizzaiolo Johnny di Francesco. After beating 600 entrants from 35 countries at the World Pizza Championships in Parma with his classic margherita last year, he's had queues trailing out of his Brunswick East pizza restaurant, 400 Gradi, opened a Venetian-style wine bar next door, and refitted the former Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons at Crown as 300-seat Gradi.

Now comes stage three in his bid for world domination. He's in the final stages of setting up a 200-seat restaurant on Keilor Road, Essendon. "We're still deciding if it will be called 400 Gradi or Gradi Essendon," di Francesco says.

Enter Harry Lilai, who sold his Fitzroy restaurant, the Town Hall Hotel, to chef Sean Donovan in May and previously ran Cecconi's​ in the CBD. Having had a short break, Lilai is back on the pans as executive chef of Johnny di Francesco's Gradi Group.

"Johnny approached me as he needs someone to help him," says Lilai. "These places are busy!"

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Naturally, pizza will be on the menu in Essendon, along with classic Italian dishes similar to those Lilai plated at the Town Hall. That's good news for Town Hall regulars craving his slow-roasted capretto, gnocchi with aged balsamic, butter and parmesan, and vitello tonnato with seared tuna.

Di Francesco is thrilled with his new recruit. "It'll give me more time to think creatively about where I want the businesses to go next," he says. The Essendon Gradi offshoot, at 110 Keilor Road, is due to open mid-November.

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