Is it OK to put pineapple on pizza? If it’s Roccella’s smoky spin, yes

Most of the big questions have been answered – onions go under the sausage, they’re called potato cakes not scallops, crinkle cut is the best chip – but there’s one debate that lingers. Is it OK to put pineapple on pizza? Francesco “Ciccio” Crifo at East Melbourne’s excellent Roccella has answered emphatically and creatively. Yes. Sort of.

He’s not a fan of pineapple on tomato-based pizza with any old ham and cheese. But the pizzaiolo is happy with his own elaborate version. Chunks of charred, smoke-infused pineapple are scattered over a slow-matured pizza base made with artisan wheat flour.

It’s cooked in a shimmering dome oven, then lovingly layered with shaved prosciutto, torn stracciatella cheese and a glaze made with balsamic vinegar and the sweet, smoky juice that seeps from roasted pineapple. It’s a sweet-salty-sour-smoky argument-stopper in eight delicious slices.

This wonderful pizza says a lot about Roccella: classic, but also creative, and very customer-centred. The restaurant opened two months before Melbourne’s first lockdown, forging a connection with the local community.

Proximity to the MCG and hospitals help with custom, as does the all-day offering and the handy grocery with house-baked bread, Italian wine, antipasto and take-home meals.

Drawing people is fine but you need to look after them. In this, Roccella excels. Diners have one job: enjoy. Crifo’s business partners include brothers Joe and Bruno Ceraso who take turns overseeing the dining room.

The Cerasos spent years in national roles at chain restaurant Schnitz and courted Crifo when he was slinging pizzas at Zero 95 in Doncaster East. The operational nous is evident: Roccella has the heart of an artisan business and the smarts and systems of a franchise.

Crifo grew up in his father’s restaurants in Italy and has been obsessed with pizza for two decades. He can talk passionately about the Napoletana and Florentine focaccia.

He runs pizza workshops and degustation nights and will happily run you through his four doughs: sourdough (48-hours risen so it forms a flavourful puffed crust), ancient grain (thin, crisp, delicious), charcoal (pointless but it looks cool) and gluten free (no extra charge).

You don’t even need to order pizza. Fried polenta fingers with four-cheese dipping sauce are a sturdy starter; house-made casarecce with mussels, barramundi, clams and a touch of tomato is a generous winner; and the spin on a chicken parma is made with quality bird, portioned in-house, and buffalo mozzarella.

Why not roll on with sfinci, Sicilian mini doughnuts? These sugar-dusted orbs don’t reinvent the wheel; they also prove it’s not necessary.