Trevor Pepys reviews Zachary’s Gourmet Pizza Bar
Everyone has his own favourite pizza joint, right? When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie … to quote old Dino.
Trevor’s favourite happens to be the son-in-law’s back deck where sizzling concoctions come flying in quick succession out of his wood-fired pizza oven. Can’t be matched, although Matt and Rocky’s portable pizza cart goes close.
But when it comes to commercial pizza joints, in Noosa we’re a bit spoilt for choice. I could name half a dozen that rarely let you down, and I’m talking here about genuine joints, not the chains that serve up homogenized cardboard inside a cardboard box. We’re going to focus on just one (actually two in town of the same name) here today, but first let me explain why Trevor is uniquely qualified to explain the good, the bad and the ugly about pizza.
The most famous Pepys (until now) of direct lineage was of course the notable diarist Samuel whose skills as a wordsmith were only surpassed by his appetites for wine, women and song. What is not widely known is that when old Sam shipped out of London for Naples in the 1660s to escape the deprivations of the bubonic plague, he took with him not a musket for protection but a sack of sungold tomatoes, only recently introduced and thought to be deadly poisonous, and a battered copy of Gerard’s Herbal which included a recipe for a lethal broth that would dispense with enemies.
Upon disembarking, however, he fell into a house of ill repute on the Neapolitan waterfront and, after much ribaldry, fell asleep with the tomatoes by his side. He woke to the delicious smell we now recognize as pizza, the ladies of the night having added the tomatoes to the flatbread they had cooked for centuries, thereby changing the entire direction of Italian cuisine, a claim Sam later made for himself while trying to attract funding in the UK for what would have been the world’s first pizza chain, Pepys’s Pizza.
The diaries pertaining to Sam’s introduction of the tomato-topped pizza to Italy were later lost in the Great Fire of London, but the legend survived through the generations, and when Australia’s first pizzeria, Toto’s Pizza House in Carlton, Melbourne, opened in 1961, Trevor’s beloved dad, Old Trevor, was an honoured guest. So you see, Trevor has skin in the game. But I digress.
We speak today of Zachary’s Gourmet Pizza Bar and Restaurant, which somewhat extravagantly describes its offering from stations on Gympie Terrace and Hastings Street as “the best pizza on the Sunshine Coast”. Maybe, let’s see how Trevor fares on a recent visit.
As regular Tucker readers will know, Trevor likes nothing better than to combine his dinner engagements with a river ramble involving numerous bar stops coming and going, so last weekend it was the Gympie Terrace Zachary’s that had the pleasure of his company, after a couple of heart-starters at GT’s and before a nightcap or three at Whisky Boy. Mrs Tucker and I arrived at the riverfront Zach’s just as the golden orb was slipping into place and took our usual front row table to watch the show over a couple of glasses of the house Prosecco ($10).
Given the family history, it goes without saying that we start with a pizza, on this occasion a large fruits de mer ($27), washed down with a bottle of T’Galante pinot grigio ($45), not a bad match although Trev is not fond of paying premium price for what should be a house quaffer. Likewise, the marinara mix that is the basis of the fruits de mer, tasted very much like the Woolies packet mix that Mrs Trev throws into a pot of water and calls fish broth. Nothing wrong with that, but the kitchen might have been more inventive. And with around 30 pizza options to choose from, so might Trevor.
On the other hand, a good crusty base, some rich flavours and a golden river sunset – who’s complaining?
Next, we ventured to the pasta side of the menu with a shared duck fettuccine ($26), and this was outstanding, generous slices of succulent quacker breast with mushroom, garlic and onion, wading not swimming in a sea of creamy white sauce. As Trev can attest from his many failed magret de canard experiments on the home barbie, it’s easy to muck up a duck, but this was a perfectly-balanced triumph, with the duck meat a reality rather than a hint, as is so often the case.
Full as googs, we declined the desserts and wandered off into the night as the after-dark shift filled the joint to Covid capacity.
The verdict: Generous portions of good, reliable pizza and some gems on the pasta menu. Takeaways and functions too.
Zachary’s Gourmet Pizza Bar, Gympie Terrace. Bookings 5440 5522.
