Stefano Catino

Bar codex Stefano Catino

In Australia, there’s incredible food and coffee. I should even admit that the coffee here is often even better than in Italy. Honestly, as an Italian, I really feel great in Italy: sea, sun, and bars.

The only thing that I’m missing here is European-style squares. When people come out of their homes and just meet outside, not in a bar or a restaurant.

We want to stay Italians, but the contemporary kind. Not the kind who open restaurants with lousy pizza and name it “Mario’s.”

We don’t want to scare people with the complexity of our cocktails. We don’t want to seem like mysterious mixologists. We want people to drink cocktails, take pictures, and enjoy them.

We’re a pizzeria. Our pizzas take just a few minutes to make. So the cocktails need to be served very fast.

Everyone can make a negroni. The most important thing about a cocktail is the person serving it. And how they made it. Of course, high-quality ingredients are important. But today, almost all the ingredients are good. Today, it’s harder to find bad ingredients than good ones.

Today, I’m the oldest person on our team, and for me, the biggest joy is watching how our young bartenders grow and develop. If they become better, I become better myself. I’m like a coach for them, if you draw parallels with football.

More than anything else, I don’t like paying taxes.

If you open a bar or restaurant and think that everything will be perfect, then you’re wrong. You’ll definitely make a mistake. Maybe you won’t repeat your old mistakes, but you’ll make new ones. But mistakes are the most wonderful thing in life. You won’t become better until you make a mistake.

When I hire a new bartender, it’s important that I like them. But it’s no less important that they like me.

I like introducing guests at the bar to each other. I think that people come to bars first and foremost to make new friends.