Perched atop the Kangaroo Point cliffs, with views over the lights of the city and sparkling river, is one of Brisbane’s most promising cafes, Bar Spritz. The cafe is the newest venture of the team behind well loved Milton restaurant La Dolce Vita – Joe Virzi and his son Sam, supervised by the watchful eye of Salvatore, Joe’s father.
“With three generations of our family here, we’ve brought back the heart and the soul,” Joe said. “You’re in the best location anyone could wish for in Australia. There’s very few venues like that in the world. It’s unique.” With decades of hospitality experience under his belt, Joe has played a significant role in the evolution of the Brisbane culinary industry. Sundried tomatoes, he said, which are now taken for granted as a staple, were relatively unknown in 1978, when he introduced them to his Italian deli in Lutwyche.
“It took me a year to sell the first lot,” he said. “We also did the first pizza on Park Road. We’ve pushed a lot of things along in the industry.” And Joe’s achievements in Brisbane extend far beyond the culinary world. From lobbying the council to allow footpath dining, to closing Park Road for a breast cancer awareness event, he seems to have done it all. But he claims his most rewarding experience came after Ferrari’s 50th anniversary, when he organised 50 of the cars to escort a group of intellectually disabled children around the city. “I got 50 Ferrarris with police escorts, and we took 50 of the kids to go on a cavalcade around Brisbane and raise money for them. Probably, that was one of the highest moments for me. I actually heard from these kids that we made them feel special and normal, and that was something memorable for them.”
What is truly unique about Bar Spritz is its seamless integration of relaxed, trendy atmosphere with the heart and soul that only a family owned business can capture. “Being Italian, I come from a very family orientated culture. The matriarch and the patriarch- whoever is the oldest gets the last say. My son’s generation, being born here, is integrating fast into Australian culture, as it should. But as Sicilians, we strongly respect our traditions, and we are trying to maintain these into the next generation, and beyond.”
Indeed, Joe claims a lot of his motivation stems from trying to get the “nod of approval” from own his father, who moved from Sicily to Australia in the early 1960s. “I’m forever grateful for him, because he did the hard yakka. He did the cane farming in Northern Queensland, where these guys did twelve hour days in a back-breaking job. He came here several years prior, and then we came here, so we came to a very comfortable suburb with a beautiful house.” With this love of family, combined with authentic Italian dining, and of course the iconic Aperol Spritz, Bar Spritz is the cafe Brisbane never knew it needed.
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