An Italian takeaway joint with a twist is about to open in the CBD, under the owners of SORA and Plain Jane.

Italian heritage means a lot to Carmine Alvaro.

“Me and my brothers, both sides are Calabrese, so Italian and we’ve got a pretty traditional family,” Carmine says.

“We’ve grown up with doing the sauce and doing all that kind of stuff, and the festas. We’re very proud of our heritage.

“My grandfather was a pastry chef. He had a shop [on Grange Road called Pino’s Pasticcera] for a long time. He’s passed away now but his cannoli cream was renowned as the best.”

At the end of this month, Carmine, along with his two brothers Patrick and Giuseppe Alvaro and business partner Tarik Nasser-Eddine, will open lunchtime Italian joint Peppino’s on Pirie Street in the old Cheekies Hot Chicken spot.

It’s named after his two grandfathers. Giuseppe and Tarik also co-own SORA – which is across the road from Peppino’s – and Plain Jane.

The new concept is vastly different from the SORA and Plain Jane offerings, with Peppino’s more of a passion project.

“It’s something that me and my brothers have wanted to do for a while,” Carmine says.

“We’ve looked for a place in the city for a while to do this exact kind of concept, which is basically like quick, traditional Italian food and quick takeaway stuff.

“Good quality, but just keeping it simple and just like grab and go street food style.”

The menu includes a range of Italian favourites.

“We’ve got pizza by the slice, so it’s like New York style pizza – big slices,” Carmine says.

Toppings include a simple cheese pizza, pepperoni, sausage and mushroom, and then an ever-changing weekly special.

“We’re going to have [penne and gnocchi] pastas in a bread bowl kind of thing – so after you have the pasta and you dip the bread and stuff, you can just rip the bowl apart and use that with the sauce,” Carmine continues.

“Cannolis – which is actually going to be my grandfather’s recipe – and zeppoles as well, and arancini and a few specials and all that.”

Much to CityMag’s surprise, Peppino’s will deliberately not include sandwiches on the menu.

“That was the original idea,” Carmine says. “And then when we were looking at doing it, they’re kind of opening up everywhere, the sando places. They’re getting a bit more popular.

“But the reason why we went for this is there’s not really much around, especially pizza, that you can get in the city that’s grab-and-go type stuff.

“Really, the only kind of pizza you can get is down the road, Pizza [e] Mozzarella, but that’s more of a restaurant. You’ve got to sit there and wait for your pizza. This is ready to go.”

Cornis are keeping Peppino’s safe

Much like the food, the interiors will also represent Italian culture, with cornis, Italian soccer player jerseys and tomato cans filling the space.

“Our brand is white and red, so white-red checkers are going to be in and around the place,” Carmine says.

“But more neutral colours and a couple of neon signs in there, just to try to brighten things up.”

Due to Peppino’s location, they hope to mainly cater to “that office crowd”.

“So it’s going to be mainly lunch – it’s only going to be open, say from about seven to about two o’clock to three o’clock.

“And also that type of food [suits] office events or whatever. We can cater for them as well. Obviously, being in the city and that type of food is pretty easy. If you’ve got a big office meeting, 20, 30 people, we can do catering as well.

“It’s not going to be open at night. It’s not going to be open on weekends. Just [focusing on] the general people that are around here every day.”

Peppino’s is located at 86 Pirie Street, Adelaide and set to open at the end of September.

Connect with the business on Instagram for more.