231 Barkly Street, St Kilda (map)
9593 6033
Went to the movies with Mum and Dad last weekend, down at the Astor. Before the movie we decided to grab a quick bite down at I Carusi II, the St Kilda sequel pizzeria to East Brunswick's I Carusi. I've been to both versions of I Carusi, and never had a dud pizza.
![I Carusi 2](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/3318010725_230b7810aa_b.jpg)
I almost ALWAYS order the Funghi Porcini pizza at I Carusi, but this time I was determined to try something different. The Zucchini pizza caught my eye: tomato, mozzarella, zucchini, mint and chilli ($16, but I paid the extra $2 to upgrade to mozzarella di bufala - money well spent, in my opinion). I was curious to see how the slightly unusual choice of mint would work... and folks, it rocked. The chilli was powerful but the mint gave the pizza a fantastic lift. You must try this pizza!
![Zucchini pizza](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3497/3318840936_3babd9a101_b.jpg)
Mamma prefers pizze bianche, so she ordered the Broccoli pizza ($16.50 in bianco, with mozzarella, broccoli, lemon, chilli and parmigiano). It was fairly similar to mine (again it was pretty damn chillied, but the lemon kept it fresh).
![Broccoli pizza](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3318839486_cd8bf8f63b_b.jpg)
Dad had the Speciale pizza ($17), with tomato, mozzarella, soppressa, roasted peppers, artichokes and olives. Another good 'un. These guys know how to make proper Italian pizze.
![Speciale](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3318012067_262ef6485c_b.jpg)
Then it was back up the road to the Astor. The Astor is one of my very favourite places in Melbourne and has been since I was 14, coming along to see double features on a school night. They're showing the Rear Window/Vertigo double again in a few months, yay! Rear Window is my favourite Hitchcock film and as for Vertigo, well, I'm such a Hitchcock geek that when I went to San Francisco I completed my own little Vertigo pilgrimage of many of the filming locations... :)
Just being in the Astor lobby makes me happy.
![Astor cinema](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3318844284_d5a9b10bb4_b.jpg)
And this is Marzipan, the Astor cat. She's 15, so was just a kitten when I first started visiting the Astor. It's always nice to see her sitting in the lobby or on one of the couches upstairs, and I remember being MOST chuffed when she once elected to sit on my lap during a midnight screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Back in the day when she was a little more spry, she liked running along the parapet at the front of the balcony during a movie, startling the front row. She freaked everyone out last year when she went missing, but happily she showed up again two weeks later!
![Marzipan](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/3318842032_b388db4176_b.jpg)
3 comments:
Great shots. I recognised that lobby AND the cat although I haven't seen them in the flesh for some years. Must revisit.
Oh kitchen hand, you must! It's such a fantastic place (since they souped up the sound and screen it really is top notch) and it needs lots of love and support from its patrons. :)
I'm glad to see the cat is still in residence. Following the footsteps of so many other cinema kitties before her :)
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