Fitzroy Newcomer Deep End Is a Deep Dish Pizza Paradise and Craft Beer Haven
With an ex-fine dining chef heading the kitchen, it's heroing three styles of pizza — including a towering Chicago-style stuffed deep dish number.
Pizza aficionados will find a lot to love about the debut restaurant venture from Paul Kasten (Host Dining), Kate Paterson (Good Beer Week), Kyle Campbell (Beermash) and Rasmus Gundel. But they're certainly not the only ones who should be excited to dive into the just-launched Deep End, nestled just off the upper stretch of Brunswick Street.
Settled into the former Nomada space, the restaurant is proving it's got more than a few tricks up its sleeve — pizza might be the headline act, but it's backed by a primo menu of snacks and share plates, and one heck of a craft beer lineup.
The kitchen's celebrating no less than three different styles of pizza, with a slew of classic and creative toppings between them. There's a New York-inspired thin-crust number — perhaps loaded with roast capsicum, artichoke and gorgonzola, or a combination of whole clams and bacon — and a Detroit-style square pizza that's akin to a fluffy focaccia with crispy cheese rim.
Otherwise, bring your heftiest appetite and try the towering, Chicago-style stuffed deep dish creation that treads the line between pizza, pie and lasagne. There's a 30-minute bake time on one of these bad boys and we recommend bringing at least a handful of mates to help you conquer it.
Kasten's fine dining experience is even more apparent in the offering of clever small plates, which'll see you kicking things off with the likes of saucy limoncello chicken wings, whipped taleggio finished with charred spring onion and roasted marrow served in the bone. There's a caesar salad reimagined with miso dressing and a chicken liver parfait brulée that comes complete with shattering top layer.
The drinks offering is concise but packs a big craft beer punch, featuring the likes of Burnley Brewing's white IPA, the Deeds hazy pale and a farmhouse sour from Molly Rose among its local-leaning list of packaged drops. Or, you can team your pizza party with an interesting vino — think, Site Fermentation Project's pinot gris and a montepulciano by Delinquente — or signature cocktail like the Lion's Tail, made on bourbon, bitters and an allspice dram.
In a win for local lunch-breakers and the grab-and-go dinner crowd, Deep End has also launched a pizza window, out of which it's slinging those Detroit-style pies by the slice.
Find Deep End at 412A Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. It's currently open for dine-in from 5–11pm Wednesday to Sunday, while the pizza window is dishing up the goods from 12–2.30pm and after 8pm (or until sold out) the same days.
