Pizza, pizza: Zavino

Here's the latest on Zavino, a tiny pizza-wine bar under construction in the former check-cashing agency on the northwest corner of 13th and Sansom. (The project surfaced early last month with the fancier spelling 'Za Vino.)

It's up for October.

Chef/managing partner Steve Gonzalez is positioning it as an Italian pizza kitchen and wine bar with a seasonal menu, classic cocktails (Negroni and Bellini), and what he calls an approachable selection of wine and beer. Hours will be 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., and he'll target late-night noshers. The whole place will seat 38, including about a dozen at the bar.

Gonzalez, who worked in Italy and Spain and did time locally at Vetri and Brasserie Perrier, describes the style of pizzas, from a gas oven (with fruit woods tossed in), as falling somewhere between Neapolitan and Sicilian. "Crust is going to have some body, a little more than a quarter-inch thick," he said.

Sample dishes: cheese and charcuterie; artichoke pizza with sliced artichokes, Swiss chard and pecorino Romano; house-made beef ravioli with brown butter and sage; roasted red and golden beets with pistachios and goat cheese; roasted lamb with fried eggplant and mint; and traditional panzanella, a tomato and bread salad.

Prices: $3 to $20 for entrees, pizzas $5 to $12.
 
Designer Tony Tsirantonakis of Tsirantonakis & Associates will work with the original brick wall and add a long bar and outdoor cafe along Sansom. Web site is up: www.zavino.com/.