Good Value, Good Omens: A McLaren Vale Church Serving $20 Bowls of Pasta With Free BYO

“We wanted to give the locals a community space to eat good food, bring some dusty old bottles of wine and connect,” Joe’s at Sabella co-owner and chef Timmy Forster tells Broadsheet. “It seems they wanted the same thing.”

Since launching Locals Night in March, Wednesday evenings at the diner inside an 1860s church have been heaving with a mix of Fleurieu Peninsula-dwellers and city folk in the know.

Each hump day features a different pasta special, house-made focaccia and sides made with hyper-local ingredients. Week one was ragu made with slow-cooked Ambersun Alpacas from nearby Mount Compass; week two was all about Coorong mullet, Goolwa pippies and aglio e olio; week three put a spotlight on Ellis Butchers’ Italian sausage served with roast tomato and charcuterie scrap sugo over linguini. Meanwhile, the menu for carbonara night was one for the purists, promising “no cream, no peas, no fkn chicken”.

The Byron Bay-born Forster and his partner, Victor Harbor-local Lilli Willoughby, don’t like rules. With 26 Locals Nights under their belt, they show no sign of slowing down. (They are taking a three-week break to go to Italy in September, but they’ve earned it.)

Locals Night isn’t just for residents of the 5171 postcode, either. Anyone is welcome. “Locals Night is forever. It will hopefully outlive us,” Forster says.

“Free corkage in this area has become quite popular since we innovated the concept. The thing is, we don’t have 150 people booked in (with 100 more on a waitlist), just because we have free BYO. It’s due to the community and culture we’ve nurtured. The ‘come as you are’ culture is fitting for a church,” he says.

Before Forster and Willoughby took it over in February, the building was previously home to Sabella Vineyard’s cellar door and, in a nod to that history, photos of the Italian wine family – including Giuseppe (Joe) Petrucci, his wife Rosa and their family – still grace the walls. Vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows add to the charm.

A table dedicated to a variety of chilli sauces is also a hit, as are the disco dunnies, restrooms featuring a kaleidoscope of neon lights and d-floor bangers.

From Thursday to Sunday, the extended menu explores Italian fare, with small plates like pomodori, or grass-fed beef tongue with tartare sauce
tonno, and smoked salt Kettle chips. Larger mains include a signature pasta bake and pizzas which range from standard margheritas to white clam pies (made with local razor clam, chowder bechamel and speck). Meanwhile, a set menu and pizza degustation let Forster freestyle through long lunches and convivial evenings. Both menus end with Nonna’s Tiramisu.

This being McLaren Vale, the couple have curated a revolving wine list of producers, all of which are based within a 20-kilometre radius of the restaurant.

Locals Night is on every Wednesday from 5pm to 10pm

Joe’s at Sabella
133 Main Road, McLaren Vale
(08) 8323 8270

Hours:
Wed 5pm–10pm
Thu to Sat midday–10pm
Sun midday–5pm

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@joes.sabella