Greek fire in ‘The Belly of the Beast’ at St Kilda

By Dr. John A. Martino

‘The Vineyard’ in St Kilda (also known as ‘The Belly of the Beast’) has a long and rich ethnic-Australian heritage. After renowned architect Carlos Catani remodeled the original, humble boat shed in 1906 to complement his now famed ‘Catani Gardens’, thereby turning it into Victoria’s very first ‘Continental Tea Gardens’, it successively became the ‘Continental Cafe’, a European-style fish and chippery, then the ‘San Remo’ restaurant and nightspot, and finally entered into two distinct phases as we now know it, as the ‘The Vineyard’ restaurant and bar.

This nearly 120-years of hospitality was characterised by a singular trend – it was always in European-Australian hands, having been mostly owned and operated (as it is today) by Italians. What is much less known, however, is its enduring Greek lineage. Even under the Croatian owner-operators of the first phase of its existence as ‘The Vineyard’ (between 1963 and 1998), this steak house was managed by head chef, Pepe Pavlou. An off-the-boat Cypriot, Pepe dominated the venue with his huge personality and extraordinary cuisine-making skills, turning the venue into one of the three finest steak restaurants within the state.

Almost inadvertently, the new owner-operators of the second phase of ‘The Vineyard’ (from 1999 to the present day), the Iodice brothers Johnny, Alex and Adrian, have kept this Greek fire burning brightly. From the near-nightly bands, which boast strong Greek Australian line-ups, to the staff and clientele, the spirit of Pepe lives on.

On the right night, you may well even find the Greece Consul General to Melbourne, Emmanuel Kakavelakis, never missing a gig with his many Greek-Victorian friends, casually bringing in other VIPs and colleagues for a dance or two while soaking up the uniquely European atmosphere of this St Kilda hot-spot. You’ll almost inevitably find the author of this article, an Italian-Greek Australian, joining our recently-promoted ambassador, to share plenty of laughs with the endless characters of all nationalities and backgrounds who so enliven our favourite bar.

And the stories of some of these characters, so imbued with Greek fire, are well worth recounting:

Stacey Pommer (nee Kelkipsakis), D.J., M.C., band-booker, promotor, musical impresario and all-round snappy dresser is the Thursday night ‘face’ of ‘The Vineyard’. Born in Athens to a Greek mother and an Australian father, Stacey was raised within musical royalty: his father was a long-time professional musician, specialising in percussion; while his mother, Elizabeth, managed a series of top bands, including one of my favourite Australasian outfits, ‘Dragon’.

Stacey has been entertaining audiences all around Melbourne traps for much of his young life, but has a particular fondness for St Kilda, with ‘The Espy’, ‘The St Kilda Bowls Club’ and ‘The Vineyard’ being his regular gigs. Stacey mentioned to me that he finds ‘The Vineyard’ to have the single most pronounced Greco-Italian ‘flavour’ of all the many nightlife venues he’s worked at, and while he’s not exactly certain why that is, he’s far from complaining. In fact, it’s always felt like ‘home’ to him (as with so many others). When not shopping around for his latest funky look, Stacey also spends a considerable amount of time advising and mentoring promising new acts, which is actually how he met our next Greco-Victorian musician…

Nick Nico (nee Soldatos) jokingly describes his friend and mentor, Stacey, as just like, ‘…a degenerate sailor from Piraeus.’ The two friends met one night at an open mic’ session at St Kilda’s ‘The Espy’, when Nick was hungry to relaunch his musical career. Having satisfied his parents’ (father from Patra; mother from Kalokastro) ambitions with his studies and graduated as a civil engineer and urban planner, Nick then spent a year playing as a session musician in London, before he returned to Australia to kick-start his career.

The pandemic then hit him hard – like so many – with the rolling lockdowns, so he turned that ‘spare time’ to creative ends, writing as many songs as his multiplicity of influences provided him with. With one brother (David) already a promising song-writer and another (Steve) an accomplished guitarist, Nick had a lot to live up to, but his self-belief and strong work ethic saw him triumph: his signature tune, ‘Wise Guys’, caught the attention of Stacey one night and the rest – as they say – is history.

Like his friend, Stacey, Nick is very proud of his Greek roots, interweaving Hellenic influences into his performances – inspired by rebetika, Nick plays the bouzouki as well as guitar and loves belting out old Cretan war songs and classics like ‘Minore Tis Augis’. He’s actually dedicated a Greek number or two to my diplomat friend, Emmanuel, and I at ‘The Vineyard’ after declaring, ‘This is for the two dinosaurs at the bar!’ That almost got him sacked! Almost.

‘Sienna Wild’ is a new band to start playing ‘The Vineyard’, but they’ve already made a strong impact and are gathering fans. Composed of two Greeks, two Italians, a part-First Nations musician and a home-grown Aussie, they’re not just wonderfully reflective of the diversity of St Kilda (and our state) but very talented. Their debut single, ‘Inside Out’, showcases their ability, with lead singer, Louis, demonstrating a vocal range that is mature beyond his years.

Like his bandmate and fellow Greek-Victorian, John Giokas, Louis Goutos is both exceptionally proud of his Hellenic origins and acutely aware of walking in the footsteps of St Kilda musical giants. ‘The Vineyard’ gives him the opportunity to play out this ‘Homeric sensibility’, just as both musicians did when they played bouzouki in Greek bands at the start of their musical careers. Louis reminded me how much he cherishes his ethnic-Australian identity, as he’s not just a history teacher by day, but is proficient at both modern and ancient Greek. In fact, as Plato – that most profound of ancient Greek philosophers – once put it, ‘Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.’ ‘Sienna Wild’ live out that axiom within The Belly of the Beast.

When all of these gifted musicians need to pour a libation to the Old Gods (or grow tired of Platonic thought), they turn to the bar, where they are often greeted by the Cypriot Australian bar manager of ‘The Vineyard’, Jeremy Wilson (nee Yiallourou). Channeling the spirit of Pepe Pavlou, Jeremy works his magic at the cocktail counter, whipping up such divine elixirs that his ‘workbench’ is always a flurry of activity. In his inventive ‘madness’ he’s even named a drink after yours truly – if you’re feeling particularly risqué, request a ‘Wolf’ and see how that energises your taste buds. You may well end up on that slightly chaotic dancefloor, once the spirit of Dionysus uplifts you.