“A lot of Sydney people tell me, ‘Oh, Chris Lucas builds Sydney restaurants in Melbourne’, whatever that means. I think it’s a compliment.” The prolific restaurateur is talking about his Melbourne-centric stable – which includes Maison Batard, Kisume, Society, Chin Chin and Grill Americano. The Harbour City – with its always-pumping Chin Chin – has lagged behind in the group’s non-stop run of openings. But we’re up: Grill Americano is coming soon.

Lucas opened the New York-style Venetian grill restaurant in Melbourne’s CBD in early 2022. “So obviously, it hit a mark,” Lucas tells Broadsheet. “It’s just about accessible, good, honest Italian food – very simply prepared. You know, Italian food in America can be a bit too tomato-based, too rich, garlicky, massive serves. We applied an Australian sensibility to it. It’s polished, but not stuffy, not trying to be overly elegant.”

Following the team’s penchant for heritage builds, Sydney’s Grill will take over the ground-floor space in the historic Qantas House building in the CBD, with its glassy wave of a facade. Lucas’s wife and business partner Sarah Lucas is taking on the design together with interior designer Samantha Eades.

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Expect a Sydney edge to a menu that’s powered by a Josper grill and a wood oven direct from Naples. There’ll be more seafood, more pasta, a “more extravagant” wine menu, and an Italian brekkie offering from early morning. “It’s just a bigger space, which’ll allow us to do more of what we do, better.”

While the team emphasises that Grill Americano isn’t overly elegant, the service is undeniably polished. Fresh peach Bellinis come served on silver trays, servers are jacketed, the plating is refined – there’s a sense of occasion.

It’s this white-jacket service that backdrops the famed dessert: tiramisu, scooped tableside. The coffee-soaked layers carry house-made liqueur and are reinforced by thin, crunchy layers of tempered chocolate, so there’s nothing soggy. The recipe’s straight from an Italian nonna in a family restaurant in Lake Garda.

“We don’t like to drop names, but Billy Joel did say it was the best tiramisu he’s ever had.”

The team’s on the lookout for a Sydney-based head chef, and the group’s culinary lead Damian Snell will be overseeing it all.

Grill Americano is set to muscle in on a patch of the Sydney CBD heaving with excellent grill restaurants. Rockpool, on the same block, opened in 2009, and also nearby there’s Clam Bar, Bistecca, Alfie’s, The Grill at The International and the Bentley team’s newbie Eleven Barrack.

“Well, a lot of these restaurants have opened just recently, so in some ways I think Grill Americano started the trend – I think they saw the success of Grill Americano … So, I think we were the original concept, which reintroduced a modern grill back into our cities.

“The difference is we’re very much an Italian restaurant. I noticed up here they’re really going hardcore grill – steaks, steaks, steaks. But the beauty of Grill Americano is it’s an Italian restaurant … Everyone’s doing something a bit different, and ours is different again.”

Grill Americano will open at 1 Chifley Square, Sydney, in September 2025.