Napolese Pizzeria: Two Trips

 I have to be honest--I thought I hated Napolese.  Some friends and I went there several years ago, when it first opened, and we were collectively unimpressed.  I found it to be overpriced and the pizzas were charred (not just a little charred, which we expected, but a LOT charred).  It just wasn't a good experience.  So I was somewhat hesitant when Tim and I made the decision to give it another try for Devour Downtown.

What made us even consider going there was the great deal they were offering.  It's no secret that I find a lot of Devour deals to be pretty terrible these days, and in some cases it's getting to be even less of a deal now that restaurants are allowed to charge more than $30.  But Napolese was offering two salads, two pizzas, and two desserts for $35 (normally each pizza would cost $13-14, the salads run $10, and the desserts on offer are $4-6, for a grand total of over $40).  For another $15, you could add a bottle of wine (this bottle is normally $29 on their menu). We had a choice of white or red, and went with the red; the Farnese Montepulciano was delicious.  It was mild and 'jammy,' as our waiter described it, without being sweet.  Very light and drinkable with our meal.

We sat down and were offered a lovely little bowl of olives to snack on while we made our choices and sipped our wine.  We both ended up getting the Double Chopped House salad, which contains a little of everything.  Greens, of course, plus some roasted peppers, blue cheese, salami, crispy pancetta, and just a ton of other random stuff...each bite contained something new.  It was a massive salad, and I think it was even just a half-size (the usual $10 salad is meant to be shared, I believe).  I enjoyed the salad, but didn't find it anywhere near as delicious or as well-balanced as Pizzology's chopped (which, admittedly, I have a bit of an addiction for).  The dressing wasn't aggressive enough for that amount of STUFF--I wanted more 'zing.'  But, it was different and certainly a filling way to start the meal.

 We had to choose between three pizzas for our mains; I opted for the Buffalo Margherita, which on top of a light coating of fresh pizza sauce included buffalo mozzarella, oven roasted tomatoes, and lots and lots of fresh basil.  You can see just how much basil in the picture.  Tim didn't like that it was so light on cheese, but I have to say I enjoyed it.  The sauce and basil were so good that I didn't miss a heavy coating of cheese.
Tim opted for the Hamaker's Corner:  Pepperoni, Italian sausage, provolone, and mushrooms.  I really enjoyed the slice I had, and I know he also liked it.  Cheese was more prevalent there, but so were the toppings--lots of thickly sliced pepperoni, really good Italian sausage (which I don't normally like, but very much enjoyed here), and plentiful, whole mushrooms.  

For dessert we were surprised to learn that we each got a choice (I had thought the deal only included one dessert); we followed the server's advice and got the cobbler for one person's desert and gelato for the other's, and combined them.  Mmm.  That night's cobbler was blackberry, and it was very good.  Light on the cobbler part and heavier on the fruit, with just enough sweetness.  The cold gelato was the perfect addition on top of the hot fruit.  Very good.  Apparently the cobbler flavor changes even through the course of the night, depending on the fruit available that day and how much of it they get.

This post is subtitled "Two Trips," so I guess I have to admit that we ended up going back to Napolese later that same week.  Yup.  We certainly didn't intend to, but we found ourselves at the Keystone Fashion Mall looking for a quick bite before a movie, and ended up at the Napolese there.  We did make decidedly less gluttonous choices, though.

We decided to start with the Nightly Bruchetta ($9).  On this occasion, it was a creamy but fresh tasting combo of tomatoes, peppers, and basil.  The picture doesn't look too appetizing, and we were indeed worried--it looks a bit like cream of chicken soup. But it was cold, and tasted of tomatoes.  It was a really odd dichotomy, but ended up being completely addictive.  My one complaint here was that the server told us he could bring us more foccacia for dipping if we needed it; he neglected to mention we would be charged for that.  Was I shocked to see a charge?  Not at all, but I would have appreciated being told that when he offered it.

We shared a pizza for our main.  Our choice this time around was the BLT--Smoking Goose jowl bacon, caramelized leeks, and tallegio cheese ($13).  This was really good.  The bacon was outstanding, and cut into very little pieces so it came out nice and crispy.  You didn't have to fight with any floppy strips or fatty pieces.  The leeks were good and, well, leeky, offering a sweetness when they were in a bite.  The tallegio was expectedly stinky.  As much as I love it, I thought this pizza could have done without it, as it dominated the other flavors whenever it was in a bite.  Tim liked it, though.                                      

Since we drank water, we came out of this meal at a pretty reasonable $22 plus tax and tip, and we were both plenty full.   Pizzology may still be our top choice for this style of pizza, but Napolese, because of its more convenient locations, has become a real contender for us.

Website:  Napolese