napolese

good but overpriced. had the goatcheeseand tomato sauce with panini appetizer - this was a 10. amazing tomato sauce and panini bread!

the arugula salad was also fabulous - great light oil based dressing with a fresh lemon wedge on the peppery arugula.

i made my own pizza using leeks, wild mushrooms, and taleggio. you could get the blt - bacon, leeks and taleggio, so mine was the same pizza but subbing wild mushrooms for the bacon - for $13. but since i'm vegetarian i didn't want the bacon. however, no substitutions are allowed on the combo pizzas. so, i had to "freestyle" it and paid (literally) $20 for it ($9+$5+$4+$2).

that makes no sense...especially considering of the 11 combos 4 are vegetarian and all 4 of those four are margheritas! (1 reg, 1 w/buffalo mozzerella, 1 with egg, 1 with quail egg) yes, no 'veggie' pizzas (as in pizzas with several vegetables), and no classiccheesepizza. and as we've seen above if you have to do the "freestyle" option you're going to get screwed.

another gripe - they cut the rind off the taleggio. if i'm paying $5 for taleggio, i want it served correctly/authentically/non-sacreligiously and that means with the rind. especially when melted on a pizza with other cheeses.

the service was outstanding. couldn't asked for better. i spoke with them about the rind and they were super cool and understanding and friendly (but probably aren't changing the policy). they even offered that i could call and speak to a certain person ahead of time the next time and they would try to set aside some taleggio with the rind on it. okay, in reality i'm not going to do that, but it was nice of them to do whatever they could to accommodate my concern and i appreciate it.

sun king cans - $6, not too bad but imo a little high.

2 people, 1 app, 1 salad, 2 pizzas, 3 beers = $82 before gratuity. the pizza was very good. but i know a recently opened place with similarly-styled pizzas whose i find a touch better, and my bill has always been at least $20 cheaper there (for two, ordering similarly).

meh. i really wanted to like this place. my girlfriend and i got an appetizer of baked goatcheeseand tomato sauce that came with bread. though thecheeseand sauce were great, the bread was soggy with oil to the point that it couldn't stand up to dipping. my prosciutto and taleggio was incredibly salty. when i mentioned it to our server, she brushed it off as "authentic" prosciutto. while i usually enjoy salted meats and value authentic ingredients, this was unenjoyable. my girlfriend's pizza was underdone, and fell apart while she was trying to eat it. all in all, a weak showing from a promising candidate.

delicious!. this was our first time visiting napolese and it most definitely won't be our last. our party of 7 was seated right away at 5:45pm on a thursday. our waitress was very knowledgeable and we took her recommendation for wines, appetizers and salads. we ordered the special bruschetta which featured a cheddar cheese, jalapeño and barley dipping sauce. it was amazing. she also suggested we try the meatballs which featured three giant meatballs mixed with tomato sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese. we cut each into 1/4 and shared. yummy! our salad was the roasted brussel sprouts, dried cherries, apples and fresh parmesancheesewith a drizzle of balsalmic vinegar. it was light and quite different than an ordinary lettuce salad. my only complaint was that it was a tad bit on the dry side. it would have been perfect with some romaine and a splash of actual salad dressing. we ordered the buffalo mozzarella pizza and the meridian-kessler. the salad and pizzas are plenty big to split between 2-3 people. although we were sufficiently full, we decided to take the recommended cobbler with us to go with a side of vanilla bean gelato. the cobbler was probably the most delicious dessert i have tried. it was full of apples, cherries and extra streusel. although our bill was high, we ordered way too much food and will know next time to split. but, we are all glad that we got to sample so many wonderful items off their menu. service is super fast and all of the staff was very friendly. the interior is quaint and it is fun to be able to see the wood burning oven for the pizzas. we will be back!

really wonderful waiter. very burnt bread for goatcheeseapp. disappointed. average pizza.

a friend and i decided to catch up last friday night and were both in the mood for pizza. since it was close by, we quickly decided on napolese. i decided to order the smoked salmon.

so, what's on this pie? the base "sauce" on this pizza is dill creme fraiche. on top of this goes smoked salmon, capers, and roasted leeks. i ordered this item becasue i love smoked salmon with creamcheeseon bagels, and often have capers and onion along with it. so, this combination sounded good to my ears (and stomach).

and, it was good. definitely an above-average pie. my one quibble is that is seemed a bit "heavy" on my pallette. i was surprised by this because the smoked salmon and creamcheesebagels do not strike me that way. i think it may be because the pizza is hot, which makes the rich smoked salmon and creme fraiche noticeably richer-tasting. the pizza would be even better if it could be lightened a bit.

however, as i said, it was an above-average pizza that i would be more than happy to eat again.

food: 3
service: 3
atmosphere: 3
****************
explanation of rating scale:
1: does not meet expectations
2: meets expectations
3: exceeds expectations
4: far exceeds expectations
so, on this scale, a 2 is a respectable score. 4s will be very rare. (and hopefully so will 1s).


-----02 apr, 2011-----

pfg/aphrodisiac. i have had this place on my wishlist for a long time, and finally made there to give it a try. we decided to go with an appetizer and then share two pizzas.

the appetizer we started with was the spinach and artichoke dip. it was rich and oh so good. i especially enjoyed the very large pieces of artichoke.

our first pizza was the pfg, which is a white pizza topped with pancetta, roasted fingerling potatoes, and gorgonzola. i am a fan of blue cheeses, and it went well on this pizza. the hit of blue was softened by the potatoes. the pancetta added a nice, meaty savoriness. i thought it was creative as i have not seen this combo on a pizza before.

the second pizza is called the aphrodisiac. it was topped with a touch of red sauce, prosciutto, green and white asparagus, leeks, and provolone. again, it's a combination i don't remember running across. thinking about it, it's a bit of a surprise this combination is not found more often given that asparagus wrapped with prosciutto is a classic italian antipasto dish. so, it was a smart move that worked well with this pizza.

i would also add that the service was good throughout the meal, so we had a good first experience.

for this meal:
food: 3.5
service: 3
atmosphere: 3
****************
explanation of rating scale:
1: does not meet expectations
2: meets expectations
3: exceeds expectations
4: far exceeds expectations
so, on this scale, a 2 is a respectable score. 4s will be very rare. (and hopefully so will 1s).

called ahead and got on the list and didn't have to wait long. good wine selection to start. had the goatcheeseapp; would've been better if the bread had been hotter and crisper, but thecheesewas yummy. got two pizzas to split among three people and it was a good amount. the casanova delight pizza (prosciutto and taleggio cheese) was just off ... the combination of salty pork and very pungentcheesedid not please the nose or the taste buds. but the meridian kessler pizza (italian sausage, aged provolone and mushroom) was delicious! the place has a great vibe, awesome menu, good wine list, and we were pleased with our service. we will definitely go back!

more fancy bogusness. bogus, overpriced undertopped with terrible pepperoni and very little cheese. ordered two identical saus, pep, mush. pies and they looked almost completely different. very light oncheeseand toppings were very sparse on one of the pies. total rookie or unconcerned pie maker obvious by center loading/ lack of toppings/ cheese. 14 bucks for a 10 inch 3 top?? give me a break. take it from a guy who has been in the pizza biz over twenty years. had to try it , but never again. can you say ripoff??

the question would be, "would i go back?" only if someone else really want to go there. the wild mushroom ragout starter was pretty tasty but i ended up putting what we didn't eat of that on top of our blt pizza. the blt didn't have that much flavor & the leeks gave it a funny smell plus the taleggiocheesemelted to a curd like consistency. the décor was ascetically pleasing but the tables were really close. if you want to go there to converse with someone this would not be the place. i felt like i was yelling at my friend & the neighboring tables could hear everything we were talking about as i them.
so would i go back? not if i were the one who was making the decision on where we were going to eat.

worth the wait. the husband and i decided to try napolese on a wednesday evening. we figured that it would be slow(er) in the middle of the week. boy, were we wrong! turns out there was a 30 minute wait for a table. we decided to settle in with drinks, served by the extremely busy yet polite, hostess. thirty minutes later our patience was rewarded and we were shown to our table. we decided to split the goatcheeseappetizer. yum! it was bubbly, creamy, tangy, and slightly sweet, although we could have used a few more slices of bread to sop up the last few drops of sauce. for dinner i ordered a broken yolk pizza with quail eggs. it was absolutely delicious. the egg added so much richness and creaminess. the husband had the meridian-kessler, which is a meat-laden pie. he polished it off in short order but we ended up talking half of mine home for lunch the next day. we both agreed that the food was excellent, however, the price is steep ($70 or so for our food plus two rounds of drinks). we will definitely be back, but only for "special" nights.

i feel a little dupped. there is good and bad at napolese. i really enjoyed the bruchetta app and the chop salad. unlike others, our bread was perfect (maybe they have been listening...doubt it though). we went with the "pie of the day" it was squash blossoms and parm. well, for $20 we got three blossoms, you could see through thecheeseand suace to the crust. i mean, it was absolutely worthless. they pies next to us looked a 100x's better, and they were $12-14. 3 quartinos (well, almost quartinos-the fill was very stingy for a proper quartino) plus our food, two people $100.

will i go back, yes, and i will order differently. i feel a little slighted/dupped because of all of the support i gave martha and this venture in the neighborhood (petitions, conversatios with people) i wanted this neighborhood restaurant. but, it is not much of a neighborhood, bring the family for dinner place. martha, we do not eat breakfast as a family any longer at patachou because $75 breakfast for a family of 5 is out of line. bring down your prices and you will get loyal guests that come again and again.

fantastic, for people with taste buds. first off let me start by saying if you are expecting the regular style, greek pizza you find at the chains, turn around. it's not about triple toppings and extra cheese, it's about dough, char and balance. napolese offers a number of pizzas you won't find at noble roman's or pizza hut, so take advantage! the toppings are fresh, the service is outstanding, and my favorite, they have fantastic beer and wine.

you will most likely encounter a wait up to an hour, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a cold beer or a bottle of wine!

in the end, you may run up a costly bill, but it's worth it. the food is great, the staff is extremely helpful.

my only caution is this: if you are expecting the normal, run-of-the-mill, extra large, dripping withcheeseand toppings pizza, you're in the wrong place. it takes a little more developed pallet, but it's well worth it!