Napolese- Quick Revisit

Hubby and I had a quick dinner at Napolese with friends over Valentine’s weekend. We hadn’t made plans and since it was Saturday and it was nearly Valentine’s Day, we needed a place that didn’t take reservations. As far as having to wait (we did for about 45 minutes), the location at the Fashion Mall is good because you can wander around and shop while you wait for them to call you and let you know your table is ready.

Anyhow, we planned accordingly and sat down right about when our friends arrived. I love the olives they give out at Napolese, even though I had to ask for them this time (maybe they were wasting too many on people who don’t like them?). We also shared the Brussels sprouts salad ($12) and the crostini with apple bacon jam, spinach and gorgonzola ($9). That crostini dish was delicious. The sweetness of the apple bacon jam with the freshness from the just wilted spinach and the salty ripeness of the gorgonzola were great. And it was unique—it wasn’t just a creamy spinach dip or a creamy blue cheese dip. I would happily eat this again. The Brussels Sprouts salad left me a little underwhelmed though. They sprouts were roasted, but still a bit too firm for me and the whole thing came across a bit too sweet with pieces of sweet potato and bourbon gastique. There was also kale, radish, and pancetta.

We went with one of our classic choices for pizza—the Napolese broken yolk ($15). This is a margherita pizza (sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil) with three quail eggs on top—they are meant to be nice and runny (you know that’s how I like them), but sadly, these were not quite as runny as they usually are. I think it must have been because they were so busy, but just a plain fried egg on a  cheese pizza isn’t quite as exciting. The crust was still very good—it has that nice chewiness to it. Our friends’ BLT, which is another common order for me and hubby, looked spot on though.

All in all, it’s great to have some independent places right in the mall—that seems so uncommon and overall,  while this wasn’t my best meal there, I enjoy Napolese. They have a decent Italian wine list and friendly staff. It’s a good local option to have nearby.

Napolese

8702  Keystone Crossing

Indy  46240

317/705-0765

www.napolesepizzeria.com 

Napolese - The Fashion Mall

We always struggle on the weekends trying to find somewhere to eat lunch near our house that’s local and that won’t be jammed packed. We had not yet tried the Napolese in the Fashion Mall, so we thought we try it and see how crowded it got. Turns out, it was just as packed as most places, and particularly since there were six of us that day, it took even longer (they don’t have a lot of capacity for larger parties when they are crowded). The nice thing is you can wander the mall while you wait for your table and they’ll call you when it’s ready.

First of all, I love the olive mix they serve at Napolese. I’m an olive fanatic and these are fantastic. A nice mix of pitted olives—green, kalamata, and Nicoise. This is the little freebie they give you when you sit down. We then also got a starter of the polenta with Trader’s Point feta and cherry tomatoes ($10) and the tomato/caper/olive dip ($10). Honestly both were really good and a nice combination of things to have together. The polenta is creamy and rich—a slightly sweet corn flavor with the warm gooey feta and the roasted, soft tomatoes giving it just a bit of acid. The tomato dip is full of salt and acid with the tomatoes, salty capers and olives and olive oil and red wine vinegar. My only complaint about this dish was it was very cold—I can only imagine how the flavors would pop if it were served fat room temperature.  The table went back and forth about which we liked better, and like I said, it was nice to have them both together. I felt like the bread that was served alongside both (basically the same—thin version of the pizza crust topped with parmesan) went better with the polenta—it was also served warm with the polenta, which I enjoyed. It’s kind of flabby bread so it’s a bit more difficult to stack the tomato mix on. I also wished I had some toasted baguette or something with the tomato mix to absorb more of the vinaigrette.

My in-laws ordered the BLT, which is one of me and hubby’s standbys, so we took this opportunity to try something new knowing we could probably steal a piece of their pizza. We tried Elliot’s pie ($13), which is a white pie (no red sauce) with pancetta, roasted potatoes and Gorgonzola. I was really craving blue cheese, so this appealed to me. It was good, but that Gorgonzola was so mild, it didn’t have any of funk to satisfy the craving. The potatoes were small new potatoes and were cooked just right—I liked the chunky aspect. The pancetta was tasty giving the pie a salty kick.

I still preferred the slice of the BLT ($13) that we stole from my in-laws. They top this one with red sauce, Smoking Goose jowl bacon, leeks and Taleggio cheese. The strong flavor of this cheese gave me the slight stinkiness I was craving cheese-wise, and I think I have decided that I like Napolese pizza with red sauce the best. You know that jowl bacon is gonna be good too. Both pizzas’ crusts were perfect—crisp with some dark areas, but not so blackened that it tasted bad. The kids split a cheese pizza and may have found their new favorite pizza.

I like the way the Fashion Mall is incorporating smaller local places, and some smaller chains (Cheesecake Factory notwithstanding). It’s nice to have a “nicer” independent place where you can get quality food and even a glass of wine if you want, right in the mall.

Napolese

8702  Keystone Crossing

Indy  46240

317/705-0765

www.napolesepizzeria.com 

Napolese - Revisit

Hubby and I were just in the mood for something different—we decided to give Napolese another try because it had been quite awhile. We also hadn’t been to the new downtown location and were interested to try it out. I like that this location takes reservations so you know you won’t have to wait. It was slightly annoying though that even with a reservation, when we walked in, and even though there were only two tables seated, the hostess tried to seat us right next to one of the other occupied tables and with the bus stand on the other side. I mean the whole place was empty at this point. (I still will never understand why restaurants do this). Anyhow, after asking for a different table, and standing there waiting while they figured out if it was possible (really?), we got seated and ordered some drinks. They also always bring you a great little bowl of mixed olives, which I love, because, well, I love olives—and these are great ones.

We started with the white bean cassoulet ($13) because hubby loves cassoulet. It was made with a lot of meat. Seriously, this was like an Italian pork dish with a few beans. There was pork shoulder, pancetta, duck confit and Smoking Goose sausage. We were kind of surprised at how few beans there really was, but you are certainly getting your money’s worth on the meat. It was cold outside and it was extremely hearty—a dish that is not my favorite kind of thing because it is just so over the top meaty. I would have loved a squeeze of lemon or something. There was some shaved parmesan that gave it a slightly salty taste which was good.  They have improved the way they serve the bread on the side too, giving slightly larger pieces of the pizza dough with some cheese on it.

We also had the arugula salad with pear, shaved fennel, candied pecans, Gorgonzola and aged Sherry vinaigrette ($10). I sort of wish I would have had this to eat at the same time as the cassoulet, a little acid would have been nice. The salad was good, other than I have learned to always ask for extra dressing at Patachous. Not a biggie, but they are very light with dressing there. I just ask for extra when I order. The pears were ripe and gave a nice sweet contrast to the blue cheese and vinaigrette, although we fought over the 4-5 nuts. It was a big salad, and could have used a bit more of the nice sweet and salty nuts.

We ordered the BLT pizza ($13) for our main and it was by far the best thing of the evening. That’s good right? It’s a pizza place after all. We have had it before and enjoyed it but now—can you say, “Smoking Goose jowl bacon?” That stuff is amazing. Ok, it’s pretty decadent with its thick fat layer, and its slightly charred edges, man, it took this pizza to another place. Also, I love Taleggio, which is a stinkier soft cheese. The leeks gave the whole thing some texture, although I am still not sure about caramelized as the proper descriptor. A really good pizza overall with a perfect, chewy, tasty crust.

This experience was pretty typical of our Napolese experiences—the pizza is solid and the stuff we get before is often just okay. But to just go in for a salad and pizza and it’s a good option. And I like that there’s at least one of their locations that take reservations.

Napolese

30 S. Meridian Street

Indy  46204

317/635-0765

http://www.napolesepizzeria.com/

Napolese- Revisit

I told you last week that hubby had not been to Napolese and was anxious to form his own opinion of it.  I had told him about several of the pizza combos that sounded good to me and he was intrigued as well.  After some negotiations, we agreed to split an appetizer and a pizza (with some wine of course).

We got there on the early side to assure it would not be a hassle to get in.  It was a weekday, and around 6:00 there was no wait at all.  In fact there were only a few tables when we got there.  Although, we both commented on the noise level again, because even with a few tables, it was quite noisy.  By the time we left, and the restaurant was nearly full, the noise level was pretty high.  Interestingly, hubby was not a huge fan of the interior of the space, he said he felt it was “over decorated.”  I think maybe it was a little feminine for his taste.  Other than the noise level, the interior doesn’t really bother me. 

I don’t think I mentioned it in my first review, but at Napolese they bring out a lovely bowl of olives to snack on while you wait for everything else.  If you read my blog, you know I love olives, and these were especially good because they are room temperature, so you get the full flavors of them.  There are several varieties of both black and green, and they are all pitted which was also nice for ease of eating.

For our starter, we ordered the wild mushroom ragout with baked pancetta and added the egg (for another dollar).  This dish came out in its own baking dish.  It was extremely hot—but it looked as if the egg was put on after the dish was heated, as it was a little on the raw side.  It would have been nice if the dish was popped back in the oven for a minute to cook the egg a bit.  We solved the problem by just mixing it all together, as the dish was so hot, the rest of the ingredients did a decent job of cooking the egg.  Once it was all mixed together, the dish was delicious.  There was a lot of the pancetta mushroom mixture and it was extremely earthy and rich.  With the egg flavor mixed it, hubby said it reminded him of a breakfast casserole his Mom used to make.   My only gripe about this dish (again) was the bread.  It was a bit thicker sliced than last time, but it is kind of flimsy for such a hearty dip.  Basically, it appears to be pizza dough cut into strips and seasoned with herbs and cheese.   But this dip is totally worth ordering, and a very generous portion.  We had more than enough, although we managed to finish every last bite of it.

We got the BLT pizza, which, according to the menu is bacon, caramelized leeks and Taleggio cheese.  The pizza overall was quite good and we enjoyed it.  If I am being picky (and I always am), I would say there was no “caramelization” on the leeks.  There were lots of leeks, but they were in no way cooked before they went on the pizza.  They were still a little crisp (which is fine, but is not caramelized).  I like the flavor of fresh leeks, but I love melty ones even more.  The Taleggio was really great on a pizza—it is a cheese with a bit of funk (which is generally how I prefer my cheese) and I really like what it adds to a pizza.  The bacon was perfectly cooked and dispersed over the pizza.  The crust has got that mix of chewy and crispy, but not the blackening that you get from a wood fired oven (I believe Napolese’s oven is gas fired).  So depending on how you like your crust, this could be a good thing or not.  I personally like the crispy blackened edges, as long as it isn’t totally burnt.  The pizzas are big enough to share, in my opinion, although, basically they are the size of a large dinner plate.

Interestingly, we did pay attention to the bill because I have heard people complain that Napolese is more expensive than Pizzology, the other local Neapolitan pizza place.  We found our bills to be nearly identical.  The bill at Napolese was about $6-8 less, but we did not have a salad (which was $8 at Pizzology).  (And for those of you who have been asking, it was about $55 at Napolese for a pizza, an appetizer, and a bottle of wine).

All in all, hubby agreed with me that Napolese has some interesting sounding combos for their pizzas, and we both enjoyed the food and wine we had.  The downside, as I have said in the past, and hubby agreed, was the noise.

Napolese

114 East 49^th Street

Indy  46205

317/925-0765

http://www.cafepatachou.com/

Napolese

The noise. The din. This is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about Napolese. I even did a two visit review this time before writing this one just to make sure the first time wasn’t an aberration. Man, is this place loud. It’s a cute little place and I like the modern décor, black walls, open kitchen—but it is buzzing for sure. And the second time we went, shortly after the restaurant opened for the day, it wasn’t full on noisy yet, but by the time we left, as one of my dining companions put it, “it was prohibitively loud.” Now, the other person in our party later told me she really liked the atmosphere, and described it as "lively." She also commented she liked being able to talk without being overheard by the people at the next table. So I guess it depends on how you look at noise. It is a fine line for me, you don't want the restaurant to be a tomb, but I go on sensory overload when it is too noisy.

But on to the food. Both times I had the bruschetta appetizer to start. The first time I liked it better than the second. It was fresher and riper tasting, and I liked all the olives mixed into it. The second time, the tomatoes seemed a bit underripe and it didn’t have the tangy vinegar taste that I got the first time, and there weren’t nearly as many olives mixed in. We also had the warm goat cheese in marinara sauce. These dishes are served family style and are big enough to share. The bread is served on the side with them and you dish them out yourself. Which inherently, I do not have a problem with, but the pieces of bread (obviously slivers of the pizza dough) were far too skinny to be proper for topping or even dipping. They were probably an inch wide, and not crispy at all, so it was somewhat challenging to get the stuff on top of the bread--epecially the bruschetta. And actually, thinking about it, the word “bruschetta” means toasted or grilled bread (read crunchy) topped with various things. Yes, usually the most common topping is a tomato mixture when you see this on a menu around here. But the bread should be crunchy. That is all I am saying. Or at least wide enough that you can put some stuff on it. We also had the warm goat cheese in marinara sauce as an app. The goat cheese was really tasty. The marinara at Napolese has a great flavor. And at least it was easier to scoop up with the little pieces of soft crust. On my first visit I also tried the arugula salad. It is certainly large, and big enough to share, but it was underdressed and really all you could taste was the very peppery arugula. There was a lemon wedge on the side, which helped a bit, but more dressing is really what the salad needed.

As for pizzas, I have tried a few. I will say, one thing about Napolese, this place is dialed in to really interesting sounding toppings (at least to me). Two pizzas feature sunny side up eggs, which is a favorite of mine since the first time I had one in Rome. The first time I went, I had the “broken yolk” pizza with the chicken egg (as opposed to the quail eggs) which was nice. It was a margherita pizza, just tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella and basil with the egg in the middle. It was a little challenging in that you had to cut it yourself (I assume so as not to break the yolk before its time) but a big knife and a pizza are sort of awkward. Honestly, I am not sure how to remedy this situation, and I can’t honestly remember if the pizzas I have had with egg before were cut or not, but I certainly don’t remember cutting them myself. This may have been my favorite of the bunch that I have tried so far though as far as flavor.

We also had the Meridian Kessler which was the basic red pie (tomato sauce and cheese) with spicy sausage and mushrooms and aged provolone. This was tasty (my dining companions were quite happy with it for sure). The sausage certainly had a bit of spice to it, and while maybe not all would agree, I enjoyed the whole button mushrooms here. This was a traditional combo for sure, but still came across as a bit unique.

Finally, we had a special pizza of the day. This pizza was explained as morels, fiddlehead ferns and ricotta. It was a white pizza (i.e. no sauce) and was described by our server as “amazing.” Now, she pretty much had me at morels, even though they were Oregon morels… I was very excited to try it. Unfortunately, this one didn’t come together for me. I thought the morels were a bit sandy to really enjoy (even though they were cut into pieces) and the fiddlehead ferns a bit too crunchy. It was also a bit too dry for me too, and I often love a pizza without the traditional marinara. Both of my friends agreed with this assessment and declared they liked the sausage/mushroom pizza much better.

The thing that makes this kind of pizza for me is the crust though, and this was good. I enjoyed mopping up the leftover goat cheese and marinara with my crusts. And again, the marinara on the pizza was quite good as well. But the goat cheese app was so much better with the crusts, because they were so much bigger than the bread that was served with the apps. They really need to come up with a better plan on the bread they serve with these kind of starters.

We also had a dessert pizza, which was the crust drizzled with Nutella (a chocolate hazelnut spread) with a scoop of gelato (from Zingerman’s). Man, this was sweet. Super sweet. Maybe just a little over the top even for me, and I love Nutella. I would love to see something using the crust and maybe the chocolate sugars from Petite Chou and then a little Gelato on top. (What? A girl can dream)-- Something just a little less gooey I guess.

Ok, Napolese has some things that bug me, but the good news is, some of them are at least potentially fixable (the bread the bread the bread!) (and my guess is there is something they could do about the noise if they want to). And there are some positive things too--I love the sound of a lot of the pizza combos--the “BLT,” or bacon, caramelized leeks and Taleggio sounds delish as does the “PFG” which is pancetta, roasted fingerlings, and gorgonzola. That’s what I mean-- nearly every pie has some intriguing and interesting topping combos that really make you think you need to try them all. And hey, next time I want to go somewhere with my kids and not worry about the noise, I may just take them here.

Napolese
114 East 49th Street
Indy 46205
317/925-0765
www.cafepatachou.com