Day 4, 2007: Naples 45 (Midtown, NYC)

LOCATION: Naples 45 (45th St. between Lexington and Vanderbilt)

GUEST(S): Matthew Stillman

ORDER: half of an individual Margherita and one slice of a Funghi

PIZZA REPORT: By the book.  Naples style hand sculpted rounded wood fired brick oven crust, with imported San Marzano tomato sauce from the rich soil at the base of Mt. Vesuvious and fresh mozzarella cheese from the milk of an Italian water buffalo.  Naples 45 is so authentically Neopolitan, it is one of the two New York pizzerias to be given the from the official seal of approval from the Verace Pizza Napolitano society. My Margherita D.O.C. had just the right amount of olive oil and basil.  I felt like I could have eaten two of them. My favorite part was the bread which is stiff on the outside yet oh-so-chewy on the inside.  On pizza quality alone, I’d give it a 45 out of a possible Naples 45.

ATMOSPHERE: Tons of seating, located in the heart of midtown, with a gigantic bar and three personalized ovens (Stromboli, Etna, and Vesuvio).  Naples 45 is an ideal lunch date place or after work hangout…particularly, if your boss is paying (~$25 for a significant amount of pizza and a coke).

VERDICT: 4.5 out of 5

MISC.:
1.  Matt Stillman taught me about chirunning which is a combination of tai chi and, well, running.  He said it changed his life and he's not the kind of guy that would just say something like that if it weren't true.  Here's a website about it. http://www.chirunning.com/
2. In the video clip, I do the post pizza analysis on the stage of my monthly variety show called Variety Underground ( http://www.varietyunderground.com ).

VIDEO CLIP:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r024p5MRCXE