DAY 3, Pizza Month 2011 - Bella Napoli (Midtown East, NYC)

DAY 3: OCTOBER 3rd, 2011

LOCATION: Bella Napoli (Midtown East, NYC)

ORDER: One slice of grandma, one slice of plain

GUEST: Chano Garcia

REVIEW:

Any New Yorker with a cell phone will tell you there's a dead zone in the shadow of the Empire State Building.  I used to think this dead zone aptly described the pizza in the area as well.  Bella Napoli proves otherwise*.

This surprisingly clean restaurant-pizzeria caters to the corporate lunch rush in the elevated seats as you enter and offers a more formal table service dining area in the rear.  Sort of like a mullet, Bella Napoli is business in the front and party in the back.

Much like the medic-alert commercials, the grandma called out to me.  Now I think I've fallen and can't get up - fallen in love, that is.  The large dollop of sauce cooked with onion, garlic, parmesan, and oregano at the center of each square slice provided me a savory destination at the end of my flavorsome journey.  Surrounding the sauce was a thin but sturdy undercrust rendered chewy by the Grande mozzarella cheese melted upon it.  Cascaded with olive oil and garnished with basil, the gas powered deck oven cooked slice is greater than the sum of its parts.  No single ingredient overpowers the others 'tho the garlic tends to linger - just like the memories of Bella Napoli's grandma.

*NOTE: The cell phone coverage at Bella Napoli is still weak


PHOTOS:

RATING:
4.02 out of 5

• VALUE:
  4/5


• AMBIENCE:
  3/3


• TASTE:
  7.5/10


• SERVICE:
  N/A

14.5/18 = .806 x 5 = 4.02


MISCELLANEOUS:
1. My voice is completely gone which should be apparent in the video, if I ever edit it.
2. Chano Garcia just came back from his home in Mexico where it's too dangerous to attend baseball games.

3. I wrote a Daily Slice for my favorite pizza resource (slice.seriouseats.com) earlier in the year.