Eating Naples
Despite all the hype, I didn’t find pizza in Naples to be any better than the pizza in other parts of Italy. But it was still really, really, really yummy. And the seafood, oh the seafood. Below are some of the culinary highlights.
Antonio e Antonio. A mildly touristy seafood restaurant near the water. Spaghetti vongole (clams, white sauce with cherry tomatoes), fried ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers, mussels, and some of the best fried calamari I’ve ever tasted.
Bellini. An insanely popular pizzeria whose pizza is worth the hype. We were squeezed into a corner table in the bustling upstairs room. My pizza ortolana (veggies) was heavenly washed down with a couple bottles of local falanghina wine.
Gay Odin. Luckily it’s plenty warm enough for gelato even in December in Naples, and we enjoyed some sumptuous dark chocolate variations (chocolate peperoncino and chocolate cinnamon) at Gay Odin. We also had a good gelato experience at Motus.
Ciro. Another great pizzeria, another great pizza ortolana.
La Stanza del Gusto. Fancy food Neapolitan style. The vegetarian tasting menu contained many delights, including thick homemade noodles with an intense tomato and cheese sauce, a squash soup with a ricotta cigar, and something that appears in my notes as ‘melty cheese course.’ I’m not usually a big dessert person, but the ricotta and chocolate mousse made my knees weak with lust. Scott’s purple octopus was pretty, too.
Even food for sale on the street looked beautiful in Naples.
Well, almost all of it. We did have to pass on the street pizza with hot dogs, french fries, and mayo.
If you have a favorite Naples restaurant, please share it in the comments!
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