Caffe Napoli
Last week, a friend and I were craving pizza and ironically enough we ended up in Little Italy. We walked into this place- Caffe Napoli, at 191 Hester Street (on the corner of Mulberry). The place was ridiculously crowded, and a bit on the small side, but this did not stop the staff from immediately getting us a table. I was kind of skeptical at first, but they impressed me nonetheless. Service was fast, and my drinks were replenished every few minutes it seemed like. We ordered fried mozzarella for an appetizer, which we thought would be like mozzarella sticks. Instead it was like a fried grilled cheese sandwich, using a tender bread and mozzarella cheese with marinara dipping sauce. It was delicious! They also served us complimentary bread with some oil mixture to drizzle on it- also delicious, especially for the garlic fans. We almost felt foolish ordering a pizza when everyone around us were eating these amazing looking italian dishes, but the pizza was incredible. I’m from the midwest and I usually cannot eat pizza without a side of ranch dressing, but with this pizza I’m pretty sure the ranch would have killed the taste. All in all, the food was fantastic. Service was quick. I deffinitely plan on going back to this place, and this time saving room for dessert because their pies looked amazing! Our whole meal (bread, appetizers, pizza, salad, drinks) was $44, so it wasn’t too pricey…
Thanks for the post. My last dining experience in Little Italy was not the best and I resolved to stay away from the tourist locales. I don’t mind the crowds I just want great food.
I’m from the Midwest as well, and while I don’t understand the ranch dressing thing, I have not found a pizza place I like in NYC yet.
I’ll give it a try.
A great (but VERY pricey) pizza place is L’asso… They have “Pizza D.O.C.” which is pizza made with all approved ingredients from Italy like Buffalo Mozzarella and great tomatoes…
ranch dressing? yuck. i thought that was just a Buffalo thing (although they typically dip in bleu cheese dressing), wasn’t aware it’s a midwest thing.
i’ve actually never eaten pizza with bleu cheese but it is often recommended at restaurants that don’t have ranch… i was never aware it was a midwest thing either, until i moved here and EVERYBODY makes fun of me for eating my pizza like this- and they always say YOU MUST BE FROM THE MIDWEST! haha i can’t eat chicken without ranch either! (or italian dressing on grilled chicken!)
The fried mozzarella you are referring to is Mozzarella en Corozza, and it is like mini-grilled cheese!! It’s made with mozzarella, either french or white bread and eggs..sooooo good!! It’s Sicilian and my cousin makes it all the time when the whole family gets together.