Mangia Mangia! Bere Bere!

 Naples! 2023 Chapter Three

Italy has a number of names for places to eat, from local pizza joints, to casual dining to in-between dining to more formal restaurants. 

It’s fun to read the Wikipedia entries for the definition of Italian eateries:

Osteria is a casual place where locals used to gather to play cards and drink wine.  It evolved into a place with simple meals and usually no printed menu, serving whatever the cook had on hand that day.

Trattoria is also a casual dining affair with no printed menu where wine is sold by the decanter rather than the bottle.  Trattorias often serve food family style at common tables.

Ristorante is the most formal one, with a wine list, printed menu and upmarket food. Linens on the table, nicely dressed staff.

We had the opportunity to eat at some of the best of all of these.  And a very few that were far from the best.

Here are a few we loved so much we went back again.  And again:

Pruneto 1944  on the Via Posillipo ‒ we came upon this pleasant trattoria on one of our first forays to the west, away from downtown.  We were in search of a supermarket and passed Pruneto 1944 on the way.  On the way back, we stopped at one of their sidewalk tables for lunch.  Strictly an oral menu.  The pizza oven was not yet fired up because it was still too hot to use it during the day.

You have to know my husband to understand how thrilled he was when the waiter, reeling off what was on offer that day, heard ‘sea urchin spaghetti.’ I ordered the fish and tomato linguini.  Both were wonderful.  And the best bruschetta ever to start. Plus deep fried scampi coated in cornflakes on a skewer.  They even offered cold red wine. ( Sadly, looking them up on Trip Adviser, they are permanently closed)

A fenestella ‒ while on a crowded bus back up the hill after a day spent in town, Scott began a conversation with a very nice woman who suggested a restaurant right on the water’s edge in a small enclave called Marechiaro (clear water), just a couple of kilometres from where we live.  The restaurant is right on the sea and the entire length is windows looking across to Capri and to Vesuvius.

    It’s an elegant setting with a view of the Mediterranean, the islands and people bathing in the coves just below us.

Once again the food and wine were superb. I had a langoustine - Italy’s version of lobster. 

We were treated royally by a young and beautiful married couple who waited on us during our lunch. The couple were pleased to have a conversation with Scott in Italian. All four of us enjoyed our time there so much, the couple gave us gifts of an espresso cup and some limoncello shot glasses, made especially for the restaurant. 

Nonna Elena pizzeria Via Posillipo ‒ At first we were sceptical of this place on a nearby corner because it looked uninviting from the outside. We ended up going in because of a time constraint to find an exceptional pizza and yummy pasta. Great hosts once again. The interior was much more elegant than we expected.  And we returned several times after that. Sunday was very popular with the neighbourhood families after morning Mass.

Rosiello via Posillipo ‒ This is another fine example of a ristorante in our neighbourhood.  They offer terrace service overlooking a lush vineyard. The wine served here is made from that vineyard and is tasty indeed. What a beautiful way to spend an afternoon, overlooking the Bay of Naples and watching the sun set while enjoying the balmy evening air.  This restaurant, and many of the others we frequented were not cheap. But the food, especially the seafood, was worth it.

Ristorante Reginella Via Posillipo ‒ this cliff-hugging destination is halfway down the hill toward town, and clearly popular for showing off to your friends.  The food was really great and elegantly served. The outdoor terrace was alive with several large groups, one an extended family celebrating a baptism of a baby girl dressed up in piles of chiffon. The wait staff were accommodating (they seated us on a busy Sunday even though we hadn’t booked a table)  and efficient (when the rain started, they quickly moved an outdoor table in, under the roof for neighbouring diners).

Restaurants in town ‒ Some were better than pretty good.  Some were way over-rated, mostly by the ego of the manager or owner.

Attori e spettatori (Actors & spectators) 👎Via San Lucia ‒ This restaurant displays across the front of the building in confidently large letters, in English: ‘The Best Restaurant in Naples.’ 

It isn’t. We sat down for lunch and ordered an expensive first and second course. They brought us beautiful bruschetta  while we waited for our first course. A threesome arrived a few moments later. They were dressed in black leathers with major bling, all tatted up. The woman had what we call duck lips. (We learned in Rome that the Italians call those puffed up lips ‘chicken’s ass’).  The manager was either a friend or a fan of the three, and fawned all over them. In fact, the waiters delivered our first course to them by mistake, passing us by on their way to impress the other table. We ended up waiting another 1/2 hour for our first course. We were invisible. And will be from now on - not coming back. 

Ristorante Antichi Sapori 👍 right across Via Santa Lucia from the above ‒ Not as fancy schmancy, but the locals like to eat here and the service is much better. The food is solid trattoria and better than average pizza. We came back often.

Pizzeria Salvo 👎Riviera di Chiaia ‒ we tried this place because of its reputation for the best pizza in Naples. It wasn’t.  It’s a clear tourist trap and the wait staff is indifferent. 

50 Kalò 👍Piazza Sannazzaro ‒ Now this place does have one of the best pizzas in Naples. You can’t book a table and have to stand outside in a queue to get in.

It’s worth it. They have a great selection of beers and our veteran waiter enjoyed joking with us and talking to Scott in Italian. It’s one of only six pizzerias in Italy’s Michelin Guide. They are famous, and they deserve their reputation.  

Gino Sorbillo Lievito Madre al Mare 👍Via Partenope ‒ this is a giant open-air pizzeria situated along the waterfront. A great place to watch people and the food is pretty good too. Excellent service and the toilets are very clean!

Rosolino Ristorante  Via Nazario Sauro ‒ this small but elegant waterside eatery is just around the corner from Gino Sorbillo seafood. The pasta was good but the food in general was inconsistent. It was our first lunch in Naples. Scott wants me to mention that the staff are all beautiful women. 🥱

Bechamel 👍Via Enrico Pessina ‒ a very small but really decent food; it’s kitty corner from the Archaeological Museum of Naples and a good place to eat after visiting the Museum.

Now. There were two, most important haunts during our month in Naples: These were visited almost daily:  

The term bar in Italian is a bit of a misnomer.  It means a place where one usually stands with a coffee and pastry in the morning, and later in the afternoon, a glass of wine or beer. Some offer an aperitivo,  a small plate of antipasti or more often a bowl of potato chips. 

We discovered Bar Posillipo on our first full day in Naples, it being at the top of our long trek up the hill to Via Posillipo where we’d catch the bus each day. 

Bar Posillipo has a couple of outdoor tall tables under umbrellas to protect from the sun or the occasional rainfall.  We’d almost always stop here after a day down in the city.  

It is the perfect place to sit and watch the world go by.  Scooters, cars, buses, pedestrians.  Neighbouring vendors would come for espressos to go, or they’d stand at the bar inside for a quick espresso pick-me-up. The butcher, the green grocer ladies, the fish monger … we’d say hello to them all and we were their daily customers too.

The bar staff got to know us well and were truly impressed by Scott’s command of Italian.  They loved talking to him! 

I loved listening while I enjoyed my prosecco.

Once we took some friends there in the late morning. When they went inside to order,  they ordered me a cappuccino. The waiter very earnestly said, ‘She doesn’t drink anything but prosecco.’ 

We became friendly with the owner, our hostess, Annamaria. On our last day there, we promised we’d be back.  

One other bar we liked to frequent:  Bar Maschiera, an open-air affair with low stools and tables under umbrellas.  If it was raining, they weren’t open. This was a ten minute walk west along via Posillipo.  It sits at the top of a long pedestrian walkway down to the seaside ristorante: ’ A fenestella, mentioned above.         Bar Maschiera does not sell breakfast pastries but they do offer the odd cocktail, Aperol Spritz for example. Scott was in love with Antonella, one of the bar keeps. We made a point of stopping there every time we had a table at the restaurants in that neighbourhood. The owner of the place also enjoyed talking to Scott in Italian.  He even presented us with notebooks he had made up with his bar’ logo.  It came nicely packaged in a white jacket and with a red placeholder ribbon inside. (We thought it might have been a bible at first. !)

We really look forward to returning to all of these wonderful places this autumn!