Authentic Neapolitan Pizza places... anyone tried these yet?

After going to naples and tasting some wonderful pizza, I was happy to find spacca napoli and found it to be very tasty and fresh. I wish it was a bit less expensive, but otherwise I was impressed. I recently read a chicago based magazine that highlighted Neapolitan pizza places (not sure if they are new) that have opened that are also in the same realm as SN... Anyone tried these places?


Sapore di Napoli
Neighborhood: Lakeview
1406 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 935-1212
http://www.saporedinapoli.net


Antica Pizzeria
5663 N Clark Ave
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 944-1492


Great Lake
Neighborhoods: Andersonville, Edgewater
1477 W. Balmoral Ave
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 334-9270


And finally, a blurb from http://www.chicagopizzaclub.com that should make spacca napoli fans happy below...



Fans of the original Spacca Napoli can rejoice. According to Chicago Magazine, Spacca Napoli's first pizzaiola is opening a new, 110-seat Neapolitan menu in Lincoln Park in January.

Nella Grassano and her husband Frank are joining forces with Scott Harris, owner of Mia Francesca, to open Nella Pizzeria Napoletana at 2423 N. Clark in the former home of Fiesta Mexicana.





And finally, can someone please explain to me the difference between pizza in naples and the pizza in for instance, rome? Because when I went to rome the pizza there was a bit thicker, which I enjoyed more. Perhaps I should go to Trattoria Roma which looks exactly like the pizza I enjoyed the most when I went to Italy. http://www.chicagopizzaclub.com/2007/08 ... ng-43.html


Trattoria Roma
1535 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 664-7907
http://www.trattoriaroma.com

FoodSnob77 wrote: Anyone tried these places?

If you use the Search feature at the upper right hand part of the page, you will learn that yes, many people have tried these places.

FoodSnob77 wrote: 2423 N. Clark in the former home of Fiesta Mexicana

Pretty sure this is on Lincoln, not Clark.

And yes, these places have been discussed here before. Great Lake was even nominated for a GNR.

Perhaps I should go to Trattoria Roma which looks exactly like the pizza I enjoyed the most when I went to Italy.

You might want to add Pizza DOC to the list. When it first opened, I believe its pizzaiolo/chef was Roman, and my sense of the place was that the pizza was a bit different from the traditional Neapolitan pizza, in that it seemed to have a little bit more of everything. I haven't been there in a while and that pizzaiolo is long gone, but you may want to give it a try.

tapler wrote:

FoodSnob77 wrote: 2423 N. Clark in the former home of Fiesta Mexicana

Pretty sure this is on Lincoln, not Clark.

And yes, these places have been discussed here before. Great Lake was even nominated for a GNR.

It would appear that the original poster was indeed correct in citing the prospective address, or the September 11, 2008 Dish posting is incorrect.

Neapolitan Pizza Alert!

Nella Grassano, Spacca Napoli’s talented original pizzaiola, will team up with her husband, Frank Grassano, and Mia Francesca’s Scott Harris to open Nella Pizzeria Napoletana (2423 N. Clark St.), a 110-seat Neapolitan pizzeria next January. “I met Nella through the guy who sharpens my knives, Claudio Cozzini,” says Scott Harris, owner of the Francesca Group. “He called me and said, ‘Hey, I got this girl; she makes pizza.’” Harris had been talking for two years about opening a pizzeria, and quickly partnered with Grassano, a native of Naples. “She’s got recipes from her family,” Harris says. “Her father’s a pizza maker. Her grandfather is a pizza maker. Her brothers are pizza makers. I want the grandma stuff and the great-grandma stuff.” On October 1st—in what is becoming the mark of a true Neapolitan spot—a pair of Italian craftsmen arrive to build Nella’s wood-burning oven, brick by brick.

I'm sure this will get sorted out soon enough, but Fiesta Mexicana was at 2423 N Lincoln for many years:
http://www.fiestamexicanachicago.com/07-maps-chicago.html

The original pizzaiolo from DOC (the one who opened its kitchen) was named Gualtiero, a fine self educated chef from Milan. Whereabouts unknown, but the recent Sardinian pizzaiolo who did a fine job for years at DOC is now running the kitchen at the new place on Western Ave, a few blocks before Foster, going north.

jbw wrote:

Perhaps I should go to Trattoria Roma which looks exactly like the pizza I enjoyed the most when I went to Italy.

You might want to add Pizza DOC to the list. When it first opened, I believe its pizzaiolo/chef was Roman, and my sense of the place was that the pizza was a bit different from the traditional Neapolitan pizza, in that it seemed to have a little bit more of everything. I haven't been there in a while and that pizzaiolo is long gone, but you may want to give it a try.

Although, when they first opened, Gruppo di Amici received some pretty tepid reviews here (from myself included), they serve pizza in the style of Rome. I have not been there for a while, so maybe they have gotten the hang of operating their fancy imported wood-burning oven.

Gruppo di Amici
1508 W. Jarvis
Chicago, IL 60626

Has anyone been going to Trattoria Roma lately?
It's been years for me---no reason except proximity, or lack thereof.
When they first opened it was the single most Italian tasting food I'd ever had outside of Italy. The atmostphere was the same. Owners and servers all seemed to be 10 min. off the boat.
I'd love to know that they're still as good as they were, even as they've been joined by many others on a similar model.